12 Defining Moments From The Scream Franchise

7. The Rules For Sequels

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWeaYCoh1qk Wes Craven keeps the meta commentary going in this scene by having Randy discuss the rules of sequels. As he explains, the body count has to be bigger and the death scenes have to be much more elaborate because the audience expects it. Once again the movie is bringing the audience into the mix, implying that the deaths in this one will be even more brutal because that's what you came here to see. They then try to figure out who the killer could be based on the rules of sequels. Randy says it probably isn't the boyfriend only because that's a tired trope, and the murderer wants to break some new ground here (just like Craven does). He even speculates that it could be Hallie, Sidney's roommate, because having a female killer is "sort of against the rules but not really." And doesn't that accurately describe so many horror sequels? They want to appear that they're breaking the rules of the franchise, but they're really just offering the same thing you've seen before with a very slight twist.