With the 25th anniversary of classic horror movie Scream right around the corner (December 20th) and, the fifth instalment in the series set to hit cinemas at the beginning of next year (January 14th, 2022), we’ve decided to take a look back at the late Wes Craven’s stunning cinematic piece.
You may think you're a super-fan but, did you know these interesting tidbits of trivia? Here are seven things even the biggest Scream fans may not know about the classic horror movie…
7. Casey’s death mirrors Suspiria - and wasn’t the first!
Everybody seems to forget that the first death in a Scream movie was actually that of Casey’s boyfriend, Steve. Though the Drew Barrymore character thinks he’ll come riding in on his steed to save her, Ghostface gets to him first, draining the life from his body before moving onto who many thought would be the horror movie’s main character.
Casey’s death is a brutal and bloody one, but not entirely original! Director Wes Craven instead took inspiration from the opening of 1977 flick Suspiria, from director Dario Argento, in which a woman is found murdered and strung up, much like the end Casey meets.
6. Randy identified both Billy and Stu as the killers early on
Now, if you’ve seen the film more times than you can count, you’ve probably picked up on Randy pointing to both Billy and Stu as probable Ghostface killers early on in the movie. Though the pair try to distract him and point to Sidney’s father as the culprit, Randy writes off his disappearing act and pretty much predicts exactly how he would end up, should Billy and Stu get away with their crimes. Fortunately for Randy, whenever he’s targeted in the first film, Sidney is right around the corner, ready to save him. It’s just a shame that this didn’t extend to Scream 2!
5. The late Lucille Bliss starred as a checkout lady
Lovingly referred to as the ‘Girl with a Thousand Voices’, Lucille Bliss was one of the biggest names in Hollywood during her lengthy showbiz career. In the original version of the Scream script, she would enjoy a small scene with both Sidney and Tatum but, this was eventually cut from the final product. Still, if you pause the movie at just the right time when both Sidney and Tatum are outside of the store in which Bliss’ character works, you can see her standing at the checkout.
4. Cameraman Kenny saved Sidney’s life
After having his throat slit by Ghostface, cameraman Kenny takes his final few seconds of breath to point Sidney to the back of the news van, where she is able to escape the killer thanks to the backdoor. If he hadn’t given her this quick bit of information, she may have met her maker, bringing the series to a quicker conclusion than any of us would’ve liked!
3. Scream and Scream 2 teased future films with flashes of Ghostface before the credits
Right before the credits roll at the end of Scream, flashes of Ghostface are shown. This hinted at the sequel which would follow and, eagle-eyed fans noticed that it happened all over again when Scream 2 reached its conclusion. When Scream 3 finished however, no flashes of the killer were shown; this was because the third instalment was supposed to be the last. Of course, we now know that this wasn’t the case, following the release of Scream 4 in 2011 and the upcoming fifth movie.
2. When Cotton was arrested, he had similar hair to Billy
One of the biggest battles Sidney goes through in the original Scream film is with her own conscience. Could she really have helped send an innocent man to jail for the murder of her mother? That does indeed turn out to be the case and, if you rewatch the film and especially the part in which arrest footage of Cotton Weary is shown, you’ll notice that he’s wearing his hair longer than usual. When put side-by-side with Billy, it’s then clear to see just how Sidney would’ve mistaken the former for her murderous boyfriend.
1. Skeet Ulrich wasn’t supposed to hit Matthew Lillard with the phone
When both Billy and Stu are revealed as the killers in the original film, the two scramble to make it look as though they were the only survivors ahead of their plan to kill Sidney once and for all. It looks as though their world is crumbling around them and, in a fit of frustration, Billy throws the phone he was trying to use to lay his plan’s foundations at Stu’s back. We now know that this wasn’t supposed to happen, and Stu’s hilarious follow-up of the line “Why did you hit me with the phone, d**k!”, were improvised. Craven loved the mistake so much, that he kept it in the movie’s final cut.
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