Scream Saga: The Rules For Surviving In Horror Films (and for making them) From Scream to Scream VI

film audience in front of the mechanisms that regulate this same genre. In each film of the saga created by Wes Craven, horror clichés are therefore discussed and, in particular, their application to the reality of Scream. One of the most successful ideas of Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson (author of the scripts of the first 3 films) is that of creating a character capable of exposing the rules to follow in a horror film.

Scream Horror Movie Survival Rules

Generally, this character is a young horror film enthusiast, a true cinephile, who from within the film explains to the other protagonists the rules for surviving in a reality that resembles a slasher like that of Weedsboro, the town in which almost all of them are set the Scream movies. In the case of the first film of the saga, the character is Randy Meeks, played by Jamie Kennedy. It is Randy who starts what has become a tradition of the Scream franchise. In fact, in the first 3 Scream films, Randy Meeks explains the rules of horror films. The rules change and evolve, film after film. Randy points out that the rules change based on the type of film. If it’s a sequel or the final act of a trilogy, there will be ad hoc rules. Here are all the rules for surviving in a horror film revealed by the Scream saga films in detail:

Scream 1

The rules of the first film are only three and they are quite simple. They are based on the classic canon of horror films starring teenagers:

• Rule 1: You should never have sex
• Rule 2: Never get drunk or do drugs
• Rule 3: Never, under any circumstances, say “I’ll be right back” because there’s no going back

However, the rules prove to be not without exceptions already in the first film of the saga. In Scream Sidney has sex with Billy. At the end of the film, however, she is saved and it is he who dies instead.

Scream 2

In the second film, Randy Meeks talking to deputy Linus explains that the rules of a sequel are different. He then sets out the updated rules, to understand who could be guilty of the murders and save himself:

Someone wants to make a sequel because of the mess that has been created between movies and murders, so we have to observe the rules of a sequel.

The rules of sequels are:

• Rule 1: The number of dead increases
• Rule 2: The crime scenes are always more elaborate, with more blood, more horror: carnage
• Rule 3: Never assume the killer is dead

The first rule has been respected since Scream 2 counts 10 kills against 8 in the first film. The second also, because Randy’s death (and not only his) shows a lot of blood. The third was confirmed by the fact that at the end of the film Mickey, Ghostface together with Mrs. Loomis, is presumed dead but wakes up shortly after.

Trivia: In Scream 2 the scene where Randy pronounces the rules of the sequel was made so that he was interrupted by Linus before saying the third rule. This, however, can be heard in the teaser trailer of the film:

Scream 3

In Scream 3 Randy died but still manages to dictate the rules to his friends to help them save themselves. The boy left his friends a video in which he explains what the rules are for the final chapter of a trilogy:

In true trilogies, you always go back to the beginning of the story and discover that things believed to be true weren’t true at all!

• Rule 1: You have a superhuman killer, you don’t need to stab or even shoot him. Practically in the third chapter, you will have to freeze his head, decapitate him, blow him up
• Rule 2: Anyone, even the main character, can die
• Rule 3: The past will return, it is not buried. The sins of the past will return

Randy was right: in Scream 3 Sidney discovers his mother’s true identity and that it was his half-brother (whom he didn’t know he had) who masterminded Maureene Prescott’s death. Also the Ghostface of this chapter, Roman, was not superhuman. However, he survived several gunshots because he was wearing a bulletproof vest.

Scream 4

In the fourth chapter of Scream Randy is not there but there is a Cinema Club where there are several horror fans, including Charlie Walker and Robbie Mercer.

During a club meeting the two boys talk about the rules that apply to remakes, stressing that a cinematic remake of the original must show much more extreme murders.

Additionally, Charlie says that “the unexpected is the new cliché” and that remakes need to offer audiences an important narrative twist because by now fans know all the rules of how a horror film is made.

Scream 5

The fifth film in the saga is a requel, a cross between a reboot and a sequel to the first four films.  11 years have passed since Scream 4 and Scream 5.

The saga now has two new protagonists: Sam and Tara Carpenter, sisters related to Billy, the first Ghostface in the history of Scream. Also among her younger sister Tara’s friends (and future victims of the new Ghostface) are twins Chad and Mindy.

It is up to the latter, as a fan of horror and cinephile, the task of filling the role that once belonged to Randy and enunciating the rules to survive a horror requel of Scream 5: 

•  Never trust boyfriends
•  The motive is connected to the past
•  The killer hides in the first victim’s circle of friends

In this case, all three rules turn out to be true, as poor Sam will discover who will be forced to kill her boyfriend, one of the two people to impersonate the new Ghostface.

Scream VI

The sixth film in the saga is set in New York and features the four survivors among the new recruits of Scream 5. Once again it’s up to Mindy to spell out the new rules to survive the new incarnation of Ghostface. In this case, Mindy explains to friends that the killer is now working on a horror saga, which has its own rules:

• the previous rules no longer apply, on the contrary: they will likely be overturned
• The historical characters of the saga, who have survived several films, are not safe
• Even more spectacular deaths, including beheadings, are to be expected.

In this case, the rules are indeed reversed: all four protagonists survive and even the remaining historical characters get to see the end of the film.