The Scream Movies Thread

If the intent is to end with Scream VII, they could invoke "franchise finisher" and while bringing up movies like The Rise of Skywalker; Dominion and Halloween Ends, summarily subvert them too.

Since Ghostface isn't any one killer but an idea used by different murderous assholes, I see the whole thing ending when the idea loses popularity.

So the hypothetical last movie would end with someone taking on the Ghostface identity to enact a murder spree...but the general public that is not immediately affected doesn't really care or even notice. There are so many other things to worry about now that some creep(s) wearing a cheap Halloween costume stabbing people doesn't even warrant more than a paragraph in most news.

See now that's a fun idea...which they'd never use because they seem bound and determined to not do anything actually interesting, and just focus on dumb things like Ghost Billy and expanding the background of one of the series' most uncompelling Ghostfaces.

That's certainly a take.

I'm not really sure where they're going with this Ghost Billy thing either.

I just think he's kinda...cringe. Like, Ghost Maureen was lame when Scream 3 did it, but at least she didn't stick around for two movies and say stuff like "time to get our murder on!"

They probably should've retired him after the one appearance in the fifth film, I will agree with that.

While I think the sixth one is very effective filmmaking, Ghost Billy (the Dark Passenger) is not the least of my problems. The Captain Obvious Reveal for two of the three killers was probably the biggest—though I also chuck it up to being a tribute to the second film like the previous one paid tribute to the first one down to sharing its name too.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Sep 5th 2023 at 11:12:46 AM

I have to agree re: the killers for 6. I mean it's been said, but they makes no sense: how do they evade any kind of media/public/law enforcement scrutiny over their identities after Richie's murder spree? How does Dermot Mulroney have enough money as a mere cop to buy a huge property in Manhattan, solely to indulge his son's horror movie obsession? How does he fool the NYPD/coroner into thinking Quin died? The other Ghostfaces do some wacky stuff too (particularly Roman), but they didn't quite strain willing suspension of disbelief to this extent.

That stuff I can forgive. Quinn saying she and her father have had a tough time since losing her brother (I assume anyone on this thread either doesn't care about spoilers or is up to date on all the movies) seemingly out of nowhere? That tipped me off pretty early that they at least were Richie's family—though Ethan was harder to figure out since he shared no apparent connection with any of them and I expected two killers and not three.

Then again, maybe the writers figured only a diehard fan of the movies would catch something like that. If that's the case, I appreciate they didn't lead me in a different direction only to dash my hopes then.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Sep 5th 2023 at 10:41:12 AM

Again, I feel like the best final route for Ghostface to take would be "Fuck all the rules, I will kill all of you."

Feels like they tried that with Officer Ghostface killing Prologue Ghostface and shooting who gives a frank about movies.

Honestly, if I had to guess as to where they're going next it's a soft-remake of 3, like 6 was of 2 (Jesus, what a sentence). So I guess we can expect some BS, heretofore unknown relative of the Carpenters to show up as the next Ghostface. Or it could just be their mum, conveniently recovered from her case of chronic offscreenitis.

Cristina Carpenter is totally gonna play into the seventh film. They've kept her out of it up until this point. They're clearly building up to her.

Whoever is revealed as the mastermind in the seventh film is probably someone who had a major role in the killings in at least the last two movies too. Heck, they might retcon it that this individual's been involved since the very beginning too—be it Cristina or not. I also wonder how Tara's father fits into this too—and if Hank Loomis'll come back since his affair with Maureen is not only a huge part of what started all this, but because he's Sam's grandfather as well.

Had working theories about who the killers in Scream VI were that quickly proved debunked in the end. Here's what I had:

• Mindy and Tara were the killers and the former founded a cult.
• Mindy got into it for sadism and had actually figured out in the previous movie that it was Richie and Amber early on and did nothing out of morbid curiosity.
• Tara got into it due to her trauma and Mindy—who got into it for the love of the carnage—manipulated her into helping her.
• Chad and Gale would be among the 30 or so killed in the movie by a Ghostface.
• Sam would be a vigilante Ghostface having discovered the plot months earlier and killed the ten members of the cult herself while the other 20 killed are by Mindy and Tara—and Sam would pretend to threaten innocents along the way in order to better hide her identity as well.
• Sam during the climax would reveal herself while eventually being forced to give Tara a Mercy Kill and then killing Mindy either during or right after a fight.
• Sam would hide the evidence of her own killings and walk away with no consequences.

A few of these—maybe minus Tara and Mindy each being a Ghostface—could easily carry over into a future film. I would love for the Sam stuff to DEFINITELY carry over too.

Had Mindy been a Ghostface in the sixth movie and set up Anika to be killed like that? Would've been majorly f***ed up.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Sep 12th 2023 at 7:58:17 AM

Oh shit, I forgot all about Mr. Carpenter! If anyone's retconable as the mastermind behind all of this, it's him. It would be *so* easy for the writers to contrive a motive for him there. And if Neve wanted to come back it'd be an easy role for the writers to have her fill: you could easily see Ghostface No.13 having a grudge there with the twisted logic of her not putting out for Billy resulting in him impregnating Christina.

Edited by ThreeFacedMan on Sep 12th 2023 at 6:26:48 PM

Think they're gonna name him John? Haha.

