In 1978, Nick administers CPR: Clean, Pretty, Reliable to Ziggy, which works on her despite the fact that she has suffered multiple stab wounds. He also takes a pretty nasty injury trying to protect Ziggy from Tommy, only to walk around later like nothing's wrong. Standard Hollywood Healing, right? No. Nick was able to do these things because he was the current heir to the Goode family's Deal with the Devil. He wanted Ziggy to live, so she lived. And since the deal would break down if he died, he was spared the effects of his injuries.
Furthermore, the fact that Ziggy avoided getting cursed again even after getting her blood on Sarah's body, dying, and being revived via CPR like Sam did makes perfect sense when you find out that Goode, who still holds affections towards Ziggy, is the one cursing people.
In the same scene, David Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” serves as the soundtrack. Which verse in particular plays when Ziggy is revived and she and Nick look at each other? ‘You’re face to face with the man who sold the world,’ very apt lyrics considering Ziggy was literally ‘face to face’ with the man who sold out her town to the Devil for prosperity!
The red moss, something scary and clearly linked to the curse ultimately helping Alice and Cindy escape the underground tunnels is this rather than a case of Nice Job Fixing It, Villain. The moss is Sarah's doing, but Sarah isn't causing the curse. Her spirit has been clinging to it for 300 years for the chance to stop it.
The red moss is also a metaphor for the love between Sarah and Hannah, and later Deena and Sam: essentially a metaphor for lesbian love in general. The red moss that stains the polo shirt Cindy bought specifically to fit in to society’s expectations of “perfect,” the polo shirt that gets more and more stained with red moss and generally ruined as Cindy reconciles with Alice. Cindy and Alice are both said by Word of Gay to be gay and to have romantic feelings for each other— so the polo shirt can be seen as a representation of Cindy’s desire to repress her sexuality and feelings for Alice, with the red moss being her inability and deep down unwillingness to fully do so.
Nick's Hidden Depths in 1978 are actually Foreshadowing to the twist in 1666 - his prank idea for Shelia shows that he's a lot meaner than he acts, and willing to break the rules to his own ends.
The fact that several of the past killers (like the Milkman and Billy Barker, or even Ruby Lane with her facial scars) were deformed could easily be chalked up to simply following in the footsteps of a genre with a history of equating deformity with monstrousness. However, this makes sense in-universe after it's revealed that the killers were deliberately chosen by the Goode family heirs and then possessed and made to kill against their actual nature, so it's likely that at least some of the Goode heirs would deliberately target people who were already othered in some way.
Nick is initially introduced as the good and sympathetic cop character who wants to help and support Deena. So why does our supposedly good cop character arrest a black man on some phony charges and taunt him about it, in a movie series produced in the 2020s? Because as it turns out, he's just a power-tripping villain. And he framed Martin for the graffiti just for the fun of it.
Also easy to gloss over in first viewings, the romantic subplot between Ziggy and Nick in 1978 happens while they are a Camper and Camp Counselor, respectively. While it’s stated that Ziggy is in her last year as a camper and Nick is in his first year as counselor, there is still an age and authority difference between them, which is briefly called to attention when another counselor sees them together and is Squicked out about it.
In 1978 after finding the bodies and gathering everyone in the mess, Nick stresses about the location of the other named counsellors but doesn't mention Tommy; this might be because he already knows where he is, having cursed him only hours earlier.
All of the serial killings deliberately avoid murdering any Sunnyvale residents; the 1994 murders only affected Shadyside’s hospital, school, or supermarket, while in 1978, a possessed Tommy seems to only target Shadysiders (in the outhouse, he chases after Ziggy despite Sheila being unconscious in the corner, and ALL of the kids killed are wearing blue.) This makes sense when you realize that the Goode bloodline lives in Sunnyvale and likely don’t want to confront the violence that will ensue or want it to affect their friends, so they let it happen in another town.
When Sam touches Sarah's bones with her blood the second time, she hears Sarah say "It's you!" during the vision. At the time, she (and the viewer as well) probably assumed that this was directed at Sam herself because she'd disturbed the bones and Sarah wanted revenge, but the line is actually taken from the scene in 1666 when Sarah discovers that Solomon made a deal with the Devil. Sarah was trying to show Sam her memory of who the real evil was, it just got misinterpreted, likely because she wasn't strong enough to impart the full memory without her hand.
When Sam is killed, we get more flashes from Sarah, who screams no during the vision. We learn later it's not from the loss of a potential victim, but from her being unable to properly reveal the truth and thus end the Goode's scheme.
Shadyside, Ohio is a real life town while Sunnyvale is a fictional one created for the town. Kind of makes sense when you find out Sunnyvale is an unrealistically prosperous town while towns like the crime ridden and downtrodden Shadyside of the series do exist in real life, curse or no curse.
