Taylor Cole
The beauty of slasher films comes from the formulaic approach creators have used for years. The common conventions of the slasher make these films recognizable but potentially cliché. From its inception, the Scream franchise poked fun at these common conventions by making its characters self-aware. As Roger Ebert stated in his review of Scream 4, “these characters go to the movies.” Scream 4 (Wes Craven, 2011) does not change the conventions much and keeps the self-aware characters that are an integral part of the franchise. Despite sticking to this traditional formula, however, Scream 4 does add one element to its narrative that is necessary in a 21st-century world–technology. Though Scream 4 is a classic slasher, uncannily resembling the original, the inclusion of technology, livestreaming, and uploading innovate the slasher conventions while eerily commenting on the dangerous effects of media.
Scream 4’s opening sequence resembles the original in that Ghostface harasses young attractive women through the phone. However, the scenes are revealed to be the openings from Stab 6 and Stab 7, films from the fictional movie franchise based on Sidney Prescott’s (Neve Campbell) life. After the second fake out, audiences finally watch the actual opening murders of Scream 4; the first victims are Marnie (Britt Robertson) and Jenny (Aimee Teegarden). Thus, the murder spree is set in motion. The next day, Sidney returns to Woodsboro on her book tour, promoting her autobiography Out of Darkness, which explores her newfound happiness at having moved beyond labeling herself as a victim. Heedless of Sidney’s new empowered status, Ghostface has returned in hopes of finally bringing about her demise.
Though Scream 4 has familiar, nostalgic elements, the incorporation of technology adds a distinctly new component, exploring not only its prevalence in society but also the dangers of a lack of privacy. For example, Robbie (Erik Knudson) wears a headset that livestreams his entire day, but this comes at a cost. He’s too focused on fixing his camera to notice Ghostface right in front of him and is murdered. In addition, cameras surround Sidney’s car when bloody flyers are found in her trunk–so what is a traumatic moment for her is publicized for all to see. Further, despite the information being supposedly confidential, everyone knows about the original two killings (of Marnie and Jenny) because “it’s all over the internet” according to Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox).
Robbie sees Ghostface on his own livestream
The most important inclusion of technology revolutionizes Ghostface’s reign. The two killers, Jill (Emma Roberts), Sidney’s cousin, and Charlie (Rory Culkin), Jill’s high school friend, record their kills through cameras hidden in their masks. This way, they can literally recreate the events in Woodsboro from 1996. Jill tells Sidney to “…look around. We all live in public now. We’re all on the internet now. How do you think people become famous anymore?” Jill and Charlie plan to upload their “movie” so the world has access to it. Much of this movie would put the audience in the killer’s point of view since it records through the eyes of Ghostface’s mask (Dika 88). Charlie even says that uploading the murders would be the next slasher innovation, and that’s exactly what Scream 4’s killers intend to do.
Scream 4’s killers recycle many of the original slasher conventions. Ghostface is a masked, depersonalized killer who stalks his victims before killing them (Dika 88). At the end of the film, after the revelation of the killers, it transpires that Charlie, like Stu in the original, does not seem to have much of a motive. He is, however, interested in recreating the terror caused by Billy and Stu years ago. He seems romantically interested in Jill, as they kiss before Jill kills him. However, Jill is the one with the true motive – desire for fame. She aspires to have her “15 minutes” like Sidney did. She hates that Sidney’s issues have become more important than her own. Killing Sidney, blaming it on Charlie and Trevor (Nico Tortorella), Jill’s ex-boyfriend, and being the “sole survivor” will get her the fame she believes she deserves.
Jill demands fame
To kill the victim group, the masked Ghostface in Scream 4 uses similar weapons to the killers in the original. Ghostface is known for using large butcher knives to stab victims, a “pretechnological weapon” that becomes “an extension” of himself (Clover 32). Scream 4 does the same, though once Jill is revealed as one of the killers, she uses a gun for some of the kills. This contradicts Carol Clover’s original assessment of weapons used in slasher films: “Guns have no place in slasher films” because “they fail” (Clover 31). Jill does shoot Trevor, however. In addition, when Jill tries to kill Sidney for the second time in the film, Gale, Dewey (David Arquette), and Judy come to the rescue. Jill and Judy have a bit of a standoff involving guns where Jill says she will “blow Dewey’s head off” if Judy does not toss over her gun. The use of guns here, unlike in the classic slasher, suggests that with the rise in technology during the 21st century, killers have more flexibility in their weapon choice.
