What’s your favorite scary movie?

I’ll start, mine is Wes Craven’s Scream. Scream came out in 1996, by this time the classic ‘Final Girl’ trope had been played out enough. The final girl formula is simple: innocent girl who abstains from alcohol, sex, and drugs will survive. The horror genre was becoming overcrowded with the same stereotypical movies, that is until Scream hit the theaters.

Neve Campbell stars as Sidney Prescott, a quiet high school girl dealing with the emotional trauma of her mother’s death. Sidney is the opposite of her boy-crazy best friend, Tatum Riley, however they still value and support each other rather than look down upon each other. Sidney’s mother had recently been murdered and as she was coping with that, her boyfriend Billy was requesting that she have sex with him. Sidney declines Billy’s advances throughout the movie until she becomes ready on her own terms.

The killers were revealed to be Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, the boyfriends of Sidney and Tatum. Unfortunately Tatum was killed by Ghostface but not without a fight. She threw beer bottles at him and managed to get very close to escaping. Tatum’s death also isn’t a punishment to her character of any kind. Before her death, Tatum was a loyal friend to Sidney, especially after their classmate Casey was murdered. Tatum constantly stood by Sidney, letting her stay with her, defending her to the paparazzi and people at school, and just always trying to protect her. Tatum was an icon and deserves more recognition.

Even though Sidney does have sex, she actually survives each film of the series. This isn’t the only rule her character doesn’t abide by. Sidney survives against Ghostface because she fights as hard as she can, not because she is ‘innocent’ or ‘pure.’ She is smart, and when she’s finished fighting her opponents, she makes sure to finish them off in case they come back one more time.

Sidney eventually goes on to graduate college, become a crisis counselor for other women who have experienced trauma, and became the author of a best-selling self-help book.

Another prominent female character in the Scream franchise is Gale Weathers, who is in every single film. Gale is a pesky journalist and news reporter who spends her time trying to investigate the local murders. At the start of the series, Gale and Sidney have a feud due to the fact that Gale will do ANY thing to further her career.

Gale is always putting herself in harms way to get to the bottom of the investigation. She is determined and relentless, and even fought to prove the innocence of a wrongly convicted man. Gale is always one step ahead of the killer, even after being shot and stabbed, she still always shows up to help. Although Sidney and Gale don’t get along at first, their relationship heals over the years and they become an unstoppable duo. Gale is strong, physically and emotionally. Her character is vulnerable without being a victim, she’s brave and uncovers secrets to the point that even the police ask for her help. In the 2nd and 3rd films she works with the police department to decode clues and evidence. Gale always works with Dewey, despite their rocky relationship at times, to protect Sidney from Ghostface.

Another interesting factor is that there have been 4 female Ghostfaces. My favorite out of those four is Jill Roberts, Sidney’s cousin who appeared in Scream 4. Jill was jealous of Sidney’s fame from being a survivor, so she decided to start her own string of Woodsboro murders. Jill is ruthless, cruel, and obsessed with the ‘legacy’ her cousin Sidney has earned. She wanted to make a name for herself by being the best killer ever to hit Woodsboro.

The prominent male character throughout the series is Dewey Riley, the older brother of the deceased Tatum Riley. Dewey is a goofy cop who works on the Woodsboro murder cases involving Ghostface. He was ultimately killed off in the 5th film but in the prior films his character was frequently late to the crime scenes, missing the action. The Scream films dismantle the trope of the male savior. While male characters do exist, they rarely hold the power to rescue the female characters.

In the most recent Scream films, a powerful sister duo were the new targets of Ghostface. Sam Carpenter, the daughter of the original Ghostface killer, Billy Loomis, is the new central protagonist of Scream 5 and 6. Sam’s secret of being Ghostface’s daughter has haunted her since she was a child. She moved away from Woodsboro to conceal her identity, only to return when her younger sister, Tara is being targeted by a new Ghostface murderer.

Sam struggles with her identity, fearing she may have inherited her father’s dark traits. She is the new ‘final girl’ who confronts and defeats the killer, having her worst fear come true, she is a killer. Sam must protect her sister, survive Ghostface attacks, and also deal with the fear that she may be just like her father. She must differentiate her self-defense countermeasures from her father’s cold-blooded slaughters.

The Scream series may have flaws, but it also empowers the women. The ‘final girls’ survive not by luck, but by resilience and quick thinking. The female characters are funny, intelligent, and fierce. They support each other and work through their challenges. Scream works to celebrate female strength, defy sexist tropes, and it leaves the audience rooting for the women who fight back!