Bob and Harvey Weinstein have had a much-publicized bad run over the years, which only got worse since their split from Walt Disney in 2005. Throughout their illustrious career, however, they have earned big bucks and an insane amount of accolades to go along with it. And while they may know how to get some great work out of some top flight directors, they haven’t had much luck with the horror genre. These films, in particular, are often plagued with problematic production schedules, being jerked from release date to release date, and of course, poor timing (“Grindhouse” on Good Friday, “Halloween: Resurrection” in July, “Wolf Creek” on Christmas Day; etc.).

Dimension Films, which was Bob’s genre label under Miramax, is notorious for interfering with a film while in-production, and this predominately leads to producing lackluster products with only a few bright spots in between. Let’s not forget that this is the studio that has made countless of needless franchises (“Children of the Corn,” “Dracula 2000,” “Mimic,” “The Prophecy,” “From Dusk Till Dawn,” “Pulse,” etc.) and help destroy legitimate ones (“Halloween” and “Hellraiser,” in particular). This is the same studio that treads out bad remakes (RZ’s Halloween and Black Christmas), and bad direct-to-DVD titles that often just waste space on the shelves of your local Walmart or Best Buy. Simply put, the studio is pretty clueless more often than not when it comes to horror films.

So, should we be surprised that they are up to their old tricks again with Scream 4, which is currently in production?

The Scream trilogy has earned the studio over $500 million at the worldwide box office and untold millions more in home video, television and merchandise revenue. So, how were director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson thanked for all of this? Firstly, Dimension produced and distributed Scary Movie, which spoofed the bankable franchise, very much to Kevin Williamson’s dismay. The studio then constantly interfered by ordering re-writes and reshoots with Craven and Williamson’s 2005 film, Cursed, to the point where the once-promising project was dead on arrival. Scream 4 could potentially follow suit as it seems the duo are once again being undermined by the studio.

In recent weeks, the production of Scream 4 has been hampered by exiting cast members and rewrites that are being handled by Scream 3’s Ehren Kruger. Sites like Zap2it are reporting that Williamson is no longer involved in Scream 4 or the proposed sequels. Wes Craven stated, via Twitter, “I have not been given control of the script”. It seems apparent that all is not well in Woodsboro.

With so much at stake with Scream 4, it is baffling that a legend like Craven isn’t given the slightest leeway to deliver a serviceable product. After nearly 40 years, I think he’s earned that much. Instead the egos at Dimension Films continue to run amok and will no doubt suffer the consequences. The studio either needs to get their heads out of their asses or they should stop expecting audiences to turn up for their pasted-together films. Until then, I won’t hold my breath.