Scream: The TV Series first aired in 2015, four years after Scream 4, and the last episode of season 3 debuted in July of 2019. With this in mind, the TV show was able to incorporate modern aspects that a movie franchise beginning in the late ’90s simply couldn’t. As Scream 5 is in development and slated for a 2021 release date, fans of Wes Craven’s original Scream movies are wondering how the next movie can continue his legacy — perhaps the TV show should be used for some future inspiration.
The TV show rubbed some Scream fans the wrong way since it isn’t a direct adaptation of the movies, and didn’t include any familiar characters. However, with a 42-minute episode format and 29 episodes spread out among three seasons, the series has much more material at its disposal. It’s because of this that Scream: The TV Series is able to explore aspects the Scream movie franchise only hinted at or wasn’t able to cover at all.
Scream: The TV Series is loaded with high school melodrama and comes off like a knock-off of The OC or Degrassi with a serial killer picking off the students. The content doesn’t always register, especially if high school now feels like a foreign concept. However, the series is addictive and awesome for its ability to utilize every teen soap-opera-like moment to amplify each kill. Scream: The TV Series may not be as good as the movies overall, but it’s certainly not for a lack of trying. Furthermore, the TV series does manage to improve a few areas the movies don’t address or get wrong, which is part of the reason it managed to carve out an audience for itself and get four seasons of content approved by MTV and VH1, respectively. Here’s everything the TV show did better than the Scream movies.
The Randy Character Is More Relevant
Randy was a highlight of the first two Scream films with a detailed knowledge of horror movies and a sense of humor that made the character memorable. Other than having one-sided feelings for Sidney, Randy doesn’t have much when it comes to romance. This is completely altered in Scream: The TV Series. Noah is a major character in season 1 and season 2 of the show. He not only survives both seasons, but is one of the most active in the relationship department.
Noah originally has a shy kind of romance with Riley, one of the popular girls who secretly has a nerdy side. The two have a lot in common and almost sleep together, but Riley is called away by the killer and is killed before they can get too close. In season 2, Noah hits it off with Zoey, who is a fan of his morbid podcast and is just as smart as he is. The two are intimately involved, but the killer eventually comes between them. Zoey is killed while Noah escapes with a mere stab wound to the gut. In Scream season 3, the nerd and the movie buff have been split into two characters. Amir is the quiet one with a love for music and Star Wars, while Beth is a goth girl that loves horror. Those two become romantically involved, but Amir is killed—his death is arguably the best of the season—and Beth ends up being one of the killers.
Randy served as a vault of horror trivia to remind everyone about the rules the killer was following. In Scream season 1 and season 2, Noah not only knows about horror movies, but gets the girl — twice. Since Randy died halfway through Scream 2, he felt expendable as a supporting character. Noah is crucial to the survival of his friends often being right with his theories or simply knowing things because of his infatuation with serial killers.
Scream season 3 is more about establishing whether it’s a reboot or a remake, since it doesn’t follow any clear horror movie guidelines, but the fact that the horror buff ends up being one of the killers is intriguing. Those that know horror front to back would be the perfect individuals to trash current horror guidelines and concoct their own from the ground up, which is another improvement on Randy’s original character, who many felt was underutilized in the movies.
The Characters Are More Diverse & Survive Longer
Audrey is a bi-curious character who is haunted by her relationship decisions the minute the series’ pilot starts. The loss of her first love, Rachel, is a driving force for not only the first two seasons, but also the Audrey character in general. The first four Scream movies never covered bisexuality or homosexuality, but Scream: The TV Series brings that aspect by making one of its key supporting characters bisexual. Audrey’s short fuse, dislike for most people, and ability to see people for who they really are not only make her feel genuine, but also questions whether or not she could be behind the murders.
