Scream / YMMV - TV Tropes

Works in this franchise with their own YMMV pages:

YMMV Tropes with their own pages:

YMMV for the franchise as a whole:

Alternate Aesop Interpretation:
- Especially after The Reveal, all the films are deep down or eventually become fables about facing down and standing up to bullies, with whom the Ghostfaces share many similar traits.
- Alternatively, life is not your movie, and the people around you are not characters that you can decide roles for. Thinking such leads nowhere good.
Angst? What Angst?: Not once in the franchise does Dewey show any sadness about his own sister being brutally murdered. It gets a brief mention in the second one, and Stone makes a quip about it in the third - but it's still rather shocking. However, in the fifth, it is revealed that Dewey has Tatum’s ashes on his mantle.
Awesome Music: Red Right Hand by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds appears in all films except the fourth, to memorable effect. Nick Cave even recorded a new version of the song specifically for the Scream 3 soundtrack and it's seen as something of a Bootstrapped Theme for the series.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: Derek's singing scene in Scream 2, though it's got nothing on the out-of-nowhere cameo by Jay and Silent Bob in Scream 3. So apparently the Scream movies take place in The View Askewniverse.
Broken Base:
- The death of Randy in Scream 2. Supporters view it as a bold move because it added tension to the movie by demonstrating that Anyone Can Die, effectively making Ghostface's later attack on Dewey look like a real death. On the other hand, detractors point out that the later sequels are hampered by his absence since every Scream movie has a "rules" scene and thus requires Randy to be brought back in some form or another either through Video Will or through some character that is essentially just a copy of him.
- The death of Dewey in Scream (2022). Half the base sees it as a good tension builder and a worthy send-off to a beloved character, and were happy to see one of the series' central Power Trio finally lose his Plot Armor to once more establish that Anyone Can Die. The other half, however, sees it as only there for shock value.
- The who-killed-who debate can get pretty heated, particularly with Scream 4 and Scream (2022).
- And on that note, fans of the fourth and fifth films can get pretty heated over which was better. Defenders of the fourth film argue that the fifth was redundant because the series had already done a nostalgic throwback with a "next generation" cast and a plot satirizing reboots and legacy sequels, while citing the Values Resonance of the killer's motive. Defenders of the fifth, meanwhile, argue that it was the better version of the fourth that was willing to take more risks and had all-around better production values.
Catharsis Factor: Especially after the The Reveal, when the killers are not only Ax-Crazy, but also obnoxious Jerkass Hate Sinks, it is very satisfying to see them get theirs at the climax.
Common Knowledge:
- How Maureen Prescott died. Websites and wikis, such as the Scream one, state that she was stabbed in the groin, twice in the chest, and once in the head, which is accepted by the majority as fact, even though that's just a Fanon theory that originates from the condition of Maureen's body bag (which itself was just a prop for a Film Within a Film titled Stab 3) in Scream 3. In reality, the exact circumstances of her death have never been revealed. She is said to have been tortured, but this is only ever brought up once, in a newscast by self-admitted sensationalist Gale Weathers. She's also said to have been raped, but this is just a misconception that stems from her having been killed immediately after having sex with Cotton, as well as Sidney, who misidentified the real killer as Cotton, insisting to everyone that there was nothing consensual going on between Cotton and Maureen because "she wouldn't have touched him." In addition, the real killers never even hint that they raped Maureen.
- When deducing who killed whom, some fans theorize that each Ghostface has their own unique knife technique to differentiate themselves from their partner. In reality, kill confirmations made by the killers In-Universe, the script, or Word of God all disprove the kill style theory.^{For example} In addition, while director Wes Craven and writer Kevin Williamson explained in the DVD Commentary of the first Scream that they kept track of the two killers' locations so that at least one of the killers was available for every one of Ghostface's attacks, neither of them ever bring up kill style to distinguish the two Ghostfaces. Likewise, the later Scream movies made by Radio Silence don't follow the kill style theory either.^Explanation
Complete Monster: See here.
Contested Sequel: Many fans rank the first film as a classic, the second film as a worthy sequel, and the third film as a mediocre cash-in. However, there are quite a few who feel that the third film is better than the second, and there's even a small camp (which includes, among others, Richard Roeper and Welshy) who feel that the second film is the best in the whole series. The fourth film, meanwhile, holds a "middle" position according to fans — not as good as the first, but stronger than the second/third (whichever one the fan in question thinks is the weaker entry of the two). Both V and VI are generally seen as quite good, albeit each with their particular criticisms (such as how they handle the death of Dewey in V). Finally, you will find very few fans of the movies who will defend the TV series as anything more than So Okay, It's Average.
