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Scream trilogy
Directed by	Wes Craven
Written by	Kevin Williamson Ehren Kruger
Starring	David Arquette Neve Campbell Courteney Cox Jamie Kennedy Liev Schreiber
Music by	Marco Beltrami
Distributed by	Dimension Films
Release date(s)	1996 – 2000
Running time	348 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Gross revenue	$506 million

The Scream trilogy is trilogy of horror films created by director Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson and beginning in 1996 and ending in 2000. The plot involves a psychopathic serial killer wearing a Halloween costume attempting to kill Sidney Prescott and various other characters involved in her life. Each film begins with the gory murder of a couple and takes off from there leading to the revelation of the killer's identity and the final battle between Sidney and the killer. They revitalized the slasher film genre in the mid 1990s, similar to what Halloween (1978) did in the 1970s, by using a standard concept with a tongue-in-cheek approach that successfully combined straightforward scares with dialogue that satirized slasher film conventions. The first film became a major commercial success upon its release, and was one of the highest grossing films of 1996. It was also highly acclaimed by many critics worldwide, who appreciated the film's tongue-in-cheek approach. It received an 86% rating at rottentomatoes.com. As a result it spawned two sequels, Scream 2 and Scream 3.

Contents 1 Pre-story 2 The Rules 2.1 Scream 2.2 Scream 2 2.3 Scream 3 3 Statistics & trivia 4 References

Throughout the trilogy (specifically Scream and Scream 3), parts of a back story have been revealed that occurred before Scream. As it turns out, Maureen Prescott (Sidney's mother) went to L.A to become an actress. She played in three horror flicks using the name Rena Reynolds. At one particular Hollywood party, she was gang raped by movie insiders and became pregnant with Roman Bridger. After giving birth, Maureen left Hollywood as well as Roman and went back home to Woodsboro, where she met and married Neil Prescott. They then had a daughter named Sidney. Meanwhile, Roman grew up wondering what had happened to his mother.

Finally, when Sidney was around 16, Roman found Maureen (Rena) and went to her, hoping to spend some time with her only to find out Maureen had so-to-speak, killed Rena and that she no longer existed, which in short means that the mother he came looking for was not here. This enraged Roman, to the point of following her where he learned that not everything had changed; Maureen's dirty past had come back to haunt her, revealing that she wasn't the faithful wife that Sidney thought she was. As it was discovered she had affairs with many men, including Cotton Weary, and more surprisingly, Hank Loomis, Billy Loomis' dad, who is the boyfriend of Sidney. Roman told Billy about this, and using his creativity as a director, persuaded Billy to kill Maureen and frame Cotton, leading not only to the death of Maureen, but the imprisonment of Cotton as well.

Main article: Scream (film)

A signature device, started in the first film and continued in the second and third film, was the typical "rules" for that type of horror movie being stated by the characters. In the first film, those rules (as described by Randy) are:

• You may not survive the movie if you have sex.
• You may not survive the movie if you drink or do drugs.
• You may not survive the movie if you say "I'll be right back."

Additional rules (according to the killer):

• You may not survive the movie if you ask "Who's there?"
• You shouldn't go out to investigate a strange noise if you wish to survive.
• Never believe the killer is dead, as he'll return for one last scare...

Main article: Scream 2

(as described by Randy) are:

• The body count is always bigger.
• The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore.

Randy starts to describe the third rule: "If you want your films to become a successful franchise, never, ever...' before being interrupted by Dewey. (The joke is that the filmmakers are admitting there is no surefire way to ensure a film franchise is successful.) However, the film's original teaser trailer featured an extended version of the rules scene which reveals that originally the third rule was supposed to be "Never, ever, under any circumstances assume the killer is dead." This referenced Randy's last line in the original Scream which stated that a killer always comes back to life for one last scare.

Main article: Scream 3

(As described by Randy in his video left for those still alive)

"If you find yourself dealing with an unexpected backstory, and a preponderance of exposition, then the sequel rules do not apply. Because you are not dealing with a sequel, you are dealing with the concluding chapter of a trilogy." The rules for the final concluding chapter of a trilogy are different:

• "You've got a killer who’s gonna be superhuman. Stabbing him won’t work, shooting him won’t work. Basically in the third one, you gotta cryogenically freeze his head, decapitate him, or blow him up."
• "Anyone, including the main character, can die. This means you, Sid."
• "The past will come back to bite you in the ass. Whatever you think you know about the past, forget it. The past is not at rest! Any sins you think were committed in the past are about to break out and destroy you."
• "Basically... In the third movie? All bets are off."

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines. The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

• David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber, and Wes Craven are the only actors to appear in all 3 Scream films. Wes Craven's performances were uncredited.
• The Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song "Red Right Hand" and its sequel can be heard in all three films.
• There are 5 killers total:
  • Stu Macher and Billy Loomis (Scream)
  • Mickey Altieri and Mrs. Loomis, who is the only female killer (Scream 2)
  • Roman Bridger (Scream 3). This is the only movie to have one killer.
• Each film in the series has begun with the murders of a couple. These couples were typically portrayed by famous actors/actresses in small cameos:
  • Scream: Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) and her boyfriend, Steven Orth (Kevin Patrick Walls).
  • Scream 2: Maureen Evans (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Phil Stevens (Omar Epps).
  • Scream 3: Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) and his girlfriend, Christine Hamilton (Kelly Rutherford).
• In each of the films, the killer gets shot in the head after coming back to life for one last scare.
• 27 people die in the series altogether

v • d • e Scream
Films:	Scream • Scream 2 • Scream 3
Characters:	Sidney Prescott • Ghostface • List of Scream film trilogy characters
Cast:	David Arquette • Neve Campbell • Courteney Cox • Rose McGowan • Sarah Michelle Gellar • Skeet Ulrich • Scott Foley • Patrick Dempsey • Jamie Kennedy • Matthew Lillard • Drew Barrymore • Parker Posey • Jenny McCarthy • Emily Mortimer • Jerry O'Connell • Timothy Olyphant • Laurie Metcalf • Deon Richmond • Liev Schreiber • Jada Pinkett Smith • Omar Epps
Crew:	Wes Craven • Kevin Williamson • Ehren Kruger