Why ‘Scream’ is the Best Horror Franchise: Scream 3 + 4
“If you find yourself dealing with an unexpected back story and a preponderance of exposition, then the sequel rules DO NOT apply. Because you are not dealing with a sequel, you are dealing with the concluding chapter of a trilogy.”
And here we are, everyone. Scream 3. Traditionally, the third movie in every franchise’s weakest entry; the one everyone hates. Return of the Jedi, The Godfather Part III, The Dark Knight Rises. By consensus, people feel they’re letdowns. (I like the third Godfather. You can read that piece here. Scream 3 followed tradition. It made the least amount at the box office with mixed reviews. Now, I agree, this one isn’t as good as the first two.
I also think it’s pretty damn good.
Now, if you know anything specifically about horror trilogies, you’ll know they’re mostly direct-to DVD sequels to a beloved horror film. (In case you didn’t know one of the greatest horror movies of all time, The Lost Boys, has two direct-to-DVD sequels.) But Scream 3 attempts to do something ambitious: Build on the first two installments and tell a complete narrative to close the book on the franchise. There is a fourth installment, but you can argue that film functions more as an epilogue than a new chapter.
Scream 3 doesn’t mess with the formula. Even giving Gale Weathers another questionable haircut.
Seriously. It’s like they hate her.
Horror movies influenced Billy and Stu to go on a killing spree in Woodsboro. Mickey planned to blame horror movies for his killing spree in Windsor College. So, it’s only appropriate Ghostface goes on a killing spree in the birthplace of horror movies: Hollywood. This time, Ghostface is killing the cast of Stab 3. We know the Hollywood in Scream 3 very well; a place where men in power are predators, creating trauma that’s passed down to the next generation.
Since the events of Scream 2, Cotton Weary has turned himself into a household name. He’s the host of the number one daytime talk show, 100% Cotton (Which I have to admit is a pretty awesome name for a talk show). Cotton and his girlfriend are murdered by Ghostface after refusing to reveal Sidney’s location. Ghostface leaves a calling card: photos of a young Maureen Prescott. Gale is brought in to assist in the investigation by cinema-loving hot cop, Detective Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey).
Detective McDreamy, amirite?
Gale recruits ex-boyfriend, Dewey, now a technical advisor for the third Stab film and in an over-familiar friendship with Jennifer Jolie, the actress playing Gale Weathers in the Stab films. Ghostface kills off cast members, leaving his calling card, and Detective Kincaid demands Dewey to disclose Sidney’s location.
Sidney, now a recluse and plagued with nightmares about Ghostface and her dead mother, works from home as a crisis counselor. Her father compares her to a ghost. Her response is “psychos can’t kill what they can’t find.” It’s not until Ghostface calls her she leaves for Hollywood and assists in the investigation.
Sidney and the gang watch a tape Randy recorded before he died. In this tape, Randy recites a few new rules for the concluding chapter of a trilogy: The killer is invincible, the past will haunt you, and anyone, including the main character, can die; a rule that was established when Cotton Weary was murdered in the opening scene.
Remember Jamie Kennedy?
There is a sequence where Sidney stumbles on the Stab 3 set. All the sets are recreations of locations in the first Scream film, creating a nightmarish labyrinth of Sidney’s trauma. She sees Stu’s house where Sidney found Tatum’s body. She sees her house in Woodsboro, where her bedroom is recreated, and remembers conversations she had with Billy and you can see how much she’s changed since we met her. She’s no longer the teenage girl trying to figure it out. She’s mentally scared, robbed of youth, with no one to keep her company but ghosts. Then, she stumbles on the set of her parent’s bedroom where the crime scene of Maureen’s death is recreated in gruesome detail. Ghostface appears, speaking in Maureen’s voice with a voice changer that can mimic anyone’s voice and he attempts to kill her. In this sequence, shots from Sidney’s first encounter with Ghostface are recreated and she manages to escape. Sidney breaks down because she’s heard her mother’s voice and she’s relived the most traumatic moments of her life. It’s a sequence that is thrilling, terrifying, and heartbreaking, as we watch Sidney completely fall apart.