I said this in a tweet recently about who could play her: "Salma Hayek Pinault's name has been thrown around more often than not. Someone closer to Skeet Ulrich's age or a little younger though is who I'm thinking. Roselyn Sanchez or Ana Ortiz each come to mind."

A working theory between myself and at least one other is that Dawnie in Scream 2 (Marisol Nichols) has been Cristina all along. The idea she was involved in the Ghostface activities since the very beginning and was right under everyone's noses in another movie!? Brilliant!

Maybe if John—if that's his name—is also a Ghostface, then that's how they got back together: plotting to viciously murder their "ungrateful" daughters.

Imagine if John Carpenter was also involved since the beginning too and when Billy and Stu got killed, he and Cristina del Toro—upon discovering she was pregnant with Sam—only got married and had Tara to sell the lie they were a couple with a loving family that had nothing to do with any of it and then when Sam discovered the truth, faked their marriage being destroyed to do so while also gaslighting Sam; forcing her out and ruining her life so she'd lose all credibility. That'd be even more f***ed up.

Also, instead of revealing Stu's been alive all along, I think an excellent bait and switch and subversion with the same basic idea would be revealing that Mickey was alive all along instead.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Sep 14th 2023 at 9:47:06 AM

I finally saw the sixth one, I call bullshit on all five of them surviving.

Seven survivors. That was indeed playing it way too safe. Six in the last one was admittedly pushing it a little too, but it was definitely easier to accept though.

If they wanted to spare Gale, then fine. That said, they shouldn't have necessarily treated the end of the fight with Ghostface like she was about to die when the hook with the last film was Dewey doesn't survive. Mindy and/or Chad should've died though to further express the loss and sacrifice that comes with fighting Ghostface—especially because the fourth film only had four survivors with the main trio and Judy Hicks (and including Kirby, it had five).

Most of the time, four to five has to not just be the threshold but the limit too. Anything higher makes you feel like the risks are low.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Oct 22nd 2023 at 7:20:55 AM

Chad surviving felt especially dumb because, unlike Dewey, he didn't actually seem to suffer any serious effects from the *incredibly* grievous wounds he sustained in 5, and I doubt he will after 6, either. Personally, I think he and Tara should have died. They had a serviceable little arc in 6, and both of them going would have made for good material to mine for Mindy (who really needs something more to do other than be gay and explain the rules) and Sam going into 7.

Edited by ThreeFacedMan on Nov 17th 2023 at 5:20:29 AM

Someone on Twitter was saying Tara should die in the opening of the next film because she's the only victim to survive the opening of an earlier film. I disagree—though I love the idea of her appearing in the opening of every movie she's in though. While I think a death scene with Tara would be incredibly effective—especially where Sam's concerned, it's gotta be later in the movie during a high moment of tension though so the appropriate dramatic weight is felt and focused on.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Nov 17th 2023 at 2:28:13 AM

I think that would be the only time it'd be narratively satisfying yeah, but I don't think they're going to kill her off. Maybe one of the twins and/or another legacy character.

Given how popular she is ATM, I can only see them killing Tara off if it's something Ortega explicitly wants.

Yeah. Her availability or lack thereof would definitely dictate it. Jenna Ortega's definitely getting more work lately thanks to her rising fame.

How the survivor count breaks down besides the Core Four and Gale living in the fifth and sixth films and Sidney, Kirby and Danny all living across the two movies too:

• First film: Five if you count Neil Prescott (Cotton's barely in it, so I don't include him).
• Second film: Five if you include Joel.
• Third film: Five if you include J. Wallace (hey, I had to include someone haha).
• Fourth film: Five if you include Kirby.

Other than Kirby (who's fate in the fourth film was very ambiguous at the time, though leaning towards she died—at least for me), the fifth survivor in each film is a fairly minor character, so it stands to reason that many might consider the count as four for each of the movies until the fifth one boosts it to six—which was allowed because it's not something that was done before and it allowed certain characters you expected to die to live, which was pretty cool. The sixth movie doing it and adding another survivor to that number makes it feel to a degree like none of them were ever really in danger of dying.

You feel the weight of the threat more so when less people survive. It makes you think any of survivors could've also easily been killed too. With Danny at least, Sam was keeping him out of it as much as he could, so that makes his survival feel really appropriate by the end of the film while Chad surviving numerous stab wounds from two different Ghostfaces at the same time really felt like of laughable and ridiculous—though I get that might have partially been the point too.

Edited by futuremoviewriter on Nov 18th 2023 at 8:05:29 AM

So Melissa Barrera has been removed from the next movie, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/melissa-barrera-fired-scream-vii-1235669458/

Think they’ll recast the character or write her out?

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Nov 21st 2023 at 4:31:58 AM

They're gonna write her out somehow. I don't know exactly HOW, but they will.

God, this decision is so freaking dumb.

They're going to have to pivot. Ortega supports the same cause that got Barrera fired, and Chad and Mindy can't carry a movie. I'm expecting a soft reboot, or a sequel that basically gives all the money to Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox to return.

As long as Jenna doesn't make posts like that, she won't get fired regardless of supporting the cause or not.

I never liked the weird 'daughter of a serial killer' thing and the hallucinations, but it'll be awkward to pivot from that.

Edited by Hawkeye86 on Nov 21st 2023 at 6:02:48 AM