Diagnosed by the Audience: Randy Meeks. His laser-focused knowledge on horror movies and lack of certain social graces (in the first movie, he discusses gory stuff while the others are eating, and multiple characters automatically assume that Ghostface is actually Randy pulling some kind of prank when he comes around) can lead to the conclusion that he might have a condition. Then again, he could also just be just a passionate horror geek who's a little socially awkward at times.
Ensemble Dark Horse:
- Test audiences for the first film liked Dewey so much that Wes Craven put in a scene that had him survive, and he survived for all films until the fifth.
- Casey Becker (the blond girl murdered by Ghostface in the beginning of the first film) is very popular thanks to Drew Barrymore's acting and because the scene itself is a Signature Scene.
- Randy gained such a following that a sizable portion of the fanbase was furious when he was killed off in Scream 2, so much so that Scream 3 explicitly lampshaded it.
- Ditto for Kirby in Scream 4, to the point that a massive chunk of the fanbase believes she's Not Quite Dead (which was confirmed in the following film via Freeze-Frame Bonus). In the sixth movie, she returns with a major supporting role.
- Stu is often considered one of the best Ghostfaces, mainly due to Matthew Lillard's Large Ham performance and memorable lines.
- Jennifer Jolie from the third movie tends to rank pretty high on lists ranking the characters from across the series, being one of the highest-rated characters to only be in a single film (which she is sometimes considered to have been more entertaining in than any of the returning leads). Fans appreciate her humorous characterization, chemistry with Gale and Dewey, and (eventual) competence. Like Kirby (until the fifth movie, see above), she has fans who think she's Not Quite Dead.
- Tatum Riley from Scream is often ranked as one of the franchise's top characters, and one of the greatest best friend characters in a horror movie, for her sense of style, attractiveness, talented actress, loyalty to Sidney, and the fight she puts up.
Evil Is Cool: Ghostface, for his skulking tactics to get his prey and unique plans to pull off his or her schemes behind the killings. Special mention to Stu for being so comedic and unhinged.
Fan Nickname: Ghostface sometimes is referred to as “Ghosty”/“Ghostie” as an affectionate nickname.
Fanon Discontinuity: Some fans prefer to see the original movie as a standalone story and ignore the killing sprees from the sequels.
Fan-Preferred Couple:
- Despite it being revealed that Billy Loomis never loved her and was plotting to kill her, many fans to this day still ship Sidney Prescott with Billy, mainly due to their chemistry and Billy getting a healthy dose of Draco in Leather Pants. It is far more popular than her pairing with Mark Kincaid, who the fifth film reveals she married and had children with.
- Despite the sixth film having Tara Carpenter get together with Chad Meeks-Martin, it is still far more popular to pair Tara with Amber Freeman, even with Amber being dead after trying to kill Tara and her friends in the fifth film. This is mainly due to the chemistry between Tara and Amber and the fact that Tara and Amber were dating in the original script for Scream (2022). It's also easily more popular than the canon Amber/Richie Kirsch.
First Installment Wins: The first movie is still the best regarded, for its Deconstruction and Reconstruction of the slasher genre and renewing the genre as a whole. While Scream has a good record in terms of sequels, they never reached the height of the reputation that the first one got.
Franchise Original Sin: Now has its own page.
Friendly Fandoms:
- Fans of Scream may also be fans of its parody, Scary Movie.
- Fans of Scream are often also fans of A Nightmare on Elm Street, mainly due to Wes Craven's involvement with both franchises.
Genre Turning Point: It single-handedly revived the slasher genre after nearly a decade outside the mainstream, and kicked off the Postmodernism craze in horror.
Hilarious in Hindsight:
- Santa Clarita Diet is especially hilarious for fans of this series, with Drew Barrymore, the first film's opening victim, as a murderous monster, and Timothy Olyphant, one of the second film's killers, as her character's husband, a regular guy dragged into her mess.
- Two separate Ghostface killers have mocked the idea that violent horror movies drove them to kill. Billy in the first film has the famous line that "movies don't create psychos, they make psychos more creative", while in the second, Mickey plans to exploit the public's disdain for horror movies by cynically using them as an excuse for his actions, guaranteeing himself a sensational trial. In Scream: Resurrection, on the other hand, Beth claims unironically that she became a sociopath because she watched too many horror movies.
I Am Not Shazam: Some people think Ghostface's name is "Scream" due to the series' title and the killer's iconic screaming ghost mask. Ironically though, the killers have only been called Ghostface a few times in the franchise, instead being more commonly dubbed as "the killer".
It Was His Sled: The identity/identities of Ghostface become this shortly after the release of every movie.
LGBT Fanbase: The franchise never had any explicitly queer characters (barring Robbie's "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner in the fourth film, which could easily be read as a desperate attempt to not get killed) until the TV show and the fifth film. However, it was created by an out gay screenwriter, its satirical Meta Fiction was rich with camp (especially in the catty heroine Gale Weathers), and the relationship between the first film's highly charismatic and attractive villains was filled with Homoerotic Subtext. As such, it's been known to have a considerable LGBTQ+ following.
Like You Would Really Do It: Anytime after the second movie where it seems as if Sidney, Dewey, or Gale will die. Until the fifth movie, where Dewey does die.
Love to Hate: Billy Loomis, his mother, Roman Bridger and Jill Roberts are all definitely intended to be Hate Sinks, but Stu, Mickey, Charlie, Richie, and Amber all fall into this due to their Laughably Evil and quirky portrayals by their actors.
Magnificent Bastard: The imagined version of William "Billy" Loomis is introduced as the darkly charismatic manifestation of his daughter Samantha "Sam" Carpenter's inner darkness. To protect Sam and her half-sister Tara, Billy sways Sam to tell Tara the truth and trust no one else, also demanding she hunt down and murder the Ghostface killers. Heeding Billy's advice, Sam frees a captive Tara to subdue the one half of the Ghostface duo and later Billy draws Sam's attention to a hidden blade to murder the other one. Proud of Sam for surviving, Billy stays by her side to watch over her next outing with Ghostface.
Memetic Loser: Ghostface in general, as many fans have noticed that being a generally more human character means they're far more subject to getting physically hurt compared to other movie slashers.
Narm Charm: Of course Scream has this in spades. It comes with the territory of being a franchise of slasher media.
Only the Creator Does It Right: Many fans blame the problems with Scream 3 on the absence of Kevin Williamson. Averted with the fifth movie, that while without both Williamson and Wes Craven was very well-received.
Older Than They Think:
- Wes Craven made a meta-horror film two years before directing the first Scream film.
- The franchise's basic premise of horror savviness and applying "the rules" of the genre to reality was first used in an obscure little flick called There's Nothing Out There, though that was admittedly more a creature feature than a slasher. Even earlier proto-examples include slasher spoofs like Student Bodies (which is amusingly name-dropped in the sequel) and Pandemonium, both released in The '80s at the height of the slasher boom.
  - A psychotic person whose loves movies to the point where he kills people, occasionally spouting out film trivia and film quotes? There was one example of that prior to Scream, and that is the 1980 psychological horror comedy Fade to Black. The only difference is that in Fade to Black, the killer also dressed up as characters from classic films (not just horror, but as Hopalong Cassidy and a film noir gangster for three of his kills, while dressing as Dracula and the Mummy for two other kills).
- The popular "Ghostface mask" was not invented by this movie, as is commonly believed. It first appeared in costume shops in 1991, around five years before the original Scream was released (the creators even had to alter its design slightly to avoid copyright issues). The success of the film contributed so much to the mask's iconic status, though, that it's often erroneously referred to as a "Scream mask" by trick-or-treaters who commonly buy it as a costume accessory around Halloween.
Paranoia Fuel:
- Nowhere is safe enough. The killers manage to butcher people in a crowded movie theater, in a crowded campus in broad daylight (getting their merry way out before anyone notices, in both cases), get past policemen watching the victim's house, or viciously attack them in a hospital.
- The biggest Fridge Horror factor is that in the movies, Sidney is almost killed by her boyfriend and his horror movie-obsessed friend in the first movie, her dead insane ex-boyfriend's mother in the second one, her half-brother in the third, and then her cousin in the fourth. All while they go around killing her friends/loved ones just to get revenge on her. ANYBODY you care about could be the killer!
Poor Man's Substitute: At the time of the first film to beyond, the films' composer Marco Beltrami can be considered the franchise's Christopher Young (further helped by the fact that Beltrami was part of Young's music scoring team and even orchestrated his score for Virtuosity a year before the first film in the franchise, and that some of Young's score to Copycat, released a year before the original film, was featured in its theatrical trailer).
Portmanteau Couple Name: The franchise has a bunch of these all the way back to the original. There's "Stuilly" for Stu/Billy, "Sidly" for Sidney/Billy, and "Gewey" for Gale/Dewey, which are the most popular ones overall. The 2022 film also introduces a new one in the form of "Tamber" for Tara/Amber.
