SCREAM 4: What is your favorite scary movie?

Looks like Wes Craven did it again. The movie that transformed the horror genre in 1996 and invented a new one of its own, is set out to transform (and mock) the new rules of horror 2.0.If Craven, once again, succeeds in making the audience scream and snort at the same time, he promises to continue the franchise with a Scream 5 and 6 in the makings. Unfortunately(for those hard core slash 3D horror fans) he refuses to shoot it in 3D, claiming that he considers it a distraction and is not fond of the glasses.  Lets take a look at its marketing campaign:

TRADITIONAL AV MEDIA

Teasers/ Trailers/TV spots

Dimension Films, The Weinsteins's brothers baby, started releasing the teaser in October of last year, which would be very similar to the trailer they would eventually pop out at the beginning of 2011. It all starts with a phone call and the rest, like they say, is history.They feature the old cast and introduce the new faces in the game. A young smart ass movie buff warns the audience about horror movie clichés. Ghostface makes people jump off their seats as the shots get faster and shorter. Deja vu perhaps? Scream 4 goes back to its roots in their AV campaign. Refresh your memory with their trailer for Scream 1.

To watch the four TV spots released, clips, and behind the scenes footage just click here


PRINT
On print they decided to focus on the most recognizable symbol of the whole franchise: the ghostface mask. After all, we've seen it in so many Halloween parties, parodies and even commercials that it personifies the movie itself.  Their tagline: New Decade, new rules. Even their cult fans will expect something new after ten years to spruce it up. The tagline makes that promise. Same old characters but new made up rules to kill them, perfect. 

Scream 4 poster

Take a look at the rest of the posters in here

The ones featuring Ghostface are the most appealing, the others  hide behind their 90´s precessors and are afraid to innovate. Notice how the international poster relies more on the different name actors bringing Adam Brody into the main picture.

INTERACTIVE&SOCIAL MEDIA

Since the self reflective horror film makes fun of the digital world we live in and how things have changed, it's not surprising to see they have spend their time on their website. It starts with a trailer, which you can skip or not, and then leads you to an intro main page. In it you can purchase tickets online, sign up for their newsletter and decide if you want to connect with them (Facebook, Twitter) or continue without connecting.  If you continue you're lead ( after a small clip of the film) to their final main page. There you can scan through the cast and crew's bios, read the film´s synopsis or download some wallpapers and buddy icons ( Icons for your IM chat). 

The website also has a feature called ¨ SCREAM 4 Soundtrack¨. If you click on it it'll take you to a Facebook fan page of the movie´s soundtrack, which you can listen to while you see still images of the film. If you're eye starts wondering off you can entertain yourself with  a five minute av clip of the film premiere in Los Angeles. It includes short interviews with every actor in the cast and is fairly entertaining. The site also includes a Fandango link to check showtimes, interviews of the cast in several talk shows, links to articles talking about the franchise and lots of photos.

The site´s most interesting feature is its Victims category. In it you can add Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell´s character) as a friend and she was she´s up to in her Facebook profile. Her status are mostly a countdown for the film's release and include inspirational quotes based on her new self help book. It includes photos of Neve and her character in the movie and still shots.  While they could have done something more with it, it seems like they already paid their dues with their Facebook fan page for their soundtrack. Plus the site has been up since February and has already accumulated more than 6,000 fans. You don't have to LIKE it to see all the site's information which I found interesting.

Scream 4 also used Twitter to get hold of their hard core artistic fans. Wes Craven posted a notice on hist tweeter announcing a poster contest. There would be two grand winners and ten finalists. The first two would get to go to the premiere in LA while the others got a signed poster and recognition. Check out the creative winners in Craven's flicker page. He used the same strategy for his movie ¨My Soul to Take¨ with great results. I think it was a great idea to engage the fans and make them win something out of creativity and not pure luck.

Overall I think it was a good campaign. It gave fans what they wanted and promised new changes. They´re staying faithful to what they know works but, like the movie, they´re also embracing the viral world and taken full advantage of it. Now we will only have to wait and see if Scream is the gift that keeps on giving. To make the waiting easier, I'll leave you with a reel of outtakes from Scream 3, laugh now soon you´ll be screaming at the theater.

Sara Ceberio