Warning: This article contains spoilers for Scream 2022.
Ghostface is back for the fifth time in 2022's Scream, which brings a new set of horror movie rules for him to follow. This time the series of murders is centered around a new group of Woodsboro teenagers, most of whom have a connection to characters from previous Scream films. The new rules are based around this aspect of the movie, dubbed a “requel” by Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), the new horror expert of the group.
Mindy is the niece of Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), the horror expert who explains the rules under which horror movie murderers operate in each of the first three Scream films. The series is famous for its meta send-up (rivaling even the meta nature of The Matrix Resurrections) of these cliches of horror movies, with each movie introducing a new set of rules based on what kind of horror movie it is. The original film leading through Scream 4 respectively cover the rules of horror movies, horror sequels, the last chapter of a horror trilogy, and horror movie remakes.
Scream then has to introduce a new set of rules for Ghostface to follow, focusing on the idea of requel, a movie that is a sequel to what came before but also a reboot to the franchise. Mindy lists the recent Halloween reboot and the Star Wars sequel trilogy as examples of requels. The rules provide clues of both to whom the audience can suspect of being the new Woodsboro killer and who might be next in the killing spree. Here are the new rules Ghostface follows in 2022's Scream.
The Kills Must be Connected to the Original
One of the things that Mindy emphasizes when going over the rules of a requel is that it must have connections and callbacks to the original films of the series. Scream’s first Ghostface attack kicks off the connections to the beginning of the franchise by mirroring the famous opening phone call sequence in which Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker is teased and murdered. Even during the opening scene of the new film, it seems apparent that Ghostface staged his first attack as an homage to the original.
But the new Ghostface’s plan goes beyond the in-universe reference; the attacker does not kill his target, Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), because he is using her as bait to lure her sister back to Woodsboro. Samantha Carpenter (Melissa Barrera, seen as part of In The Heights cast earlier this year) comes to her sister’s aid but is unwittingly following Ghostface’s design to bring a direct connection to the original Scream into the new story. It is quickly revealed that Sam is the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich), making her a key suspect in the murders that follow Tara’s attack.
In addition to this key character connection to the original, nearly all of the victims of Ghostface’s attacks in Scream are characters from previous entries or related to previous characters. These attacks include Mindy and her brother Chad (Mason Gooding), a nephew of Billy Loomis’ accomplice Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), and Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton) who had previously been a deputy in Scream 4. This run of attacks shows that Ghostface is fully committed to moving the franchise forward while also staying connected to what came before, especially the original film.
Legacy Characters Have to Appear
Another requel rule that Mindy mentions is that legacy characters have to appear to usher in the new characters, meaning characters who were a part of the original movie. For Scream this means bringing back David Arquette as former sheriff Dewey Riley, Courtney Cox as news reporter and author Gale Weathers, and original Scream heroine Sidney Prescott. Dewey is the first legacy character to appear, offering his own set of rules on how to deduce the murderer’s identity.
Tragically, Dewey’s knowledge from the previous Woodsboro murders can’t save him from Ghostface. But he was instrumental in helping the new group of teenagers, as are Gale and Sidney in the final act of the movies. Even though Sidney tries her best to stay out of the fray, the new Ghostface orchestrates events to follow the new rules and bring back the remaining legacy characters from the original.
The Story is a Classic Whodunnit
Scream also makes an effort to address a recent change in the horror landscape that elevates the stories by including social commentary. But as Mindy says of the in-universe Stab movies based on the Woodsboro events, those movies aren’t elevated and neither is the Scream franchise. Although the films have updated for the times in of technology, the heart of each movie is centered around trying to figure out who the killer is. Sticking to this formula is part of what makes the Scream franchise a critical success and sets it apart from other horror movies.
In keeping this rule, Ghostface also mixes it with another rule mentioned by Dewey, who posits that the killer will be part of the friend group of the first person attacked. This makes everyone in the friend group a suspect, making it even harder to solve the mystery since nobody knows who to trust. In the end, Ghostface follows both the rule of whodunnit storyline and Dewey’s rule of being part of the friend group, when it is revealed that Tara’s friend Amber (Mikey Madison) is one of the killers.
There Are Always Two Killers/Never Trust the Love Interest
This is a combination of two of Dewey’s supplemental rules, both revealed to be true in the final act when Sam’s boyfriend, Richie (Jack Quaid), is discovered to be in league with Amber. Those familiar with the original Scream may have been suspicious of Richie from the beginning, ing that original Ghostface Billy Loomis was dating Sidney specifically as part of his plan. Richie had concocted a similar plan as a super fan of the Stab movies, deciding that dating Sam was the easiest way to make a better sequel for the franchise.
In fact, both Richie and Amber are obsessives of the franchise, which is their motivation for the murderers and their reasoning for following the rules so closely. This even stretches to committing the crime as a two-person team, since almost all the movies going back to the original reveal that Ghostface is two people (only Scream 3 changes the rules). All of the rules the two follow go back to establishing Scream as a rebootquel, meant to both honor the original and set the stage for a new phase in the franchise.
Old Rules The New Ghostface Ignored
As dedicated as Richie and Amber are to following their rules and some of the old rules in Scream, there are some to which they don’t adhere at all. For example, while Ghostface’s kills are violent in the new movie, they aren’t all more gruesome than those from the previous movie. This goes against a rule from Scream 4 which says that the deaths have to be more extreme in a sequel, and a rule in Scream 2 that says the deaths have to be more elaborate.
Ghostface also doesn’t quite follow a tasteless suggested rule from Scream 4 that said the only sure-fire way to survive a modern-day horror movie is to be gay. Scream 5 debunks that by having several non-main, non-LGBTQ+ characters live to see the end of the film, including Tara and Chad Meeks-Martin, both of whom are attacked by Ghostface. Despite these deviations, Scream continues to show the self-awareness of the previous four movies, inventing new rules that allow Ghostface to return in a way that shows respect for what came before.
