12 Defining Moments From The Scream Franchise

5. Blame The Movies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9aUxfTTLfk The last few minutes of all these films where the killer is unmasked are always really interesting, and in Scream 2 it's particularly brilliant. Ghostface is revealed to be film student Mickey, and just like Stu and Billy were obsessed with making a slasher movie, Mickey is obsessed with making a slasher sequel. His plan is to blame the movies for his killing spree, claiming that his innocent mind was warped by the violence in slasher films. It€™s a really clever concept that came at a time when a lot of people were questioning the effect of media violence on American culture. Mickey isn€™t able to execute that plan, but the movie refutes this idea that violent films create actual violence. Really, Mickey was just a psychopath who wanted to murder a bunch of people, but the news would have totally eaten his story up if he had lived to tell it. Craven suggests that people want to blame violent acts on violent works of art, as that's at least some sort of rationalization. But sometimes people like Mickey are just psychopaths who want to inflict pain on others for their own enjoyment, and that's a whole lot scarier.