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a message for his friends, all too knowingly
suggesting that the events could lead up to a
trilogy. He informs us that previous rules, sequel
rules, do not apply; and among other things, the
past returns with a hidden secret, which holds
the key to the motive behind these murders.
Once more, the film self-consciously sets out the
rules only to challenge them and reinvent them
as the narrative unfolds.
Sure enough, ‘Stab 3’ is in production; the self-
reflexive film-within-a-film formula is in use
here, too. ‘Stab 3’ recreates through pastiche the
house on the hill where the horrible Woodsboro
murders occurred in Scream; at the same time,
it is itself the last part of a trilogy. Despite
pushing the boundaries of self-consciousness
to the extreme, Scream 3 manages successfully
to walk the fine line’it sets between parody (of
itself) and serious Horror action. From a certain
point onwards we see everything double as the
suspenseful narrative unfolding in the ‘real’ world
of Scream 3 is uncannily reproduced on the set of
‘Stab 3’. Self-referential humour combined with
gruesome violence, as a Horror genre feature
that is maintained throughout, reinvigorate the
to be a recreation of the opening sequence of attention not only to genre cinema, but also sub-genre by engaging the audience in a more
Scream. During the screening, a young couple the genre theory that has developed around complicated than expected storyline for a Horror
is murdered: this recycling of conventions it, placing us at the heart of academic debates movie. In Scream 2 Randy did emphasise that in
becomes an acute criticism of modern-day media about film: a class in a Film School of an American Horror films ‘you gotta keep things simple; you
– and more specifically Hollywood – practices, university. The setting, in other words, is very don’t want to confuse your target audience’!
such as capitalising on repetition of formula, carefully constructed for film-theory-aware and
sensationalist violence and its influence on literate characters and audiences.
...and the final resolution?
(young) audiences, and ‘sequelling’ or the In order to make sense of the trilogy as a
‘McDonaldisation’ of Horror; but at the same time
The final chapter whole, what remains to be found out is who
we are still watching one of these products, i.e.
Similarly, Scream 3 (2000), the final part in a the killer/s are in this final part. It turns out that
the sequel. It appears that the film parodies its
trilogy, refers back to the first film, thus bearing Sidney’s ‘abandoned’ and unwanted half-brother
own essence, providing a sort of commentary
visual allusions to itself and the influential Roman (Scott Foley) had been orchestrating the
on Hollywood production while reiterating its
Halloween. The film once again starts with a murders from the very beginning because of a
methods.
double murder, which again takes place in the grudge against their mother and, by extension,
Indeed, as in Scream and then in ‘Stab’, we
home. Cotton Weary (Live Schreiber) – who against his half-sister, who ended up being the
see another murder of an innocent blonde
had been wrongly accused of the murder of ‘protagonist’ in what should be his triumphant
girl at home alone. Once again, we see her
Sidney’s mother in Scream – gets a phone call story. Therefore, the revelation of Roman is the
terrorised over the phone and driven away from
from the killer, who informs him that he is in vehicle for the ultimate parody: his invention
the front door (a logical route or escape) and
Cotton’s house watching his (Cotton’s) girlfriend in the final episode of the trilogy redefines the
up the staircase where she hits a ‘dead-end’ and
having a shower – all too familiar conventions. trilogy itself, making us re-construe the story of
eventually gets killed. Although Scream had
The sustained use of a subjective camera from the previous two films.
drawn our attention to this convention only
the point of view of ‘the monster’ signifies the The allusions of the wanting and traumatising
to subvert it with Sidney, here it is re-enacted
murderer’s approach and implicates the audience relationship between mother and son are carried
reverentially (the familiar staircase, the chase
in the violence that follows. A medium, point-of- throughout the series, replaying and reinventing
and the locked doors, the creepy sounds that
view shot of Christine’s Psycho-style silhouette a theme introduced in Hitchcock’s Psycho.
enhance our sense of fear), reminding us that
behind the shower screen prepares us for the Perhaps not coincidentally, the name of the
we are watching a Horror film. It is precisely this
imminent attack...which does not happen. arch-villain, Roman Bridges is a quasi-anagram of
return to the generic convention that bewilders
Instead, we cut back to Cotton still on the phone Norman Bates...
the audience; having seen Sidney escape her
with the killer, and then back to the house, where
‘genre-predicted’ fate in Scream, we are now
we see Christine (medium-shot) coming out of The last words
unsure what to expect from the film. The thrill in
the shower intact. Cue sense of relief and wry Not all Horror films of the 1990s have been as
Scream 2 comes not from the expected codes of
smile at the playful revision of arguably one self-conscious as the Scream series. Neither have
Horror, nor from the direct subversion of those
of the most powerful scenes in the history of they as directly and openly offered:
(as in Scream), but in the unreliability of the
cinema. And then... a low level shot of Christine’s pleasures of their own, with their own
narrative. We never know if the convention is
bare feet on her way to investigate a noise, and particular rules and conventions about the
going to be followed or not.
the stereotypical and much expected chase by exploration of the rules and conventions of
One more time, the character who ‘guides’
the killer down the corridor. By the end of the the broader slasher (sub) genre.
us through the rules of the sequel is Randy; he
rather lengthy opening sequence, both Cotton However, I believe that the Scream films are
prepares us for a ‘bigger body-count’, similarities
and Christine are stabbed to death in the same a useful and clear example of re-framing pre-
in the killer’s practices, but also for a surprise:
way as all the other victims in the Scream series. existing codes, pastiche, self-consciousness
no-one would be interested in a sequel if it was
Randy, our Horror film guru, has died in the and parodic humour, practices that led to the
exactly the same as the first film. In other words,
previous instalment; along with the characters, redefinition of the Horror genre, its boundaries,
Randy’s comments here reflect the position of
we now no longer know where we stand in terms its function and its engagement with audiences.
many theorists, who suggest that ‘genres work
of the ‘rules of the game’. However, Randy does Each film in the trilogy pushes these elements
on the terrain of repetition and difference’.
return to enlighten us through the use of a very further. Consequently, Scream and its subsequent
Scream 2, in a playful manner, draws our
significant prop: the TV. Randy has recorded sequels became generic blueprints themselves as
60 MediaMagazine | February 2008 | english and media centre
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