Secret babies, killer half-siblings, and too many Ghostfaces to count. Need a refresher on the many massacres of Woodsboro? This spoiler-filled "Scream" timeline has you covered.
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00:00Secret babies, killer half-siblings, and too many ghost faces to count.
00:05Need a refresher on the many massacres of Woodsboro?
00:08This spoiler-filled Scream timeline has you covered.
00:11As resident horror expert Randy Meeks reveals via recorded VHS tape in Scream 3, the introduction
00:17of an unexpected backstory may just mean that our heroes are in the final installment of
00:21a horror trilogy.
00:22While this didn't turn out to be the case considering the additional sequels that followed,
00:26Scream 3 still provided some important information about the early life of Sidney Prescott's
00:30late mother.
00:32In the late 1970s, Maureen Prescott left the town of Woodsboro to become a Hollywood star.
00:37Under the stage name Marina Reynolds, she acted in three films during her short career,
00:41all horror projects directed by famed studio head John Milton.
00:44As Gail Weathers and Jennifer Jo Lee discover in Scream 3, Milton sexually assaulted Maureen,
00:49leading to her decision to return home.
00:52After returning to Woodsboro, Maureen met and married Neil Prescott, and the couple
00:55welcomed Sidney into the world sometime in 1981.
00:58Sixteen years later, the past comes back to haunt Maureen in a deadly way.
01:03As he reveals himself to be the Scream 3 killer, Roman Bridger delivers a passionate and deranged
01:08monologue detailing how he finally tracked down Rena Reynolds in Woodsboro after searching
01:12for her his whole life.
01:14It's 1995, and Roman explains that he knocked on her door and thought that she would welcome
01:19him into her home, but she rejected him for a new life and family.
01:23She slammed the door in my face and she said I was Rena's child and Rena was dead, and
01:27it struck me.
01:29What a good idea.
01:32Roman soon discovered that Rena, Maureen, had a reputation around town.
01:36He captured footage of Maureen meeting up with Cotton Weary and Billy's father outside
01:39of town.
01:40Roman shared this discovery with Billy, instructing him on how to get revenge, and now he had
01:44an accomplice and someone to frame.
01:47Meanwhile, Billy, who's in an on-again-off-again relationship with Sidney, hooks up with Christina
01:51Carpenter and ends up fathering a child in secret, Sam Carpenter, who would go on to
01:55face Ghostface in Scream 2022 and Scream 6.
02:01Death returns to Woodsboro when Casey Becker and her boyfriend Steve are brutally stabbed
02:04to death in 1996, kicking off a string of murders that will haunt the town for decades.
02:10At the center of the deadly action is local high school student Sidney Prescott, who at
02:13first has no idea that the killers are hiding in plain sight.
02:17Principal Hembree is the next one to die, followed by Tatum and cameraman Kenny.
02:21Sidney's boyfriend Billy does little to console her, instead placing the blame squarely on
02:25her shoulders.
02:27As Sidney and her teenage friends deal with grief and fear, the adults of Woodsboro are
02:31also affected by the case.
02:32News anchor Gail Weathers leads local coverage of the murder spree, striking up an unlikely
02:36yet flirtatious friendship with Deputy Dewey Riley.
02:40Everything culminates during a party at accomplice Stu Mocker's house, during which Stu and Billy
02:44reveal themselves to be the villains behind the Ghostface mask.
02:48After a bloody showdown, Sidney, Gail, and Randy are the last ones standing.
02:51Deputy Dewey also survives, but just barely.
02:55Gail Weathers publishes her debut novel titled Wrongly Accused, the Maureen Prescott murder,
03:00sometime between 1995 and 1996.
03:03Naturally, Sidney doesn't appreciate seeing her mother's memory being used to sell books.
03:07I'll send you a copy.
03:12The next morning, Sidney attempts to apologize to Gail for assaulting her, and the two ultimately
03:15discuss a few finer details of the book.
03:18In Wrongly Accused, Gail posits that Cotton Weary was falsely identified as Maureen Prescott's
03:23killer and uses various pieces of evidence and testimony to refute Sidney's claims.
03:28Cotton admits that he had an affair with Sidney's mother, but asserts that he's been framed
03:31for her murder.
03:33Not a single word of Cotton's story ever changes over time, and it plants a seed of doubt within
03:37Sidney.
03:39For her follow-up novel, Gail Weathers records the events of Scream in her 1997 book The
03:43Woodsboro Murders.
03:45Considering she was greatly involved, both as an investigative reporter and a ghost-faced
03:49target, no one is better suited to bring all the titillating details to print.
03:53She keenly recalls the events through her singular perspective, while centering the
03:56action around Sidney Prescott.
03:58Gail exaggerates certain elements from the real events, including her cameraman Kenny's
04:02death and the big finale.
04:04In Scream 2, it's Dewey who has an issue with Gail's work, specifically her depiction of
04:09Page 32.
