Scream (1996 film)/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Characters Appearing in All the Films

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.

  • 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, she's fully willing to take the fight to the killer, having her first encounter with him directly after Olivia's death. And winning.
  • 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."
  • 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.

Roman: I shot you.
Sidney:*Reveals bullet proof vest.* I guess we think alike.

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.

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, although he survives them all.
  • 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), Skeet Ulrich, Matthew Lillard, Laurie Metcalf, Timothy Olyphant, Scott Foley, Emma Roberts, Rory Culkin)

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.


Characters Appearing in Multiple Films

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.

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. She's right. 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.

  • Big Damn Heroes: Arrives barely in time to save Sidney from being killed by Mrs. Loomis in the second film's climax.
  • Clear Their Name: What Gale does for him prior to the first film, and also what he does in the second film.
  • Dead Star Walking: Makes a cameo at the beginning of the third film, only to be killed off moments later.
  • 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.
  • Frame-Up: The first film reveals that Billy and Stu framed him for Maureen's murder.
  • Red Herring: 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.)

Characters unique to Scream

Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore)

Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan)

Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich)

Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard)