Chad Villella, producer for the upcoming Scream 5 sequel, confirms the latest horror film with be rated R. The fifth installment in the Scream franchise recently completed post-production, paving the path for its upcoming release date of January 14, 2022. The movie is set to release 11 years after Scream 4 premiered back in 2011 and will reunite the movie’s original cast, which consists of Courteney Cox, David Arquette, and Neve Campbell.
The first film in the horror franchise was the brainchild of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson, and premiered back in 1996. Craven’s original Scream movie followed the character Sidney Prescott (Campbell) as she finds herself targeted by an obsessive serial killer who is dressed in a mask and costume and known only as Ghostface. Scream was an immediate hit at the box office and largely received positive critical reviews. It would go on to spawn three more sequels that, while seeing decreasing critical favor, still proved just as commercially successful as the first. Now, 11 years later, Ghostface is back to scare a new generation of audience members.
Villella sat down for an interview with Hello Sidney and the rest of the Radio Silence, the filmmaking unit behind the Scream legacy film. During the interview, Villella touched on a number of subjects about the latest installment in the horror franchise, such as the fact that it’s a standalone flick. Villella also made a point of revealing that the “movie is rated R.”
It really shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that Scream 5 will be rated R, especially considering every other movie in the franchise received that same rating. However, it is interesting to note that the original Scream was almost rated PG-13 after most of the film’s violence was cut out during the script stage. When Craven came onboard the project, he demanded the script be restored to its R rating. In fact, Craven even added an addition murder scene when he realized the screenplay had a thirty minute gap between murders. Craven’s insistence on preserving the film’s violence lead the MPAA to threaten it with a NC-17 rating. After submitting eight cuts of the movie, and explaining Scream’s satirical tone, the MPAA eventually gave it it’s R-rating.
One of the reasons Craven’s original film is still remembered today is the fact that it was true to itself in its tone and intensity of violence. If that movie had been allowed to cut out the violence and receive a PG-13 rating, it most likely would not have been as commercially successful as it was. So, while it isn’t surprising that Scream 5 is going to be rated R, it should still be a good sign that it’s sticking to its original roots.
Source: Hello Sidney
- Scream 5 (2022)Release date: Jan 14, 2022
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