Neve Campbell on why she initially resisted new 'Scream' movie — the bloodiest, most brutal installment yet

What would a Scream movie look like without Neve Campbell, the fan-favorite actress behind the series’ central survivalist Sidney Prescott?

Thankfully we’ve yet to find out, though Campbell was close to not picking up the phone for a fifth movie in the franchise, this weekend’s Scream (yep, it has the same title as the 1996 original because… it’s just what Hollywood does for some reason).

“I was just feeling hesitant about making this movie without Wes Craven,” Campbell says of the legendary late filmmaker who directed the first four Scream movies in a recent interview with Yahoo Entertainment (watch above). “I mean, he was the master of these movies. He's responsible for this incredible franchise and for why they are as good as they are.”

After Craven died in 2015, directing duties were later handed to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the duo also known as the filmmaking collective Radio Silence that helmed the acclaimed 2019 thriller Ready or Not.

“Matt and Tyler had reached out to us prior to our deciding to make the movie and expressed that they are directors because of Wes Craven, and they made Ready or Not because of the Scream movies and that they literally were tickled pink to be asked to direct this installment,” continues Campbell, who has acted sparsely since 2011’s Scream 4 and becoming a mother in 2012. “Ready or Not was amazing, and I realized these are the guys for it. And I think they really wanted to honor Wes's legacy in the right way. So it felt worth it.”

The film has returning alums David Arquette (Dewey Riley, now a retired cop) and Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers, now a national broadcaster), who met on 1996’s Scream, married and had one daughter, Coco (while they later divorced, they co-parented their daughter and remained good friends), as well as Marley Shelton, who appeared in Scream 4 as Deputy Judy Hicks, now the sheriff of Woodsboro.

“When you act with people you've known and have been doing a film series with for over 25 years, there's a lot of history there and it's easy to sort of tap into those emotions,” says Arquette, who shares one particularly emotional scene with his ex Cox.

Scream (2022) once again finds a copycat Ghostface killer terrorizing Woodsboro and features a new young cast that includes Melisa Barrera, Jack Quaid, Dylan Minnette, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison and Sonia Ben Ammar.

It’s also the bloodiest, most gruesome Scream movie yet.

“I mean, some of those kills are brutal,” emphasizes Brown.

“They really upped it a notch,” agrees Minette.

“It seems like it's going with sort of the times, what the horror fans want and expect,” explains Arquette.

“It’s another level,” says Campbell.

And she’s seen it all by now.

Scream (2022) is currently playing in theaters.

— Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by Jimmie Rhee

Watch the trailer: