Key Takeaways
- Scream movie’s success led to a franchise with 7 films.
- Original movie cleverly hinted at the identity of the killers.
- Small details like a clean knife foreshadowed larger plot elements.
There are many reasons why the original Scream movie was so popular that it’s now birthed a franchise that doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. In a few years, there will be seven Scream movies released and they all have something in common that makes them fun to watch for even the most dedicated fans. There’s the fun and frolic of the original movie as the characters in the film realize they are actually in a slasher movie. There’s the truly teen reaction of such a thing which is going to a party and acting as though they are all indestructible despite the fact they are very much not. And then there’s trying to figure out who exactly is the killer.
When the smoke cleared on the original Scream movie, the audience found out that one reason it was so hard to deduce who the killer was is because it was more than one person. That allowed Billy to be somewhere when the ghostface killer was there at the same time. And then it allowed Stu to be hanging out when the slasher was taking his next victim. And it wasn’t until the end that the audience and Sydney finally got to be told the truth. That Billy and Stu were both the killers. And that they were both more than a little cracked. Of course, as it turns out, the movie probably wanted people to know who the killers were long before they were officially revealed. That is at least one fan theory about a scene that at first glance, could be passed off as a mistake by the filmmakers.
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Scream Tried To Tell Its Audience
One of the theories that is floating around social media is that Scream tried to tell its audience that Billy was at least “in on it” pretty early in the movie. Reddit user LuckyDevil105 seems to be one of the first people to point this out and they detailed what they believe was a hint that many people missed, no matter how many times they’ve watched the flick.
“In the original Scream when Billy is attacked & “killed” by Ghostface I noticed a clever little detail. When Billy turns around you see Ghostface holding the knife like he is about to wipe the blood off, but the knife is clean. The next shot of Ghostface & Billy looks as if he just spread the corn syrup on it. Then Ghostface wipes it off.”
The user went on to say that at first glance, it looks like it could have been an issue with editing. However the fact that the scene does it right there, and it turns out that Stu and Billy were faking, makes it seem like it might have been something more than a continuity error. It might really have been Wes Craven trying to give a wink and a nod to the people who noticed. It just turned out that not all that many people noticed.
Corn Syrup Mention Plays A Part
The reference to corn syrup is a nod to Scream’s final act, where Billy reveals that he used a popular filmmaking recipe for fake blood to stage the Ghostface killer’s attack, and it was, in fact, corn syrup—“the same stuff they use for pig’s blood in Carrie,” as Billy tells Sydney. This seemingly small moment foreshadows the theatricality of the killers’ plan and subtly reveals just how far they’re willing to go to sell their twisted narrative and fool their friends into thinking they’re actually among the victims rather than the ones doing the victimizing.
If this theory is true and that wasn’t merely a mistake in the editing, then it shows how the moment plays into the larger meta of the original Scream movie and why it is and will almost always be one of the most beloved slasher films in cinema. The Scream fanbase has long lauded Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson for their ability to layer in small, self-aware nods to the horror and filmmaking genres. Whether or not the clean-knife-to-corn-syrup transition was intentional or just a lucky editing quirk, it certainly feels like something Craven would’ve done deliberately to reward eagle-eyed viewers. It’s even possible that sort of move was more of an “in the moment” idea that might have come that wasn’t in the original script. Something that Crazen knew would work for those who were watching closely enough.
That’s why the Redditor’s observation is so exciting for those who truly enjoy watching the Scream movies and try and figure out who the baddies are. Always assuming it was indeed intentional, it would show just how much care went into crafting the original movie’s story. This wasn’t something that was there to smack people in the face. In fact, it was so subtle and buried that it took almost 20 years for someone to finally step forward and offer up the the idea that Scream had this detail just waiting to be found so many years later.
Scream
The Scream movie and TV franchise began with the release of the first film in 1996. Directed by horror master Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, the deconstruction of slasher movies was an instant cultural, critical, and financial hit. Neve Campbell, who plays ongoing final girl Sidney Prescott, has become a horror icon in her own right, along with Ghostface, the only horror villain whose identity is always changing. Nearly three decades later, the Scream franchise shows no signs of slowing down.
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