Black people and other minorities have gotten a bad rap in horror movies for a long time. While it’s changed in more recent horror movies, such as Jordan Peele’s Get Out and Us, they are usually among the first to die. Scream: The TV Series season 3 completely changes this. The only Black person to die on the show is one of Ghostface’s last victims, while the first to die is the sleazy, white quarterback of the football team. The majority of the cast is Black in Scream season 3, and their presence is felt throughout. Liv and Kym are strong Black women who could easily take over as the lead character, while Deion has a football player’s positive mentality of trying to approach every obstacle as if it was a play on the field, which makes him another excellent lead.
Ghostface Is Different (& More Impactful)
Ghostface isn’t a part of Scream: The TV Series season 1 or season 2. It’s disappointing, but the writers were smart enough to make the mask part of the storyline instead. The mask was worn by someone named Brandon James, a serial killer who wore a mask to disguise his facial deformities. Brandon underwent several facial reconstructive surgeries while wearing several different masks in his lifetime — one of those masks was the one featured in the show.
In Scream season 3, Ghostface returns and is even referred to as Ghostface, which is the canon name in the Scream movies for every killer. The origin of the costume resonates throughout the all-too-brief six episode season. The Ghostface costume was worn by Deion’s twin brother, Marcus, when they were young boys on Halloween. A bully steals Marcus’ candy and throws it into the junkyard where a sinister individual known as Hookman lives. The two brothers hop the fence and retrieve the candy, but Marcus is caught by Hookman and gets killed; Deion has to live with that guilt the rest of his life.
What makes Ghostface so intimidating in the Scream movies is that he only uses a knife as a weapon. The series allows The Killer/Ghostface to expand his arsenal. The best parts of all three seasons of Scream: The TV Series are the kills. Being on MTV and VH1, Scream: The TV Series wasn’t able to have all the vulgarity audiences have come to love from the movies, but the gore increased tenfold. Will is split in half in season 1, but his mutilated corpse haunts his ex-girlfriend Emma’s nightmares in the next episode.
In Scream season 2, Jake steps in a bear trap and is knocked unconscious with a bat. He’s then strung upside down and gutted with a scythe right down the middle of his torso. At The Lady of the Lake pageant, his corpse tumbles out of a banner from the ceiling onto his girlfriend, Brooke, after she’s announced as a finalist. The Killer uses a corkscrew to repeatedly uncork a hotel clerk’s face. In season 3, Amir is hiding in an elevator with his back to the doors. A handsaw erupts through the doors and goes through Amir’s chest. The saw does a twisting motion, then splits Amir in half as the elevator starts to go down. This is all very violent for television, which is something that has become more commonplace in modern years, and would have never been possible in the ’90s. Looking at shows like Bryan Fuller’s Hannibal, which aired on NBC, there’s more leeway for violent content now. These unique kills were one of the strongest parts of the overall series, and would fit perfectly into the movie franchise.
The Survivors’ Trauma Is More Accurate
In the Scream movies, the surviving characters aren’t as psychologically affected by the bloody events they’ve endured. They have an idea of what to expect once Ghostface returns, but they otherwise seem to live normal lives without being haunted by those grisly memories. Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott isolates herself out in the middle of nowhere, learns to lock her doors, and begins to use home security systems. She also wears the letters of the fraternity her dead boyfriend, Derek, belonged to in Scream 2 throughout the entirety of Scream 3. This shows that she is affected somewhat, but not to the same extent that the TV show explores.
Emma is psychologically destroyed after the events of Scream: The TV Series season 1. Emma is the main character of the first two seasons, and was one of the people responsible for killing the show’s original killer. She leaves the town of Lakewood—which is different from the Scream movies’ Woodsboro—and takes an absence of school to get treatment for the PTSD that develops because of it. She has panic attacks, she hallucinates, and she sees someone for psyche therapy.
It may look like a weakness on paper, but in reality it’s good writing and makes Emma seem more human. Knowing that she isn’t the same after someone tried to kill her and successfully killed a ton of her friends is not only a callback, but also lets the audience know that she’s flawed and has the need to rely on others despite being the definitive final girl of Scream: The TV Series.
