Kevin : "Not any more, but honestly I did (watch them), growing up during that time. They were very popular, and I just loved them. That is sort of when I grew into a love of film. Those were the movies everyone watched, and I watched a lot of them. I was also a big fan of all of the John Hughes movies. Y’know, ‘Breakfast Club’ and ‘Pretty In Pink’ and ‘Sixteen Candles,’ and those are my influences. So I tried to merge the two."

At this point a colleague shoots off with "But how do you make good movies?"

Kevin : "I don’t know. I just try to write what I want to see. I tried to do that with ‘Scream’ and with ‘Summer.’ I just try to tell a compelling story."

What I have noticed about your writing, aside from the obvious wit, is that all of your characters are very three-dimensional, and not your standard camp-counselors.

Kevin : "Well, typically in horror films the character just services the plot, and you really are just going from ‘point a’ to ‘point b,’ just so that you can end up at ‘point c.’ They are just sort of stick characters. That’s just not interesting to me. I think that our target audience today is just so savvy, so I try to write all of my characters so that they are self- aware. They’ve all lived through the psycho-babble of the eighties, and have a self- awareness now even if there behavior is not that of an adult, they can sure talk like one. That’s certainly true in ‘Scream’ and ‘Summer’ and in ‘Dawson’s Creek.’ You could dub that show ‘Thirty Something,’ even though they (the characters) are fifteen. I’m really having fun with that."

They are three-dimensional enough that while watching them you find yourself thinking, "What would I do in that situation?"

Kevin : "What I loved about ‘Summer’ was that they were these four bright kids with a wonderful future. In a way, she was the one with the brains (Love Hewitt), and then you have the beauty queen (Sarah Michelle Geller) and the jock (Ryan Phillipe) and the introvert (Freddie Prinze Jr.). They are sort of in way stock figures, and I was hoping to dispel that a little bit, and stir it up differently. And that’s what I liked about it, because they are, in the beginning, your little beautiful stock figures, who then make a decision to preserve their futures, but the decision they make isn’t completely right, and it destroys their futures. And then one year later, y’know, the jock’s suicidal, the brain is flunking out, and the beauty queen is a prozac popping has-been. That’s the thing about the script, is that how these people were affected by their decision, and how it could ultimately kill them, and I mean literally."

You also have thrown a lot of humour into these films.

Kevin : "Yeah, but not in this one so much. I didn’t want to do ‘Scream’ again. ‘Summer’ will be undoubtedly compared to it, which is unfortunate, because this is a much more serious film. It’s a morality film, and it poses the question "What would you do?" I took it very seriously, just as the director did in terms of atmosphere and lighting, and I was just trying to help that vision along. I tried to fit a little humour into it when I thought it was appropriate, but it just gets uglier and uglier as July 4th approaches."

I had just watched the original ‘Halloween’ the other day, again, and the scene in ‘Summer’ where the killer pursues Sarah towards the store? It is very reminiscent of the scene in ‘Halloween’ where Michael Myers stalks Jamie towards her house, and although it has been done so many times since then, I felt it (the scene in ‘Summer’) didn’t lack a punch, and in fact perhaps held more of one.

Kevin : "Why thank-you. (He laughs) There was also a lot of fog in that shot (referring to the John Carpenter film of the same name), so I guess my tastes are definitely starting to show."

Speaking of ‘Halloween,’ what can you tell me about the new one?

Kevin : "Well, as a favor to Bob Weinstein I wrote the treatment. It was a little trade-off; he’d let me direct ‘Killing Mrs. Tingle’ if I wrote the ‘Halloween’ treatment. My first script (‘Killing Mrs. Tingle’) was at another studio, and I asked Bob, if you can get that movie to direct, I’ll bare your children."

Did you say ‘bare’ or ‘bury?’

Kevin : (Laughs) "So I’m doing ‘Killing Mrs. Tingle,’ and I wrote the treatment for ‘Halloween.’ I’m pretty much done. I met with Jamie Lee (Curtis) a couple of times, and she had a lot of insight on where her character is twenty years later, because she created it and she really wants to be a part of it. I don’t want to give too much of it away, because I haven’t cleared it with Bob (Weinstein), but the treatment is twenty years (after the original), and she (Laurie Strode, Jamie Lee’s character), in an effort to protect herself faked her death and did a series of things regarding Dr. Loomis, who has died, because Michael Myers was after her. The setting of the situation is really cool, and it’s very interesting. Jamie is dying to do this; she loved the idea. Can’t you just imagine? There’s going to be a trailer in the theater like this coming summer, and it is just going to be a black screen, and all you will hear is (Kevin starts to mimic the music to ‘Halloween’)."

Is John Carpenter going to direct?

Kevin : "No, he’s not interested AT ALL. I think he is a wonderful director, and I think it is a big mistake, because you have all of these people (attached to it); you’ve got Debra Hill, Jamie Lee Curtis. They are going to get a top-notch director (regardless), and I think it is going to be fun, and it is going to be scary. They are going to concentrate on that."

Does your treatment ignore everything after ‘Halloween 2?’

Kevin : "No, no."

Because I think that we, or at least I, hate everything after part two!

Kevin : (Laughs) " There is sort of a little exposition going on where we explain Haddonfield, and the Haddonfield murders, although it doesn’t take place in Haddonfield. It takes place somewhere else. It’s quite different. Laurie Strode is now a school-teacher, and one of her students gets up and does a report on all of the murders in Haddonfield, so we explain all six films in one scene! (Laughs) It’s going to be a fun movie!"

Can you elaborate on your script for ‘Killing Mrs. Tingle?’

Kevin : "Well, it’s not a horror movie; it’s a dark-comedy. It’s like ‘Heathers,’ which I loved. It’s actually the best representation of who I am as a writer. It’s about a young girl who will stop at nothing to be the valedictorian of her class. It’s very dark and very wicked, but it’s got a great part for a kid, and a great part for an older woman."

Is there a possibility for a sequel to ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer?’

Kevin : "I’d love to have a sequel. There could be, I mean it is an urban legend."

Well, now you have to tell me everything about ‘Scream 2!’

Kevin : "Oh, it’s good, I saw it last week, and it’s funny! I swear to God, I was nervous, and I sat through it... we screened it to Bob Weinstein and he was jumping up and down! Oh, and one last comment; fuck the ‘Titanic!’ (Being released the same week as ‘Scream 2.’)