It should be noted that the majority of the ten kills in this slasher involve knives, so the use of modern weapons is not by any means total. However, I would suggest that Jill’s use of guns for kills, both successful and attempted, speaks to the younger generation’s need for instant gratification. Clover states that pretechnological weapons “serve a plot predicated on stealth and the unawareness of later victims that the bodies of their friends are accumulating just yards away” (31). Using knives for most of the kills shows the killer is both furtive and patient. Ghostface stalks and attacks when it’s most convenient and safe to do so in order to make the kill successful. However, once Jill picks up a gun, she kills quickly. She is messy in her attempt to kill Sidney at the hospital, and the standoff between her and Judy does not end well. By the third act, Jill’s impatience and need for instant gratification causes her to slip and fail. In a world where everything is available at the push of a button, working hard and being patient seem unnecessary; however, impatience often leads to failure.
Gale catches cameras recording Ghostface murders
As the killers’ stealth and secrecy dwindles, Gale notices many signs of danger and tries to point them out to her oblivious husband. For example, she realizes Ghostface is recording the kills–but not until several people have already been murdered. Gale thus represents the older generation’s hesitancy in using technology–their preference to do without. While Gale doesn’t figure it out at first, Ghostface’s plan seamlessly reveals itself once she involves herself with technology.
Jill’s desire for fame galvanizes the two-part temporal structure convention of the slasher (Dika 93). The Woodsboro murders, however traumatic, gave Sidney a fame that Jill covets. Once Sidney returns to the place of her trauma, the killer also returns–as Jill masks herself as the ominous figure that has haunted Sidney for twenty-five years. It is a relic from her past that disrupts her present, no matter how well-off and empowered she becomes (Dika 89). Indeed, Jill draws inspiration from the original murders to fuel her rampage in Scream 4, showing how the past profoundly shapes Jill as well as Sidney.
Jill’s motive to gain fame may seem juvenile at first, but it’s a sick twist on the more familiar ways in which many young people try to gain internet fame today. The idea to recreate the Woodsboro murders is representative of copycat influencers and YouTubers. Once one person rises to YouTube fame, others copy the video idea, format, or style in hopes of achieving the same fame. Jill latches onto this idea, copying the past in hopes of winning the same fame Sidney received.
Scream 4’s use of technology raises questions about the dangers of both violent media and social media. The first question Scream 4 asks about society is the effect of violent media on youth. Jill and Charlie get much of their inspiration from the original events that occurred in Woodsboro which were turned into fictional films, the Stab franchise. Charlie loves the Stab films and has annual Stab-a-Thon parties. While at his Stab-a-Thon party, audience members are shouting with joy and excitement every time Ghostface makes an appearance. Does the presence of violent media provide inspiration for those who commit heinous crimes?
Since the rise of violent video games and accessible media consumption, questions have been raised about violence in media and its effect on youth. In Jill and Charlie’s case, they seem desensitized to the violence and can only see the potential for fame and recognition in the crimes they commit. Unfortunately, the Scream franchise has been noted for providing inspiration for the murder of Cassie Jo Stoddart on September 22nd, 2006. Before Brian Draper and Torey Adamcik killed Casey Jo Stoddart, they recorded themselves discussing their plan while sitting in their car the night of the murder. Draper stated that by killing Stoddart they “were going to make history.” They claimed to be referencing the Scream franchise along with murderers like Ted Bundy and the Zodiac Killer (Harris).
In addition, Scream 4’s main killer, Jill, is expressly motivated by her need for fame and attention. This has an eerie connection today for certain killers involved in mass shootings. The first Scream was thought to be commenting on those school shooters who were often students believed to be “normal,” who hid in plain sight (Wee 57). Scream 4 centers a society where killers in mass shootings gain infamy. If Jill’s plan were successful, no one would know she was Ghostface. However, she would live to see people’s avid reaction to her “movie.” She would be famous for surviving tragedy. And her need for recognition in connection to murder is eerily related to the way mass shooters copy other shootings to gain infamy.
Though Scream 4 is a classic slasher film, with many slasher conventions copied from the original Scream, it’s innovative in its incorporation of technology, livestreaming, and uploading. The film dramatizes the dangerous lack of privacy and increase of distraction caused by social media. The film shows that internet fame gained by copying popular influencer material can be a slippery slope. It questions violent media’s effect on youth while also commenting on the infamy gained from violent crimes. This terrifying blend reminds audience members of the real-life fears of American society where the worse the crime, the greater the attention.
Works Cited
Clover, Carol J. “Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film.” Representations, vol. 20, 1987, pp. 22-41.
Dika, Vera. “The Stalker Film, 1978-81.” American Horrors: Essays on the Modern American Horror Film, edited by Gregory A. Waller, University of Illinois Press, 2005, pp. 86-101.
Ebert, Roger. “‘Scre4m’ and Scre4m Again.” Roger Ebert, 14 Apr. 2011.
Harris, Shelbie. “Supreme Court Upholds Adamcik’s Sentence, Releases Transcripts of Video Made by Killers.” Idaho State Journal [Pocatello], 28 Dec. 2017.
Wee, Valerie. “Resurrecting and Updating the Teen Slasher: The Case of Scream.” Journal of Popular Film and Television, vol. 34, no. 2, July 2006, pp. 50-61.
