Revealing previously undisclosed details for ‘Scream’ fans — there will, at last, be a ‘Scream 4′ and then a ‘Scream 5′ — writer Kevin Williamson might as well have compared himself to a slightly maniacal tightrope walker. That is, a tightrope walker who’d grab hold of the balance bar and suddenly wield it as a weapon, furiously gashing unsuspecting spectators while making so many semi-obscure movie references that you’d need an encyclopedia to actually follow them all.

Williamson, late of writing TV’s ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ told MTV News that three original ‘Scream’ stars — Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette — have signed to reprise their roles once more in the brilliant and self-referential slasher franchise. Both sequels will be set in the present, and a new ensemble of actors is currently being recruited for acting support. Action will still occur in mythical Woodsboro, though Campbell’s high school character, Sidney, is presumably a little older now.

Hardest to do, Williamson admitted, is balancing the meta-ness of ‘Scream’ with its seemingly limitless references to all things horror-cinematic, with a sufficiently gruesome storyline that will scare the daylights out of everyone all over again.

“I guess I’ll just have to be very aware of the fact that we’re a ’4′ and that we’re beating a dead dog,” he said, apparently not aware of just how gruesome that image actually is. “I’m going to make that very apparent in the dialogue.”

Meantime, Woodsboro citizens: Be afraid! Be very afraid.