On December 20, 1996, the first Scream movie was released. Throughout the 90’s, slasher movies were taking over the movie theaters.
“Scream” followed a girl named Sidney Prescott living in a small town called Woodsboro with her dad because her mother had been killed a few years back. She had a normal life; she went to high school and went to parties with her friends. She would also spend time with her boyfriend, Billy. Around the anniversary of her mother’s death, people in her town were being killed by the murderer, Ghostface. At the same time, Ghostface would call Sidney and taunt her. The whole town was locked down so the police could find the killer. Everyone had a curfew, but the high schoolers had a party planned. During the party, Sidney and her friends talked about what not to do in a scary movie.
The rules are simple: no drugs, no sex, everyone is a suspect, and never say “I’ll be right back” – you won’t be.
Later on, Ghostface came to kill Sidney, but she fought back and found out that it was her boyfriend and his best friend. Billy was arrested, and his best friend was killed in the fight, even though they followed the ‘scary movie rules.’ This connects back to all of the scream movies; the rules of a scary movie always come up.
During the 21st century, “Scream” became very popular, so the producers, Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena, came out with a second one. “Scream 2” takes place when Sidney is in college, and a new Ghostface starts to kill people.
In the movie, the movie named “Stab” came out, which is based on a book that a previous character from the “Scream 2” movie, Gale Weather, wrote about the Woodsboro murders. Gale was a reporter and followed Sidney and her friends to figure out the killer. Sidney was once again targeted, but she was placed under police protection. Similar to what happened in “Scream 2,” police officer Dewey Riley and Gale helped Sidney capture the killer.
Once again, Sidney attends a party with her new boyfriend, Derek Feldman, where the killer, who acts just like the last Ghostface, injures her boyfriend and kills one of her friends. Later in the movie, Sidney Dewey and Gale found out that one of the film students and Billy’s mother were the copycat killers.
In 2000, Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena made “Scream 3” with the intention of making Scream a trilogy. But in 2011, they made “Scream 4” to reboot the franchise. At this point, it seems as if they’re just trying to keep it alive, as all of the movies have the same plot. Ghostface targets Sidney, Gale gets slapped in the face, the police try to help Sidney, but it always ends with her saving herself.
Though “Scream 5,” which came out in 2022, finally had a new perspective, it was shot through the perspective of Sam Carpenter, the daughter of Billy. Sam returns to Woodsboro because her sister, Tara, was attacked by a Ghostface. Characters like Sidney, Dewey, and Gale return to help find the killer. Through this movie, it feels as if the producers are trying to fade out the older characters. Later on, Dewey died, and in “Scream 6,” Sidney wasn’t included. Parker Maly, a senior at Ida B. Wells-Barnett High School, said, “I am not a big fan of movies that repeat the same trope over and over again in the same franchise. Like, I understand two different franchises doing the same trope, like a scream movie and another flasher movie, but I don’t think that they’re too drawn out, and it’s kind of weird how the aging progresses and how the timeline progresses.”
When “Scream 7” came out, Sidney was back, but this time she wasn’t some teenager: she was a wife and a mother. Yet again, Ghostface targeted Sidney throughout the movie. Though unlike “Scream 5” and “Scream 6,” Sidney has a different tone to her. Her one goal was to protect her daughter, and she was ready to sacrifice herself for her daughter.
As technology advances, so do the Scream movies. That being said, the directors have recently included social media and artificial intelligence.
The more recent Scream movies feel rushed; the casting directors continue to bring in up-and-coming stars to try to keep the franchise alive. So, this leaves many Scream fans wondering, should Scream have stopped at three movies?
