The Motive
Rule 2: Nobody dies offscreen
What makes a person throw on a mask, grab the sharpest, biggest knife they can find, and start murdering their peer group? These things!
6. Scream 3
This one got goofy on so many fronts, and our (only sole) Ghostface’s motive is very much part of that goofiness. So if you don’t want to roll with the excessive layers of backstory and retconning, the killer’s motive isn’t going to land. And all you have beyond that is “I want to make a horror movie” in a movie that takes place during the filming of a horror movie.
5. Scream
The murder of Sydney’s mother is everything is this one. All roads lead there, including the primary Ghostface’s motive. Turns out they killed Sid’s mom, because of her misbegotten ways, and now they’ve got a taste for being a horror movie villain. Don’t know what they had against Tatum, though. What was that about.
Honestly this one does get… vague. Like, is Sidney’s mother being promiscuous worth two guys doing a half dozen murders? I guess they just like doing a horror movie, and we get better and deeper motives than “saw too many movies.”
4. Scream 2
Revenge against Sidney for Billy’s death is a strong motive for the primary killer, and “Serial killer wants notoriety, blaming the media for his crimes” is weaker but very late 90s. This partnership has more layers and twists than the last go-round and nobody’s being asked to kill their girlfriend because horror movie rules say they oughta.
3. Scream VI
See above but without the “I just like killing” motive for the partner. Everyone’s on board, the events of the last movie require punishment.
2. Scream 4
So the obvious strategy for an 11-years-later Scream sequel would be to pass the torch to a new generation of teen survivors. This does not happen, that takes another 11 years, but I must admit, it is clever that they made “Becoming the new Sidney” their Ghostface arc instead of the movie’s mission statement. Eleven years of hearing about Sidney the survivor, Woodsboro’s most infamous not-dead resident, left a certain someone eager to find fame by taking her place. This one grew on me.
1. Scream Five
“How can fandom be toxic? It’s about love!”
Our latest batch of Ghostfaces are out to make a Stab requel, and need Actual Events to base it on. See, this movie establishes that Stab 8, from “The Knives Out guy,” was largely reviled by chunks of the fandom, and they want to replace it, do you see where this is going? Eighth episode, veers too much from the classics, directed by Rian Johnson? Toxic fans make their own version to replace it?
They‘re doing the Last Jedi Remake. Our villain arc is toxic fans so angered by a movie sequel not matching what they think it should be they demand to make their own. And in a world of so-called fans lashing out in what I cannot believe are more commonly called “fantrums,” such as the aforementioned Last Jedi remake*, petitions to re-do the last season of Game of Thrones, and the most pathetic toxic fan Hail Mary I’ve seen yet, #SellTheSnyderversetoNetflix, it’s perfect, it’s a perfect villain arc for this franchise.
*(which at this point we have to assume was a grift, whoever was soliciting donations for that has disappeared to Malta with the money, why didn’t I think of that)
Next page: The best knifings