Sidney Prescott remembers her haunted past on the set of Stab 3.
The climax takes place at a birthday party for Stab 3 director, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley) at the mansion of a famous producer of the Stab series, John Milton (Lance Henriksen). The characters frequently talk about a secret room where John Milton hosted wild Hollywood parties back in the day. Earlier in the movie, he reveals to Devey, Gale, and Jennifer that Maureen Prescott acted in his b-horror pictures back in the day under the alias, Rena Reynolds. The pictures Ghostface has been leaving behind are her headshots. Maureen attended one of these parties where producers preyed on women for sex in exchange for film roles. Shortly after that, she moved back to Woodsboro. The side characters are murdered before Dewey and Gale are captured and Ghostface uses them as bait to lure Sidney to the mansion. Once she arrives at the mansion, Ghostface reveals himself in the secret screening room of the mansion. The killer is Roman.
Big Surprise. Another film bro.
This is the first scene that Roman and Sidney meet but their relationship is defined by one of the most important characters in the series: Their mother is Maureen Prescott.
At the party young Maureen attended, she was raped by John Milton and other producers. Maureen got pregnant, had Roman, gave him away for adoption, and moved back to Woodsboro. Roman found her years later but she rejected him. Roman then organized her murder, revealing to Billy Loomis his father’s affair with Maureen and the cause of his mother leaving Woodsboro. After murdering Maureen, Billy and Stu went in their own direction and murdered their classmates. Roman was hurt Maureen shut him out and raised Sidney. He longed for Sidney’s life. He plans to murder John Milton and frame Sidney. Milton’s throat is slit by Roman. A fight ensues and Sidney stabs Roman in the chest. He holds her hand as she dies; siblings that never got to know each other; suffering from trauma passed down from their mother, a victim of a horrific assault. John Milton’s assault traumatized Maureen, causing her to cope with her trauma through promiscuity; something the town of Woodsboro shamed her for; something that two teenage boys killed her for. Meanwhile, John Milton profited off movies based on her trauma and death; a concept that doesn’t sound farfetched in these times.
John Milton, producer of the Stab series and Maureen Prescott’s rapist.
Scream 3 puts the first two movies in a new light; making the films not only a genre exercise but an exploration of survival and coping with trauma. We get a happy ending. Dewey doesn’t get stabbed in the back and gets the bad guy. He proposes to Gale when they visit Sidney, now a little more at peace with herself now that she’s found the root of her mother’s trauma, the root of her unknown half brother’s trauma, and finally, the root of her trauma. The final image is Sidney’s door slowly opening and she stares at it before leaving the frame to watch a film with her friends and new support system; a cryptic ending that could mean a ghost has left the house, Sidney finally feels at peace, or Sidney’s trauma will never fully leave her. It is an ending that feels both unsettling and peaceful.
Or it could mean the door is left open for a sequel, which brings us to…
“All there are now are remakes. I mean, there are still rules, but the rules have changed. The unexpected is the new cliche.”
If you threw a rock in the mid to late 2000s, chances are you’d hit a horror remake. After the remake of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Hollywood remade every classic slasher movie they could think of. Every time one came out, they’d say, “this isn’t a remake, it’s a re-imagining.” Whatever the fuck that means. These remakes usually rehashed original movies, only with a significant amount of blood and gore. I can’t think of many movies more violent than the Hills Have Eyes remake. This was one of the most popular trends in horror for a decade. Until Scream 4 was released.
Ten years after the last film, the Stab series has now reached its seventh installment. Just like the previous Scream movies, there are rules for horror remakes: Charlie (Rory Culkin), this film’s Randy surrogate, explains to us remakes are more violent and the unexpected is the new cliche. Basically, there are no rules. Sidney is back in Woodsboro, promoting a book, Out of Darkness, about conquering her trauma and refusing to consider herself a victim. But, as we know Sidney can never have nice things because another Ghostface has come out of the woodwork and murdered two more teenagers. Deputy Dewey, now the sheriff, is on the case, and his wife, Gale struggles to write, bored of living a quiet life in Woodsboro. She’s also jealous of Sidney’s newfound success and very mistrusting of Dewey’s deputy, Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton), who bakes him lemon squares every day. I’d also like to point out this is the first time Gale Weathers does not have a horrendous hairstyle.
