[Editorial] The Evolution of Sidney Prescott

When Scream (dir. Wes Craven) was released in 1996, it was a breath of fresh air for fans and critics alike in a sub-genre that had seen its heyday in the mid-1980s. Craven – who also introduced horror fans to iconic villain Freddy Kruger in 1984’s A Nightmare on Elm Street – revitalised slasher films with Scream. Pulling a Hitchcock, he killed off the film's biggest star (Drew Barrymore) in the opening scene and made the audience aware that although the characters understood the rules and conventions of the horror they were living, it wouldn’t help.

“There are certain RULES that one must abide in order to successfully survive a horror movie. For instance, number one: you can never have sex […] BIG NO NO! BIG NO NO! Sex equals death ok? Number two: you can never drink or do drugs […] The sin factor! It’s a sin. It’s an extension of rule number one. And number three: never, ever, ever under any circumstances say, “I’ll be right back”. Because you won’t be back.”

Randy Meeks

While the film delights in subverting what people think they know about the film they’re watching, it still needs to rely on those well-established rules in order to set the events in motion, and like every slasher film, there is a Final Girl. In her article Her Body, Himself, Carol J. Clover wrote extensively about the lone female character who survives until the end credits, dubbing her the Final Girl.  Clover goes into great detail about the physical and mental characteristics the Final Girl possesses that others do not, and how these qualities enable her to be triumphant.

The Scream series’ Final Girl is Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who in the first film, is struggling to come to terms with the brutal murder of her mother, Maureen, one year earlier. Due to this past trauma, Sidney is acutely aware of the danger surrounding her when her friends start to die, she takes the threat seriously and refuses to brush it off. The viewer is aware from the first time they see Sidney that there is tension in her relationship with her boyfriend Billy due to her reluctance to have sex with him. However, during the third and final act, Sidney does have sex with Billy. Not only does she still survive, it is revealed that Billy (along with Stu), is the killer, and was responsible for the death of Maureen.

“We did your Mom a favour, Sid. That woman was a slut-bag whore who flashed her shit all over town like she was Sharon Stone or somethin’ […] Is that motive enough for you? How about this? Your slut mother was fucking my father, and she’s the reason my mom moved out and abandoned me.”

Billy Loomis

In Scream, Sidney certainly embodies a lot of Clover’s Final Girl characteristics. The first time we see Sidney is in the scene directly following the murders of Casey and Steve. She is in her room, hair pulled back, night gown on, doing homework. She is studious, beautiful but not overtly so. She even has a non-traditional female name. When Billy invades her bedroom she is cautious about her Father hearing him, and it is in this scene we get an insight into the state of the physical relationship between the two, which Billy classifies as “PG-13”. Sid is reluctant to have sex, but not opposed to it, she flashes Billy as he leaves (after he claims he is only “half serious” about taking their relationship to the next level). Billy uses the lack of sex as a weapon against Sid on more than one further occasion. When he is released without charge after being discovered with the mobile phone, he berates her for not wanting to touch him, he seems dismissive of the pain and trauma over the death of her mother. It isn’t the fact that Sidney engages in sex that leads her to act, rather the truth behind her mother’s death. In each film of the franchise, every time Sidney chooses to act instead of hide, it follows a triggering event, the revelation of a truth not previously known to her. One of Clover’s key components to being a successful Final Girl is the move from passive to active defence, and this is where Sidney differs. In all four Scream movies, when threatened, she swiftly moves from active defence to active offense. In the original movie she seizes the costume and voice changer, calling Stu and Billy with taunting phone calls, just as they did to their victims. Sid ambushes Billy and stabs him in the chest with an umbrella before physically fighting with Stu. It’s messy and frantic, she is fighting for her life and the audience can tell. The Final Girl is triumphant, just as the audience knew she would be, delivering a final shot to Billy’s head after Randy warns her the killer always comes back for one last scare with the iconic line, “Not in my movie”.

In Scream 2 (1997), Sidney is in college and trying to put the past behind her, despite the opening of the first Stab movie. Her roommate Halley accuses her of being self-isolated, but she has friends, a boyfriend, and is proactive – but crucially not paranoid – in keeping herself safe (she has caller ID and knows the laws on prank calling). When the killings begin again, she refuses to shrug it off as a copycat, stating that she knew it wasn’t finished, that it would happen again. When she is on the receiving end of the first call after CiCi’s death, she refuses to play the game, much like she did in the first film, shouting “Then why don’t you show your face? You fucking coward”. But Ghostface plays with Sidney much longer than in the original, killing Randy in broad daylight and attempting to attack her during the rehearsal of her play. This trips Sid up, and she allows her safety to be left in the hands of other people, agreeing to go to a safe place with the police. But, when this inevitably fails, she is drawn into the trap set for her by the killers, using her boyfriend as bait. Once again, there is a trigger event that spurns Sid into active action, and this time it is the death of her boyfriend, Derek. When confronted with Mickey, who compares himself to Billy, she draws on her past experiences to empower her. ‘You’re forgetting one thing about Billy Loomis….I fucking killed him’.

