Scream (1996 film)/Characters

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell)
The professional survivor, Sidney's life has been defined by a series of killing sprees all directed at her. First her mother Maureen was killed out of a jealous rage, then her friends in high school and college were hacked to bits, and then they started making hit slasher movies based on her tragedy. While this has brought her fame, fortune and a bestselling autobiography, it also means that she has had to spend large parts of her adult life constantly looking over her shoulder for the next wannabe Ghostface.

": I shot you. Sidney:*Reveals bullet proof vest.* I guess we think alike."
 * Action Girl: In the fourth film.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Character Development: At the beginning of the first film, she's just a perky high school kid who, over time, develops into a guilt ridden survivor in the second film, to a seclusive hermit by the third. The fourth, however, shows how, many years later,
 * Death by Sex: Averted in the first film; she's the only named character in the franchise to have sex and live to tell about it.
 * Famed in Story: Becomes a celebrity after the events of the first movie.
 * Final Girl: Initially played straight, although she slowly evolves into a deconstruction as the series goes on, with her life defined by her "perpetual victimhood" and the bloody consequences that this has for those around her.
 * Genre Savvy: "Horror movies are all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can't act who's always running up the stairs when she should be going out the front door. It's insulting."
 * By the end of the series, she's full-on Dangerously Genre Savvy.
 * He Who Fights Monsters: While Sidney has managed to survive 4 occasions of attacks, there were some scenes that make you wonder whether or not she might end up as a killer, or no different than one. She herself even Lampshaded this in 3.


 * Plucky Girl -> Took a Level in Badass -> Action Girl
 * Sanity Slippage:, she apparently undergoes this in the third film, having visions of her dead mother coming for her. It doesn't work though.
 * Shut UP, Hannibal: In the third film, she can't help but be annoyed and disgusted with . Eventually, she gets fed up, having heard this speech before, and shouts that really just a Complete Monster who's looking for an excuse.
 * Tomboyish Name
 * Zen Survivor

Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox)
A reporter who, in the first film, is fighting to prove that Cotton Weary did not commit the murder that he was put on death row for, and returns to Woodsboro for the one-year anniversary and to cover the new string of murders. Come the sequel, she's written a book about the Woodsboro murders, which has been adapted into a film, and comes to Windsor College to cover yet another killing spree. Has a rather abrasive personality.


 * Anti-Hero: Type II.
 * Brainy Brunette
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Hot Scoop
 * If It Bleeds, It Leads: At first, but she gets better.
 * Intrepid Reporter
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: In the sequels.
 * Plucky Girl
 * Running Gag: Her getting punched in the face by people (usually Sidney) that she pisses off. In the third film, this is turned on its head when she punches Jennifer, the actress playing her in Stab 3. She threatens to do it again in the fourth film.

Dewey Riley (David Arquette)
Woodsboro's deputy sheriff, Dewey is always on the case when a new Ghostface killer comes out of the woodwork, partly due to the loss of his little sister Tatum to the first Ghostface, and partly out of his sense of family with Sidney, Gale and Randy.


 * Action Survivor
 * Big Brother Instinct: Literally towards Tatum, metaphorically towards Sidney.
 * Butt Monkey: He gets the shit beaten out of him by Ghostface in every movie,.
 * Embarrassing Nickname: His real name is "Dwight", with "Dewey" being a childhood nickname he got stuck with. By the time Scream 2 rolls around, he makes a point on being called "Dwight" by Gale - it doesn't take, though.
 * Good Hair, Evil Hair: Dewey sports a heroic cop mustache.
 * Made of Iron: Stabbed in the back in the first film, stabbed multiple times in the second one, beaten almost to death with a bedpan in the fourth one... and still alive.
 * The Sheriff: He's been promoted to this by the fourth film.

Ghostface (Roger L. Jackson (voice), )
Wearing a white ghost mask and long black robes, the Ghostface killer sneaks and stabs his way through suburban neighborhoods, hacking to pieces pretty young teenagers and college kids -- but not before calling them up with horror trivia games. Word of advice: don't get the wrong answer.


