10 Smartest Decisions Made By Scream Characters
Scream 2's cameraman Joel is the smartest person in the universe.
The Scream franchise is of course best known for its unapologetic self-awareness, of its characters being hyper-literate of slasher movies and therefore often sidestepping the cliches most associated with the genre.
That's not to say there haven't been some head-smackingly silly character decisions made throughout the franchise - albeit often played for laughs - yet for the most part Scream's roster of characters are considerably smarter on average than expected for the genre.
But there have been a few choice moments where characters have gone above and beyond the basic levels of self-preservation to demonstrate actual critical thought and, dare one say, honest-to-God intelligence.
These 10 character decisions rank as the smartest in the Scream franchise and are honestly some of the most forward-thinking you could reasonably expect from any mainstream horror movie.
Whether victims acting like their life actually matters or villains executing perfect sleights of hand to throw everyone off the scent, these are the moments where characters demonstrated more smarts and wherewithal than anyone surely anticipated.
Also, MAJOR SPOILERS will follow for the recently released fifth Scream film if you haven't seen it yet...
10. Sidney Shoots Mrs. Loomis In The Head - Scream 2
The original Scream famously concluded with killer Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) coming back from the "dead" for one last scare, prompting Sidney (Neve Campbell) to shoot him in the head. The idea of the killer getting a last-minute revival was then played with in Scream 2's finale.
After Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) shoots killer Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalfe) to the ground, her accomplice Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) returns from apparent death, prompting Sidney and Gale (Courteney Cox) to riddle him with bullets.
Sensing there's a lesson to be learned in all this, Sid then turns to Debbie's body and pops a round in her head before she can even think about staging one desperate last stand.
Sadly far too many of Scream's characters don't appreciate the virtue of aiming for the head, as was made so devastatingly clear in the latest Scream film (if you know, you know).
Sidney, at least, learned from the past and made sure Debbie wouldn't be making a final comeback.