Scream II, The Perfect Slasher Film

The entire Scream series, created by Wes Craven, has a plethora of classic slasher film elements, all while acknowledging those cliches and neatly following every one of them. Scream 2, as well as nearly every other sequel, features a mystery caller(s) who quickly turns out to be serial killer, dressed in the classic ghost costume called "Ghostface" from the first movie (pictured above). In the end, (spoiler alert!) the killer ends up being someone within the friend group of the main character, and typically has a partner.

 Scream 2 begins with the same main character/surviving "last girl" from its prequel, Sidney Prescott. Sidney is the typical slasher film girl: attractive student with a solid group of friends, and an attractive boyfriend to boot. Throughout the beginning of the film, "Sid," as her friends call her, we see her trying to start her life over at a college in a new town to try and escape the horrors of what happened in her hometown of Woodsboro. (More spoilers! For those of you who don't know, Sidney's boyfriend was the Ghostface killer in the first film.) As I read in the Clover article, Sidney definitely fits the trope of the final girl like a glove. To start, while "Sidney" is typically a name for a woman, she is referred to as "Sid" throughout the film by her close friends, giving her an gender-neutral name that both men and women can identify with. This is and important characteristic in the final girl--the writers of slasher films usually want all of their viewers to be able to relate to the main character as they are the one who moves the narrative through the story, therein making the viewer feel more involved in the film. Another plot line that Sid follows is that she is sexually unavailable. The final girl is typically a virgin, someone who avoids promiscuity, partying, etc. This genre tends to put more scandalous characters in a bad light, for example, one of the firsts deaths in the film is of sorority girl Cici. This is an important point because sororities within films are seen as the epitome of parting, drinking, and hooking up. While her sorority is out at a party, Cici was left with the job of sober sister, essentially taking care of the other girls when they stumble home. During her night in alone, she receives a phone call from who we think is a boy named Ted who regularly calls her for a hookup, and she usually decides to sleep with him. This night however, she expresses her feelings and decides to decline the offer, thereafter finding out that the caller is in fact the Ghostface killer. She then dies very shortly after we find out about her sexual activity. This ties into the idea of sex = death in slasher films.

Obviously she didn't read the Clover article...

Cici's death scene

While Sid is not a virgin, she is not a character who is available as a sexual partner to men (or women, who knows) and is not seen as a frivolous party-goer. She is a well-adjusted young adult trying to focus on her studies, and in turn, not seen as someone who makes bad choices. This ties into the purity aspect that the sole survivor typically has, but also is a change in the typical innocent virgin stereotype that is normally given to the main girl. The last example of the "final girl trope" that I found to be extremely apparent was in Sid's shift in behavior from the beginning to the end of the film.

For the majority of the duration of the film, Sid fits the role of a "damsel in distress." She seems nearly helpless as she sees her friends being killed off slowly one by one, and is often seen running from not only the killer but also her friends, her boyfriend, and the press who are constantly pestering her. She hides behind two body guards and her brother, who used to be a police officer. There is a dramatic shift towards the end when Sid is confronted by the killer. She stands her ground and takes on this super bad-ass persona and fights back fiercely, and ends up killing the murderer as well as his partner as I mentioned before that is typically in this film series. This power shift is something that empowers women, but also is something that men can identify with as their gender-neutrally named hero is now acting in a stereotypically masculine way, and they want to attribute themselves to those characteristics. By that I mean the physical strength that Sid demonstrates during the altercation between herself and the two Ghostfaces, her bravery in being able to confront the killers face to face, and her intelligence and strategy in fighting back and not showing weakness.

In the Clover article, it talks about the differences between men and women in their death scenes. I found this to be extremely prevalent in Scream 2. Beginning with the opening scene, a young couple goes to the movies. This scene sets up the return of the killer from the first movie, just to set the scene for you. The boyfriend goes off to the bathroom, and is killed almost immediately with one stab. This is an extreme contrast of his girlfriend's death in which she runs around the movie theater for about 3 minutes, being stabbed repeatedly and ends up dying right in front of the movie screen in front of everyone in the theater. It is so long, drawn out, and extreme that I've included the video below so you can see just how ridiculous it is.

 

Nearly all deaths in Scream 2 are set up this way, the women are almost always pursued for longer,  and their deaths are more torturous and drawn out. Most men die with little to no pursuit, and die from far less wounds. Going off of that, the deaths are almost always caused by a knife or some form of hand held weapon. The killer's trademark weapon in this film is a long dagger, which in the article is described as an extension of self due to the need for close proximity and quite literally looking like an extension of the body. This movie bends the weapons aspect a bit in the end when Sid shoots the new killer, (so many spoilers...) Billy's mother, who ended up coming back for revenge.

There are a few examples within the movie of the strange place that Clover described, however there is no overarching space that encompasses the whole movie. There is one scene in particular, however, that really stood out to me and instantly related to the strange place scenario. In this scene, Sid and her friend get into the back of a cop car to be escorted to a safe place for the night. This ends up turning into the strange place when the Ghostface killer murders their driver and climbs into the drivers seat instead. The car gets into an accident, leaving everyone unconscious, including the killer. Since this car was a cop car, Sid and her friend are

locked in the back with no way out other than to

climb through a bit of broken wire in the car and to climb over the killer who is unconscious in the front. This creates the strange place because it is in extremely close proximity with the killer, and they seem to be trapped with little to no way out. It is also dark, and extremely suspenseful because in this scene, it is unclear whether or not the killer is dead, unconscious, or just pretending to be passed out. This scene created an uncomfortable place for viewers and characters alike, filled with tension, uncertainty, and a few jump scares for good measure.

I think Scream 2 was an excellent choice for this project, not only is it one of my favorite scary movie series, but it was really overflowing with great examples of typical characteristics of slasher films, and related very well to the Carol Clover article that we discussed in class. I think Michael Scott can wrap this up nicely for me...