 * Big Bad: Merges this in with Legacy Character.
 * Card-Carrying Villain
 * Catch Phrase: "What's your favorite scary movie?"
 * Determinator / Made of Iron: Any Ghostface is repeatedly beaten up by the stalked person, yet doesn't give up the chase.
 * Freudian Excuse: Most Ghostfaces have these, although Sidney's Shut UP, Hannibal in the third film implies that they're all just that -- excuses to kill people For the Evulz.
 * The exception to this being
 * Knife Nut: Every Ghostface has a hunting knife as their primary weapon.
 * Legacy Character: Since it's a generic Halloween costume in-universe, a grand total of characters don the identity.
 * Malevolent Masked Men:
 * Serial Killer
 * Voice Changeling: Ghostface's trademark is a voice changer that masks their voice over the phone.

Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy)
A horror movie fan who, in the first three films, gave the characters (and the audience) a list of rules for surviving a horror movie. He is one of the key reasons for the series' reputation for self-referential, post-modern humor.


 * Genre Savvy
 * Hollywood Nerd
 * Meta Guy
 * Noodle Incident: You're left wondering exactly when he  in 2. We find out exactly  in 3.
 * Noodle Incident: You're left wondering exactly when he  in 2. We find out exactly  in 3.

Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber)
The man who was sentenced to death for the murder of Maureen Prescott, Sidney's mother, whom he was having an affair with. In the first film, Gale Weathers is trying to get his name cleared for the murder, feeling that he is innocent. In the second film, he travels to Windsor College to convince Sidney to do an interview with him. By the third film, his exploits have made him a celebrity, getting him his own talk show.


 * Clear Their Name: What Gale does for him prior to the first film, and also what he does in the second film.
 * Dude, Where's My Respect?: Played with: after being found innocent of the murders, he feels pretty entitled to his newfound fame and asks Sidney to help him land a big TV interview, believing she "owes" it to him.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: In the first film.
 * : The first film reveals that.
 * : In the second film.
 * Show Within a Show: in the beginning of Scream 3, he's been hosting talk show 100% Cotton for some time; he's also being asked to appear in the latest Stab movie. (Or so he says.)
 * : In the second film.
 * Show Within a Show: in the beginning of Scream 3, he's been hosting talk show 100% Cotton for some time; he's also being asked to appear in the latest Stab movie. (Or so he says.)

Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore)

 * Dead Star Walking
 * Decoy Protagonist
 * Hair of Gold
 * Mauve Shirt
 * One-Scene Wonder
 * Sacrificial Lamb

Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan)

 * Action Girl: To this day she is still the only murder victim that really put up a fight against Ghostface
 * Bare Your Midriff
 * Diabolus Ex Machina: Her death, which wasn't even the death Ghostface intended for her.
 * Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: "Oh, you wanna play psycho killer? Can I be the helpless victim?"
 * That scene is parodied by Scary Movie.
 * Dumb Blonde: Unusually manages to be both this and a...
 * Fiery Redhead: Well, Fiery Strawberry Blonde anyway.
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Gory Discretion Shot: Her death scene had to be trimmed down to avoid an NC-17 rating.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Surely she has a good reason not to be wearing a bra...
 * Plucky Girl
 * Sacrificial Lion
 * Your Head Asplode: Specifically, Your Head Gets Crushed Between A Garage Door And The Edge Of The Roof. Even Ghostface seemed a little shaken by this death.

Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich)

 * All Girls Want Bad Boys
 * Jerkass
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Jerkass
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Troubled but Cute
 * Troubled but Cute

Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard)

 * Jerkass
 * Large Ham
 * Tempting Fate: He really doesn't mind blurting out "I'll be right BACK!", even knowing it's without the rules to survive.
 * Large Ham
 * Tempting Fate: He really doesn't mind blurting out "I'll be right BACK!", even knowing it's without the rules to survive.
 * Tempting Fate: He really doesn't mind blurting out "I'll be right BACK!", even knowing it's without the rules to survive.