The new rules of horror

Starting in 1996, the original “Scream” trilogy did to horror movies what Jason did to promiscuous teen couples in isolated woodland cabins. It killed them off, one by one.

Prior to “Scream,” the horror genre was dominated by dubious “slasher” flicks, many with a Roman numeral after the title: “Friday the 13th,” “Hellraiser,” “Halloween.” They relied on increasingly tired tropes, usually centered on a group of friends stranded in a remote location while a crazed killer in a mask hunted them.

The humor-tinged “Scream” films were so successful, in part, because they introduced a new formula — heavy on irony and deconstruction. These were slasher flicks that mocked the clichés inherent in slasher flicks. The characters rattled off self-reflective meta-commentary, often in the form of “rules.”

For example: Only virgins survive — that’s why Jamie Lee Curtis’ good-girl character is the last one standing in “Halloween.” Never run up the stairs when being chased by an ax-wielding maniac — that’s how Jason polished off a good half-dozen people in “Friday the 13th, Part 2.” And never utter the fateful words, “I’ll be right back.” If you do, you won’t.

Or, as the killer Ghostface tells Drew Barrymore’s character in the first “Scream” film: “Never say, ‘Who’s there?’ Don’t you watch scary movies? It’s a death wish. You might as well come out to investigate a strange noise or something.” Sure enough, two minutes later, she’s dead.

Now “Scream 4” opens Friday — a full 11 years after “Scream 3” — and with it comes a new set of rules riffing on a new generation of horror movies.

“If we had done ‘Scream 4’ any earlier, it would have been too close to the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise, and also just a lame sequel to what we claimed was a trilogy,” says director Wes Craven, who has helmed all four movies. “Waiting a full decade legitimizes it as a new beginning, and it allows us to look back on what I think is a very clean block of genre history: the first decade of the 21st century.”

That decade witnessed the rise of new horror subgenres, including Japanese-style creepshows such as “The Grudge,” faux documentaries like “Paranormal Activity” and so-called “torture porn,” à la “Hostel.”

“Scream 4” opens with the movie club at the local high school, where film geeks throw a party to watch the now-hoary “Stab” horror franchise — a film-within-a-film plot that has informed each installment of “Scream” — and debate the merits of old horror classics. As a killer begins mowing down their classmates, they attempt to predict his behavior, believing that he is simply imitating plot points from past slasher flicks.

In a swipe at films like “The Grudge,” they decry “Japanese girls” and note that the killer — perhaps in a bid to match what he’s seen in films like “Saw” — always seems to make his next murder even more grisly. As a final cut at the new breed of horror flick, the murders in “Scream 4” are being filmed — just perfect for a “Blair Witch”-style hit! — so that the killer can become famous.

Another new rule in “Scream 4” is “Don’t mess with the original” — which can be interpreted as a swipe at half-baked remakes of horror classics such as 2004’s “Dawn of the Dead” and the following year’s “Amityville Horror.”

So is “Scream 4” breaking its own rule just by existing? Not according to those involved.

“I swore up and down 11 years ago that I’d never make another one,” says Neve Campbell, who plays Sidney Prescott, the franchise’s heroine, who has managed to avoid being butchered by Ghostface for three movies. “It wasn’t because I wasn’t a fan of the films — I was. It’s just I felt that we had been really lucky to make a successful trilogy, and I wasn’t sure if we had anywhere to go with it. Ten years later, it seems people are enthusiastic, and it’s fresher now.”

With “Scream 4” lampooning a new wave of horror films, it’s likely to find a new generation of viewers. Teen moviegoers, in fact, were too young to see the first three chapters in theaters. That includes some of the cast of this fourth film. “Scream 4” teams vets Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Campbell with a new crop of teens who try to stop the masked Ghostface. Fresh meat includes Emma Roberts, 20, Hayden Panettiere, 21, and Shenae Grimes, also 21.

“They weren’t able to watch them when they first came out,” Campbell says. “I think Emma told me when she was 11 or 12, she started watching these films.”

Adding young characters was something that concerned Craven when he and screenwriter Kevin Williamson tackled the script.

“It’s a tricky thing when you bring in three characters [Cox, Arquette and Campbell’s] that are in their 30s [and 40s], who have a history in the franchise, and then you have a host of new characters that have their own stories,” Craven says. “You could easily run into a situation where you have two films going on at the same time.

“They’re not simple films,” he continues. “Murder mysteries are always tough. You have to construct a great puzzle and give enough clues so at the end someone could say, ‘Oh, I could have figured that out.’ But at the same time, not have them guess it, if you’re lucky. You also have to make each of the characters complex, because anyone could turn out to be the killer.”

If Craven and the others can pull it off, we might see another two “Scream” installments stabbing our way. Williamson has planned scripts through “Scream 6.”

“It all depends on people’s availability and whether this film does well. You never know,” Craven says. “So far, the indications have been very good, but none of us want to jinx it by talking about it too much.”

“ ‘Scream’ was sort of a response to where we were in 1996 with regard to horror,” Williamson told fearnet.com. “That’s the challenge [now] — how do you keep it current, fresh and relevant? At the same time, I think a slight nostalgic factor would sort of be appreciated, or would hope to be. But, at the same time, you want to scare the audience, not just repeat yourself.”

And yet, “Scream 4” doesn’t shy away from repeating itself with a wink, going so far as to take a pickax to its original rules. When a cop turns up to investigate a killing in one scene, he tells his sidekick, “I’ll be right back.”

Seconds later, he realizes his mistake.

“I know this one,” he deadpans. “You’re not supposed to say that, are you?”

Scare off

Since the original “Scream” opened in 1996, filmmakers’ approaches to horror have had to become more creative. Here are four subgenres that have flourished in the last decade.

Japanese

What is it? The storylines, imported from Japan, often involved ghosts, and rely on psychological scares and unsettling imagery to spook crowds.
Examples: “The Ring,” “The Grudge,” “Dark Water” and “The Eye”
Scare quotient: More frightening than a runaway Toyota.

Found footage

What is it? A faux documentary presented as footage left behind by (often dead) characters.
Examples: “The Blair Witch Project,” “[REC],” “Paranormal Activity”
Scare quotient: Proves that the fear factor can be inversely proportional to the budget.