04:11Deputy Dewey filled the room with his Barney Fife-ish presence.
04:16The Woodsboro Murders becomes the inspiration for a blockbuster slasher franchise titled
04:20Stab, explored with numerous sequels throughout the Scream universe.
04:25Scream 2 unfolds two years after the original.
04:28Sidney has gone away to Windsor College and finds a passion for theater.
04:32She's landed a starring role as Cassandra in The Fall of Troy, when a double murder
04:35rocks the campus.
04:37The victims are students Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens, who meet their grisly ends at
04:40a midnight screening of Stab.
04:43Once again, Sidney sits in the eye of the storm, along with Dewey, Gail, Randy, and
04:47some new faces as they scramble to determine the identity of the killer.
04:50This time, the body count is higher and the kill sequences are much more elaborate, as
04:54Randy is quick to explain.
04:56Let's assume the killer, or Urs, has half a brain.
04:59He's not a Nick at Night rerun type of guy.
05:01He wants to break some new ground.
05:03Sorority sister CeCe Cooper, Sidney's roommate Halle, and ultimately Randy himself meet their
05:07untimely ends at Ghostface's Knife.
05:10In the finale, an amateur news reporter reveals herself to be Billy's mother and the mastermind
05:14behind the latest serial killings.
05:16With her son gone, she's become a maternal figure to her boyish accomplice Mickey, who
05:20seeks to use the murders to become the central figure of a massive serial killer trial.
05:25A shootout erupts on the theater stage, with Gail suffering a flesh wound and falling into
05:28the orchestra pit.
05:30Mrs. Loomis holds Sidney at knifepoint and attempts to emotionally manipulate Cotton
05:33Weary into shooting Sidney in exchange for primetime news coverage.
05:37Fortunately, he has a heart and shoots the deranged mother instead.
05:42Three years later, Sidney has changed her name to Laura and gone into hiding.
05:45When Scream 3 kicks off, Sidney works as a counselor for a women's domestic violence
05:49hotline and spends her free time walking her dog Cherokee.
05:52Her father Neil shows up from time to time to deliver groceries she needs, and it appears
05:56she's making the best life she possibly can, except for recurring nightmares about her
06:00mother.
06:01Meanwhile, a vindicated Cotton Weary has finally regained footing with the public, so much
06:05so that he's become the host of his own talk show.
06:08In the opening, he's stuck in traffic when he gets a call from the new Ghostface, who
06:11threatens to kill his girlfriend.
06:13Cotton rushes home, and Ghostface is waiting to stab him straight in the heart.
06:17Scream 3 follows the production of Stab 3, with a cast of doppelganger actors as the
06:21newest victims.
06:23Actor Roman Bridger adds a flare for the dramatic in his approach to Ghostface, revealing
06:26in the third act that he's Sidney's long-lost brother and the first child of Maureen Prescott.
06:31He lays out his vengeful plans with relish, but it's not enough to distract Sidney from
06:35taking him down.
06:37A decade is an eternity in the movie world, so Scream 4 is like reconnecting with friends
06:42you haven't seen since high school.
06:44Sidney has triumphantly moved on with her life and written a memoir titled Out of Darkness.
06:48She's no longer willing to be a victim and instead has learned to take charge by rewriting
06:52the narrative.
06:53The promotion for the book revolves around the 15th anniversary of the infamous Woodsboro
06:57murders, setting the film's events in September 2011.
07:00The town looks pretty much the same as it did all those years ago, and a new group of
07:04fresh-faced teens, including Sidney's cousin Jill and her best friend Kirby, are put up
07:08on the butcher's block.
07:09With commentary digging into the trend of horror remakes, Scream 4 is essentially a
07:13reimagining of the 1996 original, in spirit at least.
07:17The story flips expectations, like misdirecting the audience with a false ending as resident
07:21film geek Charlie describes before ending with a big finale.
07:25Instead, the third act unravels across two locations, initially Kirby's house and later
07:30the hospital, and taps into influencer culture.
07:33The killers, revealed to be Jill and Charlie, will seemingly do anything in their quest
07:36for fame.
07:38As of Scream 6, there are eight Stab movies so far.
07:42The original Stab, directed by Robert Rodriguez, was introduced in the iconic opening of Scream
07:462 during a rowdy midnight screening, placing the film's release in 1997.
07:52Based upon Gale Weather's The Woodsboro Murders, the initial Stab trilogy was solely based
07:55on Sidney Prescott's life.
07:57Sidney threatened a lawsuit if they continued, so subsequent sequels branched off and explored
08:01other storylines.
08:03Scream 4 also clues the viewer into the progress of the Stab series, as the opening scene is
08:06an intro within an intro.
08:09The opening scene of Stab 7 is apparently a scene from Stab 6.
