Wes Craven’s Scream saga had different killers in each film, all wearing the same costume and with Sidney Prescott as their target, but there are some details that point at the existence of at least one more killer. The saga began in 1996 with Scream, which has been credited as the film that revitalized the horror genre as it was going through a rough time after being at the top in the 1970s and part of the 1980s.
A big part of Scream’s success was its awareness of the real world: it acknowledged the existence of other horror films (including Wes Craven’s previous works), clichés of the genre, and made fun of them while also being a slasher film. This basic formula was repeated in the sequels, with little twists like satirizing horror sequels, trilogies, and remakes. Scream also had two killers teaming up in each film, except Scream 3 which only had one, but the timing of some events has made way for a theory about a potential third (or second) killer.
The killers in the first Scream were Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), and while their crimes were carefully timed, there are some that have left viewers wondering if there was someone else helping them, and it all points at the killer in Scream 3, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley). Roman, Sidney’s half-brother, after being rejected by their mom, followed her around and filmed her affairs, which included Billy’s father. Roman showed the footage to Billy and that’s what started it all. Dewey’s stabbing, Sidney’s chase, and then Billy’s reveal is a sequence that makes a third killer on the scene possible. Billy and Stu planned everything, with Roman just playing a small part as third killer when necessary.
Scream 2 was carefully timed too, but the scene in the projection room makes the theory possible. Dewey and Gale are interrupted when a killer is seen in the room above. Dewey runs to it and finds it empty, but a killer sneaks up behind Gale from under a desk. Then comes the attack in the police car, where the cops and Sidney’s friend Hallie are killed. Due to the time and distance between the settings, some viewers find it impossible for one killer (or both) to get to the car. However, it’s worth noting that there’s no evidence that proves the distance between attacks, so it’s possible that one killer could have gotten there.
Scream 3 has only one killer, which certainly makes some murders a bit more difficult, especially the ones at the mansion, near the end of the film. Roman is found “dead” by Gale and Jennifer, who come across with Angelina while running away from the scene. Angelina is killed, followed by Tyson who is thrown off a balcony, and right after that, Jennifer is killed while trying to escape through a secret passage – there wasn’t enough time between Tyson and Angelina’s deaths for the killer to get from one spot to the other.
Finally, Scream 4 is the one with the most plot holes. Supposedly, the story was originally going to have three killers, so it’s possible that some details slipped and weren’t adapted to two killers. Rebecca’s death, Gale’s attack at the Stabathon, the death of Jill’s mother, and Charlie’s “attack” prior to killing Kirby are some of the situations where a third killer should have been there, and many viewers have pointed at Deputy Hicks (Marley Shelton) as suspect, as she has a crush on Dewey and looks a bit hurt when Sidney doesn’t remember her – plus, her timely appearance at some crime scenes support the idea. Although some could be just continuity errors, the idea of a secret killer in the Scream franchise is still completely possible, and it’s a mystery that will never be solved.