The books Deena uses to protect herself against Nick Goode? They were books from the Fear Street books altered with different titles. It's literal Plot Armor.
The years the movies are set in are not chosen at random:
The first movie is set in the year Wes Craven's New Nightmare was released, with Scream being released two years later. Both movies are credited for starting the Slasher renaissance of the late 90's
The second movie is set in the year the first Halloween (1978) film was released. Halloween is notable for setting up many of the tropes that would be associated with the slasher genre for years to come.
The third movie is set in 1666. 666 is the "Number of the Beast", and the events of the trilogy are kicked off by a Deal with the Devil.
At the end of 1994, Deena is given a stab wound by the possessed Sam that does not hurt her too much, and she's able to do much more afterwards. Sam is the only possessed Shadyside killer who's shown to briefly be able to fight off possession, thanks to Deena's "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight. Perhaps Sam was still able to hold back at that moment so that the wound Deena got wasn't that deep, allowing Deena to subdue her.
Following on from that, Deena protects herself using a stack of books as an improvised body vest. She clearly learned from that experience how stab wounds might not be fatal, but they can be a hindrance in a fight to the death.
Sarah does in fact make a deal with the devil after all. It's said that a person has to willingly invite the devil to do his work, and Sarah did that. She read from the Widow's book (and the clips of Solomon doing so have him read the same list of names that Sarah does) and outright told Hannah she was going to make a deal. Her going to the Widow's cottage with the intent to make a deal may have counted in his eyes, or at least got his attention. She even made a sacrifice first before casting the curse - in this case sacrificing herself in exchange for Hannah's life (losing her hand in the struggle with Solomon may have also counted). It's just that Sarah's curse had better intentions behind it.
The diversity in the main cast fits perfectly in the story. Sunnyvale and Shadyside's division clearly mirrors classism, but hate and discrimination are always intersectional. It's worth pointing out that Sam moved to Sunnyvale specifically to stay in the closet, and the Goode responsible to carry on the curse all are white men. This also adds another layer to Sarah's story, making it a case of a white man using a black lesbian as a scapegoat for his horrible actions.
Sunnyvale is shown in the opening montage to be an impossibly peaceful and prosperous city. Yet all the Sunnyvalers we met are extremely petty at best, and disturbingly horrible people at worst, and while it's not impossible (or, sadly, unrealistic) for awful people to obtain wealth, it's difficult to imagine that would be a nice place to live. This foreshadows that the curse isn't only affecting Shadyside, but protecting Sunnyvale as well. It also explains why, as soon as the curse isn't protecting them from the consequence of their horrible nature anymore, the city quickly devolves into chaos.
The lack of female Shadyside killers until 1953 actually makes a lot of sense if anyone knows their history. It was widely believed that women simply couldn't be capable of such brutality (resorting to more duplicitous methods like poison or witchcraft) - Lizzie Borden caused such a scandal because the public couldn't believe a female would do such a thing. So the Goodes throughout history would have avoided cursing women, because a female killer would be seen as even more suspicious. Obviously by the time Ruby Lane got cursed, attitudes had changed.
Actually, if you freeze frame the stone wall where the names are inscribed (it's clearest in 1666 where Deena is giving Josh the full story of Shadyside's past) there are at least two female killers prior to Ruby Lane: Amy Dodd and Rachel Rifken. Unfortunately, we learn nothing about them beyond their names.
Another way to interpret the majority of male killers is in the rhyme "she makes good men her wicked slave". Making the killers mostly male reinforces the narrative of Sarah as a vindictive Femme Fatale who curses good innocent men, and thus makes it less likely someone will suspect the Goodes are behind it.
Ruby Lane took her life to stop herself from killing anyone else. Sam is able wrestle control away from being possessed for a moment. Considering every other possessed killer mentioned was killed before they stopped their killing spree, why would the devil stop his fun early with Ruby? He didn't, she did. Just like Sam, Ruby attacked the person she loved most. To stop herself from killing anyone else, she managed to wrench control back long enough to slit her own wrists.
When Sarah Fier's grave is initially uncovered by Sam, the bones seem almost absurdly close to the surface, and nowhere near the usual grave depth of four feet. And wouldn't you want to bury a witch as deeply as possible? Then in 1666 we find out that her body was moved by four teenagers who had no immediate access to shovels or other burying equipment, and had to work as quickly and silently as possible to give their friend a respectful burial. So of course they're not going to be able to produce anything but a shallow grave — it was the best they could do under the circumstances.
How did Solomon know that the Widow had a book that could summon the devil? Earlier Lizzie, Hannah and Sarah are discussing him on their way to the Widow's cottage and they mention that Solomon took his ailing wife there for help before she died. It seemed like a throwaway comment at the time, but he obviously must have seen the book while at her house, and perhaps even had the chance to flip through the pages as Sarah did.