Sequelitis: The third film for many, and the second and fourth for some.
Spiritual Successor: To Wes Craven's New Nightmare, which was directed by Wes Craven, the original director of the Scream films. New Nightmare was a self-aware meta-horror film that deconstructed the slasher genre, so one can consider the Scream films as Wes Craven's second run at the idea.
Suspiciously Similar Song: Despite drawing parallel sensibilities with fellow horror genre composer Christopher Young as noted above, Marco Beltrami's scores for the film series can also bring to mind Graeme Revell's score for Child's Play 2. Beltrami's work on this Slasher Movie franchise alongside other horror movie scores he was doing at the time can also be viewed as a new age Spiritual Successor to the underrated orchestral 80s Slasher Movie scores of fellow film composer Richard Einhorn for such works as Eyes of a Stranger and The Prowler.
Unintentional Period Piece:
- In the first film, Billy has a cell phone, which casts suspicion on him as being the Ghostface killer in the first act of the movie. Nowadays, it would be more suspicious if he didn't have a cell phone. Oddly enough, he defends himself by saying everyone has one, which wasn't actually true at the time.
  - Relatedly, the killers' MO is dependent on people being more likely to use landlines than cell phones, meaning that if you answer your phone, the caller knows where you are.
- Likewise, a pivotal scene in the first film takes place in a video rental store. 'Nuff said.
- The image of horror films that the Scream series runs on is the slashers of The '80s. While these movies were seen as dated and trite even in 1996 (the whole reason Scream was making fun of them), they were still reasonably modern at the time, the sort of films that teenagers watched at parties. With the rise of Torture Porn, Found Footage Films, and supernatural horror in the '00s and '10s, slashers are seen as retro nowadays, which Scream 4 had to address when it came out in 2011. By the time of Scream 5, this shift in modern horror is so complete that protagonist Tara maintains that she prefers "elevated horror" like The Babadook to the now-several-decades-old 80s slashers.
- A journalist explicitly states that she cannot take action on a story without being able to prove the sensational allegations she plans to report. If that doesn't tell you this takes place a quarter-century ago, nothing will.
Values Resonance: Kate Gardner has written a series of articles for The Mary Sue on the series, and how its portrayal of its villains anticipated a lot of the public debates held over various social issues in The New '10s.
- In the first film, Billy Loomis is a very handsome teenage boy who pressures Sidney into sex, disrespects her feelings and pain, and spends the entire film lying to her. It's also strongly implied that Casey and Steve, the opening victims, died because Casey rejected Stu (the other killer), and he took it out on her and her boyfriend. And a year prior to the events of the film, Billy and Stu murdered Maureen Prescott because Billy blamed Maureen for destroying his parents' marriage, even though it takes two to tango, and his father was just as much to blame as Maureen was. Gardner describes the killers as "angry men who think the world owes them something and that they can kill who they want to get revenge for slights", foreshadowing numerous real-life spree killers (quite a few of whom were driven by misogyny) who became notorious in the 2010s.
- Gale Weathers may have been an old-media tabloid journalist, but the arc of her career in the first two films, in particular her If It Bleeds, It Leads nature, is more relevant than ever in a time when the True Crime genre has seen a resurgence of popularity in the form of podcasts and documentaries, especially with the films' exploration of how Sidney was affected by the media circus that Gale's books generated, and with how Mickey's motive in the second film, and Jill's in the fourth, is to chase the media attention that comes with it.
- The third film got a major second look in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the #MeToo movement revealing the horrifying extent of sexual harassment and assault throughout Hollywood and many professional industries more broadly. Here, it's revealed that Maureen Prescott was an aspiring actress in The '70s, only to quit the industry in disgust after getting raped at a Hollywood party by a high-powered producer.
- The movies often go in-depth about how misguided it is to believe that movies cause people to become murderers, since people who are inspired by movies to kill already wanted to commit murders to begin with, or just want to find an excuse to look like the victim. Said message is still relevant 20 years later, especially after the hysteria caused by the mainstream media believing Joker (2019) was going to cause a mass shooting, to the point they gave an inordinate amount of coverage to two guys being arrested for smoking in a theater that was showing that movie.

YMMV / Scream

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YMMV Tropes with their own pages:

YMMV for the franchise as a whole: