So many movies have them.
In the time between page and screen, a film can undergo many rewrites and changed decisions.
That’s especially so in horror, and nowhere is this more prevalent than theScreammovies.
No, their task was something harder.
The twist of two killers instead of one was something that had rarely been seen.
In Kevin Williamson’s original script, the bad guys die and the heroes prevail.
Image via Dimension Films
Who those bad guys were never changed.
The fate of two characters did, however, change between script and screen.
One huge difference is that Dewey was supposed to die.
Image Via Dimension Films
And it was the best decision we ever made.
Another difference sees Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) be braver in one big way.
It’s obvious in the film that he has a crush onfinal girl Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).
Image via Dimension Films
In the original draft, he shoots his shot, literally after the shot that kills Billy.
Randy gets the girl.
At the time the script was written, the studio was determined to keep the plot details under wraps.
Image Via Dimension Films
They were worried the killers identity would be leaked, so we wrote several endings.
There was even a fake ending where Dewey was the killer.
They existed as a decoy and nothing more.
Image via Paramount Pictures
Extreme measures, but we really wanted to keep the killers identity a secret!
Thankfully, the final version scales back on the carnage and legacy character deaths.
Much of this failure comes from the fact that Kevin Williamson wasn’t involved.
Though Kevin Williamson wasn’t involved in the end, he was at the beginning.
There are a couple different versions of the last film in the original trilogy.
Matthew Lillard toldVulture, “I was supposed doScream3.
I got paid for3.
They kind of took the script and threw it to the side.
They bought me out and I never did the third one.”
A national tragedy forced the film to go in a different direction.
One direction was just as bonkers as bringing back the dead.
None of them were actually dead and they’d planned the whole thing."
It worked for the 80s slasher gemApril Fool’s Day, but would it have been as successful here?
The original ending forScream 4shows the intended plan for continuation.
Sidney arrives at the house and Ghostface is revealed.
Jill kills her accomplice and leaves Sidney for dead before faking her death.
She would have then come back forScream 5as the first Ghostface to appear in more than one movie.
‘Scream’ (2022)
Last year, theScreamfranchise made its return.
Sadly, it would be without Wes Craven, who had passed away in 2015.
The director’s chair was filledby the Radio Silence team ofMatt Bettinelli-OlpinandTyler Gillett.
Kevin Williamson also was not the writer, but rather the credit goes toJames VanderbiltandGary Busick.
Mason has got to be in the other movies.
This guy is the greatest!
Wed be crazy to get someone this charismatic and just kill them.'"
To fix this, a scene was added at the end showing Chad still alive.
I heard an audible, cathartic, gasp.
You could feel people were so glad that he lived.
With no intention of ever fucking using it.
It was absolutely not really a usable shot.
Shot is very generous.
Though perhapsDewey had to die to raise the stakes, maybe the directors could have let him live anyway.
Despite the impossible odds, maybe he’ll pop up in a future sequel.
It’s not likely, but one can hope.
Scream VIis playing in theaters now.