Being near Sarah's bones (the skeleton or the hand) causes people to have nosebleeds. Bleeding on the bones causes the person to have visions, so it's another part of Sarah's curse; making it more likely that when someone gets close to her remains, they'll bleed on the bones and find out the truth.
For that matter, why did Alice not bleed on the hand when she found it, even though she had a nosebleed herself? As soon as she found it, she put it in Cindy's bag and was careful not to touch it out of fear of damaging it.
Deena mockingly says to Sam the best case scenario of living in Shadyside is "dead on the mall floor after a double shift or if you're lucky, you're the one holding the knife". At the end of the film, Sam is the one holding the knife. And that does make her lucky...because Deena is able to subdue her and make her the first Shadyside possession victim to be freed from it.
Ziggy is the first one to notice Billy Barker when he shows up at the mall battle, even stopping Josh from walking out because she saw him out of the corner of her eye. Billy Barker didn't show up the previous time - Josh only saw Nightwing, Skull Mask and Ruby Lane. Ziggy however had seen him back in 1978, so she'd recognise him instantly.
Sam is able to pull a quick escape through the air vent to pull off the bathroom trap for the Shadyside killers. She's a cheerleader, so of course she's bound to be agile and athletic.
Why don't the killers attack each other again once they've regenerated? They've hacked and slashed at each other so much their own blood has drowned out whatever of Deena's was on them - thus no longer registering themselves as targets.
The car accident that happens at the end of the third movie can be this if you think about how most people in Sunnyvale are blissfully unaware of how their prosperity came from a curse one family presumably kept secret.
Lessened and possibly inverted when you remember how awfully Sunnyvale's students treated Shadysiders: they were spiteful and mean to them, and even treated mourning the latest victims as an annoyance. The fact that they don't know it's a curse mean also that they aren't acting out of self-interest, they are letting them rot and treating them horribly just because.
Imagine the damage Sarah could have done if she'd been the one to use the satanic book to gain power, as multiple characters note that she has some kind of supernatural power herself. Then again, she only ever considers touching it again after the town blames her for their misfortunes, which is a result of someone else having used it. She also is completely unwilling to do any sort of magic that hurts innocent people.
In 1666 it’s implied that one of the reasons Solomon chose to curse Cyrus Miller is because he saw Sarah and Hannah Miller together. That’s scary enough but consider the fact that he saw them because he’d been following Sarah, was that something he did often?
During the montage of Goodes choosing people to sacrifice for the curse, Solomon's son mentions a person named Isaac, which is the name of the character played by Fred Hechinger. So unless they're somehow referring to a different Isaac, it's more than possible that years after her death, Sarah's friend fell victim to the curse she was blamed for, forced to become a killer and beholden to the Goode family for eternity.
This does fall under Fridge Logic however when the Issac mentioned went on a killing spree in 1904, nearly 240 years after the events of 1666. However, given that little is known about the victims of the curse in the previous years, it is very possible that Solomon could've cursed one of Sarah's friends in order to dissuade the idea that she was framed as a witch.
The duel between Sunnyvale and Shadyside is even more tragic with the reveal that the Goodes are actually evil, as with each generation of the curse, the more serial killers make the headlines, the worse Shadyside’s reputation becomes, and the more Sunnyvale sees them as lower class junkies. It’s a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy!
The Goode bloodline inadvertently created centuries of classism with the curse. The reason why the Shadysiders have dealt with drug abuse, monetary problems and a bad reputation all seem to stem from the after effects of these murders. How many people were like Nurse Lane and Ziggy, who lost a family member in a serial killing, and were traumatized? Is it possible that Deena’s father had a sibling at the camp in 1974, or Alice’s parents were affected by a previous killing? Suddenly, hearing any of the Shadysiders talking about their familial difficulties is a lot more harrowing.
Also, Nurse Lane was recognized by both Shadysiders and Sunnyvalers, and they knew her as the mom of a serial killer. How many families were blamed for the actions of their kid when it turns out they were a serial killer on a rampage? Even having the same last name means that getting jobs would be difficult, and even if you did get one, you’d have to worry about the weird looks people would give you. The effects of the murders are more far reaching than they seem.
The Goode Family might have been targeting people from Shadyside who could help the town. Notably, the first victim of the curse was the friendly Pastor; he might have been the only person in town who could both keep the citizens of Union from losing themselves to their Puritanical zeal, and maybe find a way to fight the local Satanist. It's only in the Pastor's fall from grace due to the murders that Solomon Goode is able to take over the town and establish Sunnyvale. This pattern holds true for the only other killers whose history we know; Ruby is asserted to have been a good girl by her mother, who, while obviously suffering, is very accurate about other matters, and Tommy was explicitly mentioned by everyone who talks about him as a Nice Guy extraordinaire, Sam, besides being a good person, was also moving to Sunnyvale, and as such could have been proof of Shadysiders being able to become good people, and we don't see much of Ryan before he is possessed but the one thing we see him do is helping a friend. The Goode Family might have specifically been targeting Shadysiders who had a chance to turn the town around despite the curse in order to keep Shadyside a convenient victim of their crimes. Either that or the curse specifically picks good people just to make it hurt more.
