Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton caused at least a modest ripple in the bloody pool of horror with Feast, the final film made under the Project Greenlight banner. Though hampered by production problems onset and plummeting ratings off, the deeply deconstructionist Feast earned enough of a cult following to carve Dunstan and Melton a writer’s credit on the upcoming Saw IV.

If you haven’t seen the Saw IV trailer, don’t worry – there’s really not much to see in the way of plot details or even characters - just the ending music of the first Saw playing amid screams and vague carnage. If its Halloween, than it must be Saw.

The problem is once a movie – especially a horror movies – carries a number in front of it, its chances seem to dwindle as much as said number increases. With a fourth installment, the Saw franchise is both running out of characters and possibly running out traps. Can Dunstan and Melton make it work?

Despite a problematic production, Feast succeeded in throwing audience expectations out the window without pissing them off. The way Dunstan and Melton introduces its characters along with a survival-ability rating, and then casusally tossed these statics (and most said characters with it) really set Feast above the rest.

Saw IV is set to be apparently most character-driven than previous installments, which could be its saving grace – the emphasis on bloody traps and brutal twists has taken its toll on the franchise, whose first installment was so slick and smart, it beat out most of its “torture porn” successors.

In short, Dunstan and Melton proved their screenplay merit on Feast. Now they have an even bigger challenge on their plate – resuscitating the Saw series before it goes the way of Halloween and The Howling.