It took 15 years but you did it. Congratulations.
Sidney stays with her aunt and niece, Jill (Emma Roberts), the new Sidney. She’s going to high school with her friends, Olivia (Marielle Jaffe) and horror aficionado, Kirby (Hayden Panettiere). Her sus boyfriend, Trevor (Nico Tortorella) stalks her after she left him when he cheated on her. She’s got nerdy film bro friends and her family is recovering from all the things that have happened over the years. Jill and her friends refer to Sidney as the grim reaper or the angel of death because people always die when she’s around. When Jill and her friends start getting stalked, Sidney is reminded of her past and becomes Jill’s support system. Sheriff Dewey puts Jill under protection; the cops parked outside looking for suspicious activity. Ghostface quickly dispatches them and heads to Olivia’s house next door to Jill. Ghostface calls Jill and Kirby, forcing them to watch him brutally slaughter Olivia. When Sidney is alerted of this, she darts into Olivia’s house, ready to throw hands at Ghostface, with no weapon or anything. Sidney definitely took some martial arts classes cause she Bruce Lee kicks the shit outta him. This scene is important for two reasons: She’s definitely prepared for this over the years and she’s no longer a victim. She attempts to save Olivia rather than stand by and this is a great demonstration of Sidney’s evolution from victim to fighter.
New number. Who dis?
From there, Sidney, Dewey, and Gale investigate. Gale is particularly invigorated, having found her purpose again. She teams up with the film bros for advice on remakes, where they explain the original’s third act ended with a party and the characters should expect the same in the remake.
Ghostface terrorizes Sidney and murders her aunt. She races to Kirby’s house when Jill’s friends have been murdered and we find out Ghostface’s identity when he terrorizes Kirby with horror trivia (She’s the horror aficionado so she’s great at it. This is the first instance a character knows more about horror trivia than Ghostface) and she’s stabbed by Charlie (Look. Another film bro), angry that she never returned his advances. Not long after Sidney arrives at the house to rescue the teenagers, she’s stabbed by Charlie’s partner, Jill. They plan to frame Jill’s boyfriend. Charlie wants to be with his secret girlfriend, Jill. This doesn’t really end too well when she stabs him to death to set him up as Trevor’s accomplice and herself as the sole survivor. Jill wants fame. Specifically, Sidney’s fame. In her traditional Scream villain monologue, she scoffs at the idea of going to school and working and plans to kill Sidney to take her place in the public eye.
It be your kin sometimes.
Sidney passes out from her wounds and Jill mutilates herself before positioning her body next to Sidney’s, mirroring Sidney’s body as she bleeds out. She’s taken out on a stretcher, ready for her close-up, as the press feverishly photographs her, a moment that recalls Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard, descending the staircase in true bliss and madness.
Jill and Sidney are both hospitalized, and Jill tries to kill Sidney once and for all. All the main players show up to help and Sidney kills Jill.
“You forgot the first rule of remakes, Jill. Don’t fuck with the original.”
Sidney lies down on the floor, her body mirroring Jill’s, recalling the scene from earlier. She looks at her lifeless niece and says, “I don’t know about you but I feel a whole lot better.”
After 15 years of trauma, Sidney Prescott no longer runs from her demons but fights them head-on. To paraphrase the final line of Scream 4, Sidney Prescott of Woodsboro. A girl who’s lifted all of our spirits. An American hero, right out of the movies.
I want to mention Never Campbell. Sidney Prescott is her most famous role. While she hasn’t had many parts that have reached the same levels of popularity, she’s one of a handful of actors that have given legitimacy to a genre that’s been written off as immature and silly. She’s an incredible actor and plays Sidney as a person with complexities wrestling with real emotions rather than the “final girl” horror trope. In every movie, Campbell adds a new layer to Sidney, showcasing her range as an actor. Shout out to Neve Campbell for showing the world that horror onscreen can have the gravity of real life.
The incomparable Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott in the final shot of Scream 3.