08:12It begs the question that if the beginning of Stab 7 is Stab 6, then is the beginning
08:16of Stab 6 Stab 5, and if so, what is Stab 4 about?
08:21In Scream 2022, the character Richie comes across a video review for Stab 8, or rather
08:26just Stab.
08:27And can we talk about the title?
08:29Stab?
08:30What, just like the original?
08:31Just call it Stab 8, it's f***ing Stab 8, you're not fooling anyone.
08:36Earlier in the film, Liv identifies the director of Stab 8 as the Knives Out guy, Rian Johnson,
08:41as well as the release date being in 2020.
08:45Ten more years separate Scream 4 and Scream 2022.
08:49This particular bloodbath marks the 25th anniversary of the original, meaning that
08:53it's actually set in 2021.
08:55Sidney Prescott has put the past further in her rearview mirror, having gotten married
08:59to Mark from Scream 3 and became a mother to several young girls.
09:03The central victims this time are Sam and her younger half-sister, Tara.
09:07Woodsboro has returned to its quieter, more idyllic days, with ghosts of the past only
09:11lingering in hushed rumors and gossip.
09:13When Ghostface strikes, though, he comes back with a vengeance.
09:16Everything goes back to the past, from the primary targets — each connected to the
09:20original killers — and the return of the original trio.
09:23Horror commentary in this installment references legacy sequels, toxic fandom, and so-called
09:28elevated horror.
09:29Dewey's shocking death in the third act leads to Sidney's long-awaited return to town, but
09:33her presence is more of a ceremonial passing of the torch.
09:37The two killers, Richie and Amber, met on a Stab subreddit and conspired to create their
09:41own version of Stab with actual stakes.
09:43Sam, who's plagued by visions of her dead dad, Billy Loomis, uses her familial lineage
09:48to save the day by doing some stabbing of her own.
09:52Taking place one year after the events of the previous film, Ghostface takes Manhattan
09:56as Scream 6 swaps out Woodsboro for the Big Apple.
09:59Sam and Tara have moved to the city for Tara's college studies.
10:02The Meeks-Martin twins, Chad and Mindy, have followed suit.
10:05Sam tries to pick up the pieces of her life after the brutal events of Scream 2022, but
10:10an online rumor that she framed Richie and Amber has invaded her life.
10:13A new book from Gail Weathers doesn't help her situation.
10:16Nice try, sweetie, but I've done this dance before.
10:23Meanwhile, Sidney is nowhere to be found, and she's revealed to have taken Mark and
10:27her kids somewhere safe just in case.
10:30Scream 6 has the most Ghostfaces out of any movie in the franchise so far, with a grand
10:34total of five.
10:36Film students Jason and Greg are the killers in the opening sequence, but they're taken
10:39out by yet another Ghostface before they can do too much stabbing.
10:42Instead, the true killers are Tara's roommate Quinn, Chad's roommate Ethan, and their father,
10:47Detective Bailey.
10:48They leave behind masks from every previous Ghostface as they prepare to take revenge
10:52for the death of their beloved brother and son, Richie.
10:55It's thanks to Billy Loomis' influence from beyond the grave that Sam is able to make
10:59it out alive with her sister.
11:02Following the box office success of Scream 6, work began on a seventh installment.
11:06Unfortunately, the production was hit with numerous setbacks, including the exit of stars
11:10Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega.
11:12In November 2023, Barrera was fired over a series of social media posts that were critical
11:17of the Israel-Hamas war.
11:19Shortly after, Ortega dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with her Netflix series Wednesday.
11:24In December, Christopher Landon, who had been tapped to direct the film, announced that
11:28he, too, would be leaving, posting on X that the, quote, dream job had, "...turned into
11:32a nightmare."
11:33In March 2024, original series star Nev Campbell confirmed her return to the franchise on Instagram,
11:38writing,
11:39"...my appreciation for these films and for what they have meant to me has never waned.
11:43I'm very happy and proud to say I've been asked in the most respectful way to bring
11:47Sydney back to the screen and I couldn't be more thrilled."
11:50Campbell also confirmed that original screenwriter Kevin Williamson would be returning to the
11:54franchise to direct the latest installment.
11:56Plot details are still scarce, but in October 2024, ComicBookMovie.com reported on a rumor
12:02by way of My Time to Shine Hello that Scream 7 would have two main storylines, one centered
12:07on Sydney and her friends, and the other on Sydney's teenage daughter, whom she shares
12:11with Scream 3's detective Mark Kincaid.
12:13It's also rumored that the film will take place after a big time jump.
12:17While Patrick Dempsey has yet to confirm his return as Mark, it's said he is currently
12:21in talks to.
12:22Courtney Cox is also rumored to be reprising her role as Gail Weathers.
12:26Whatever happens, the next Scream has an opportunity to take things to even greater heights with
12:30perhaps another change of scenery in store.
12:33Regardless, it doesn't seem like Ghostface is going anywhere anytime soon.