Scream 3 revealed some shocking secrets that directly impacted Sidney’s story, especially as it retconned one of the most important deaths in the franchise. Wes Craven revitalized the slasher genre in the 1990s with Scream, which had a level of self-awareness not seen before in the horror genre. Scream introduced the audience to Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the Final Girl of the saga, who, along with her friends, was terrorized by a masked serial killer referred to as Ghostface. The success of Scream made way for various sequels, of which Scream 3 is often regarded as the weakest.
Scream 3 left Woodsboro aside and took the characters to Los Angeles, where a new Stab movie was being filmed. A new Ghostface killer started attacking those closest to Sidney and those involved in the making of Stab 3, but the reveal of the person behind the mask was not only shocking, but it also brought to light some secrets from Sidney’s family. Scream 3’s killer was Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), the director of Stab 3, who was also revealed to be Sidney’s half-brother, as well as the one who planned the murder of their mother.
Scream 3 Reveals Maureen Prescott’s Death Was Organized By Her Son Roman Bridger
The Woodsboro murders started before the events of Scream, with the murder of Sidney’s mother, Maureen. Her lover, Cotton Weary, was framed for her murder, but to Sidney, he was the one responsible for her mother’s death. In the third act of Scream, when Billy Loomis and Stu Macher revealed themselves as the Ghostface killers, Billy told Sidney he killed Maureen as she was having an affair with his dad, which led to his mother abandoning him. However, Scream 3 revealed that, while Billy and Stu were involved in Maureen’s murder, the real mastermind was Roman Bridger.
Maureen was a young actress in Hollywood, but she was raped by several men who promised to boost her career. Maureen became pregnant and gave birth to a son, Roman, whom she gave up for adoption. Roman tracked Maureen down and tried to reunite with her, but she rejected him as he reminded her of what happened to her. Unable to deal with the rejection, Roman began stalking her, and learned all of Maureen’s darkest secrets, mostly that she wasn’t faithful to her husband, Neil Prescott, which he used for his horrible revenge.
How Roman Orchestrated Billy, Stu & Cotton’s Roles In Maureen’s Murder
In addition to her affair with Cotton Weary, Maureen was also seeing Hank Loomis, Billy’s father. Roman showed the footage of Maureen’s affairs to Billy, which made him realize that was the reason his mother had abandoned him. This pushed Billy over the edge, and so he and his best friend Stu Macher were motivated by Roman to kill Maureen – but a key part of their plan was Maureen’s other lover, Cotton Weary.
The reason why Cotton Weary was believed to be Maureen’s killer was because Sidney claimed to have witnessed someone wearing Cotton’s jacket leave the house, and with no evidence that could link to the real killers, Cotton was accused of Maureen’s death. When Billy and Stu killed Maureen, they planted Cotton’s jacket with Maureen’s blood in his car, and so Cotton Weary was convicted of rape and murder. The only person who believed in Cotton’s innocence was Gale Weathers, which is why she and Sidney initially didn’t get along. Roman, then, was the one who started the Woodsboro murders without even getting his hands dirty until he became the killer in Scream 3.
Scream 3’s Death Retcon Made Sidney’s Story Far More Tragic
A big part of what made the reveal of Scream’s murderers so disturbing was that one was a close friend of Sidney while the other was her boyfriend. Sidney’s mother was killed by one of the people Sidney trusted the most, which led her to struggle with trust issues, to the point where her boyfriend in Scream 2 was believed to be the new Ghostface at some point. The retcon of Maureen’s murder in Scream 3 made Sidney’s story even more tragic as she not only had to worry about friends and love interests going after her and her family, but her own family wanted to hurt her, too.
This continued in Scream 4, where one of the killers was Sidney’s young cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts), though she did it for attention as she was jealous of Sidney being the center of attention all the time. Although Sidney returned in Scream (2022), the reboot films have now given her the peace she needed and deserved, and allowed her to stay with her family in Scream 6, while the new Ghostface killers focused on the new Final Girls of the franchise, Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara (Jenna Ortega). Scream 3 might not be as popular as the rest of the movies, but it made Sidney’s story more complex and tragic.
