The Scream movies are well-known for their Ghostface killer mysteries. However, knowing the killers’ real identities makes the movies more terrifying.
Warning! SPOILERS for Scream 2022.
Knowing who the killers are makes the Scream movies scarier. The franchise is well known for the chills and suspense delivered when characters work to solve the Ghostface mystery. However, rewatching the films proves that knowing the killers’ identities somehow makes the films even more terrifying.
Throughout the Scream franchise, the filmmakers pulled out all the stops in making sure fans and viewers were kept in the dark as long as possible in trying to decipher the identity of Ghostface. Even when one character seems to be the prime suspect, there’s always another twist thrown into the mix, usually in the form of two killers. This twist has been featured in every film bar Scream 3, where there remains only one killer.
While there’s genuine suspense in trying to decipher the killers’ identities in the Scream franchise, knowing who they already are is where the real horror’s at. On first viewing, viewers are caught up in the mystery, which leaves them justly surprised once it is solved. It’s on a rewatch, however, that they begin to reexamine certain scenes that, in ways not realized upon first glance, give the killers away. Because of this, it makes the killers’ pre-reveal behavior much more sinister, thereby elevating the horror. The best example of this being the case is with Matthew Lillard’s Stu Macher. One of the most popular characters to don the Ghostface persona, Scream‘s Stu is praised for providing solid comic relief, despite his role as one of the killers. In a way, this actually makes him one of the more depraved killers in the franchise.
On first viewing, Stu is presented as the typical class clown joker who, while a bit insensitive, is ultimately harmless, which is what makes him being the second killer so shocking. Through multiple viewings of Scream, a lot of his behavior throughout the film takes on a much darker light. As such, moments like him describing the act of gutting someone, making jokes about it, and laughing at the other classmates running around Woodsboro High in Ghostface costumes are much creepier, because it’s now clear that he is getting a kick out of the chaos his murders have caused, even likening it to Christmas.
In a similar vein, knowing the killers’ identities imbues scenes like the one involving Scream‘s Randy Meeks in the video store with Billy and Stu with an additional layer of dread. The first time around, it seems to function as a possible red herring to further throw viewers off their suspicion of either Billy or Stu. Subsequent rewatches confirm, however, that Randy could have been brutally murdered there. Much like him, the audience never saw it coming. Likewise, there’s the scene in Scream 2 where Mickey is cheering on Derek as he serenades Sidney. While it remains a touching reminder of Derek’s innocence, it’s still a lot harder to watch with the knowledge that Mickey has been planting ideas in Sidney’s head, insinuating that Derek is the killer, before eventually murdering him at the end of Scream 2. The Scream franchise has been popular for so long with very good reason, and Scream 2022’s success proves that’s not going to change anytime soon. Despite the thrilling mystery that a first viewing provides, revisiting the films does not diminish their ability to scare, as the added context of knowing who the killers are makes viewing scenes before the big reveal much more unsettling.
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