In a perfect world, the local premiere of slasher moviemaker Wes Craven's "Scream 4" in mid-April wouldn't be at a theater but in the auditorium at Santa Rosa High.
There could be searchlights, a red carpet and, after the screening, a sharing of recollections of the dispute that gripped the town when Craven sought permission to use the photogenic high school as the location of his original "Scream" in 1996.
Ultimately the school board refused, saying it wasn't the gory nature of the film that troubled them but the likelihood that movie-making would disrupt learning.
The "Scream" incident will be revisited in a documentary that a 1987 SRHS grad made to coincide with the release of "Scream 4." Hollywood director/producer Daniel Farrands returned to Santa Rosa to interview some of the players in the &‘96 episode, including the school district's Doug Bower, veteran board member Frank Pugh and retired SRHS teacher Mike Daniels.
Farrands' retrospective, "Scream: The Inside Story," is set to premiere April 6 at 6 p.m. on A&E's BIO Channel.
Ex-teacher Daniels smiled wickedly while recalling that as the town debated Craven's request to shoot a scary movie at the school 15 years ago "we learned that the principal was going to be killed, and we liked that."
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