Just like her professor urged her to remember in an earlier scene, here we are reminded that Sidney Prescott is indeed a fighter. She uses whatever tools are available around her to incapacitate Mrs. Loomis, before she and Gale ensure the conspiring pair are dead. The spectre of Maureen is utilised much less in the second film, but remains, lingering over everything.

By the time Scream 3 starts, the trauma of the previous two films have turned Sidney into a paranoid and physically isolated recluse. Her house is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by electric fences and alarms. She works from home, helping other women, using a fake name. When the murders and the phone calls start again, this is a much more fragile Sid than the audience is used to. She screams, drops to the floor and covers her ears. She has nightmares and becomes panicked. She does not want to face this threat again, she is not ready for it. Even when Sidney reluctantly comes out of hiding, it seems like she may lose her grip, like this may still be too much for her, especially when she is attacked on the Woodsboro set. The set not only features a replica of her own teenager room, but a bloody rendition of Maureen’s crime scene. As always, Sidney finds her strength, despite the fact that she is almost literally haunted by her mother, whom, in a dream, warns Sidney that she is just like her. A black sheep, a bad seed, a bad person. She willingly goes to the killer when her friends are in danger, because she is loyal to a fault. She clings to those closest to her, they have been through so much together and are in danger by knowing her. But she is prepared, she knows what the killer really wants, and that’s her. Unlike Scream 2, where she was confronted with her own past, here, she is confronted with her mother’s past, something that has hung over her since before the trilogy began. The ghost of Maureen Prescott has loomed large over the first three movies, and over Sidney’s life, but none more so than in the third instalment. Decisions Maureen made, events in her life that long preceded her role as a mother have left nothing but devastation for her daughter to deal with. Scream 3 is about Sidney confronting her mothers’ past, for better and for worse, to see her as a whole person, one with her own secrets and trauma, and finally allow her to move out of her shadow to become her own person. Confronting this aspect of herself, this darkness, is intrinsic in helping Sidney find peace. She must repent for the mistakes, the sins of her mother, to move on. Every revelation, every horrific exposed secret, is vital to Sidney’s evolution in the franchise. She is unable to effectively grow until she possesses all the knowledge she needs.

Which she does, by the time we see her in Scream 4 she is more pulled together, more capable than we have ever seen her before. Returning to Woodsboro to promote a book about her experiences on the anniversary of the original massacre, she is the least phased when someone sets out to remake the Stab movies. She knows the rules, she knows how to manipulate them and when they count. She has played this game three times before, and she has always won. Even when she learns that her nicknames are The Angel of Death and The Grim Reaper, she doesn’t take this to heart, she doesn’t let it destroy her. It seems that, for the first time, Sidney is an actual suspect but she does not let this tear her down. Sidney knows the truth, she knows what has really happened every time, she was there and is one of only three survivors. This gives her immense strength. For all the talk of the genre rules, Sidney knows they are merely guidelines, that ultimately, they don’t matter. What matters is inner strength, the love of her friends, and the ability to change. Scream 4 presents the audience with a false Final Girl in Jill, Sidney’s cousin. But if she thought being family would save her, she is wrong. Sidney has dealt with family members before, she knows that blood isn’t always thicker than water, and Jill meets the same fate as every other person who has attempted to take her down. Sidney doesn’t hesitate, she knows what needs to be done. She knows how this film will end.

By the time the credits roll in the last film, Sidney has reclaimed the word victim and taken away the negative connotations. She does not want to be pitied, or made a spectacle of. She does not want to hide or live in fear. She knows what she is. Sidney Prescott is a fighter, a survivor, the Final Girl.

With the release of Scream 5 due next year, it’s anyone’s guess what a 2022 version of Sidney will look like. The representation of women in horror and Final girl-esque characters has continued to change in the 12 years since the previous film. Notably, characters such as Grace in Ready or Not (dir .Matt Bettinelli-Olphin and Tyler Gillett) and Erin (You’re Next, dir. Adam Wingard) have built upon the evolution laid down before them by Sidney and shown just how fearless they can be. How they are not afraid to do everything it takes to ensure their survival. The return of Sidney Prescott and whatever her next evolution might be it will mark a welcome return to the slasher genre.

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