Kate and Simon have their memory rehabilitated by exposing Nick Goode's crimes. But it's unlikely the city at large will believe in the curse, meaning that all the other possessed people will be remembered as monsters, despite being just victims themselves.
Thankfully, it seems that there is a budding community of people knowledgeable about the curse, judging from Josh's chatroom. So at least there will be more people exonerating the victims, although it may take a while.
The fact that the curse seems to be public knowledge at the end may be the reason the unseen person snatches the book in The Stinger. What if it's not a Goode family member, but someone who heard the rumors and thought about making a deal. Or what if it's a Shadysider going Then Let Me Be Evil and deciding to enact a curse on Sunnyvale?
Cindy's sacrifice in the climax of 1978 was extremely pointless in the grand scheme of things. Had Ziggy been killed, Nick probably still would have revived her, and Cindy likely would have lived since the killers were only after Ziggy (and as seen in 1994, they vanish as soon as the target is dead). And of course she had no way of knowing this.
Everything about Cindy, Nick and Ziggy is fridge horror. The only person that who treated Ziggy with kindness (and didn't seem to go insane) that summer was directly responsible for Cindy's death. Not only that, but because Nick was the one who wrote the name he could have also brought Cindy back as well as a part of his deal, (because as seen above, it is implied that magic may have helped him revive Ziggy.) and he didn't. Not to mention the guilt and embarrassment she must have felt if she had any fond memories of him (and she probably did because he's likely the only exposure to romance she had because it is heavily implied she became a recluse after Cindy died.) He was also responsible for the fraught nature of Cindy and Ziggy's relationship because it was the curse that separated them and Nick might have even liked her more because she figured out that Shadyside was truly cursed. How much could he have cared for her because she could have easily been one of the dead because he chose her sister's boyfriend? Could he have done that on purpose to make her more vulnerable to his affections? And then, he alerted Ziggy to the fact that history was repeating itself and made her relive her trauma on the mere off chance the kids made it to her.
And the infamously brutal murder of the Berman sisters, where their killers just hack and stab them repeatedly? Remember the line in the rhyme "she'll never stop until you're dead". The killers wouldn't let them die with one wound; they were literally hacking and stabbing away until both Cindy and Ziggy were dead.
When Ziggy is accosted by one of the killers in 1994, she starts screaming at the top of her lungs; far more than you'd normally expect. Until you realise the killer attacking her is the Milkman...who's also the same one that killed her in 1978. She's literally being attacked by the same man who stabbed her to death repeatedly as a helpless teenager.
Simon facilitated Kate's eventual death by picking the grocery store as their battle ground. While she was stabbed by Skull Mask, she was keeping him at bay until he turned on the bread slicer. In that moment, Simon was also likely realising this, which is why he let his guard down and Nightwing was able to surprise him.
If bad things are now going to happen in Sunnyvale with the curse being lifted, does that mean Sam is in even more danger for living there?
We see young Sheriff Goode in this film, who is a camper alongside Ziggy, and he clearly has a crush on her. He recently chose one of the camp councilors to be this cycle's killer, and thus his helping Ziggy to avoid getting sent home only put her in danger. There is nothing suggesting he secretly wanted her to get killed. In fact, there's a lot of evidence to the contrary. His crush even remains well into adulthood.
Perhaps it was simply that he wanted to have her around so he could act on his feelings for her, and he knew he could prevent her death because he was the one responsible for the curse, as described in the Fridge Brilliance entry above.
Remember that Nick tried to get Ziggy to stay with the rest of the campers, and she only left because she remembered Sheila was locked in the outhouse. So he was intending for her to leave on the bus with the others, and didn't think of her running off on her own to help her bully (who was never in any danger).
It's also possible he kept her around as a potential Red Herring. If anyone thought it suspicious that Tommy randomly snapped and started killing people, Sheila and her Girl Posse's stories about Ziggy being possessed by the witch would put suspicion on her and not Nick.
Is it possible that he named Tommy as the killer before properly meeting Ziggy? Let's say he goes to the underground cave to give Tommy's name, then emerges and meets her properly for the first time under the hanging tree. It's only after he sticks up for her that his crush kicks in, while Tommy's possession begins to take hold over the course of that day. Nick knows what's coming and at some stage realizes he's reluctant to have Ziggy caught up in it, but by that point it's too late.
