8 Movies That Failed Because They Didn't Kill The Main Character

5. Scream 4

RIP: Sidney Prescott

Scream was a highly successful film when it was released in 1996. It made $173 million (from a $15 million budget) and brought new life to the slasher film genre. It was followed by three sequels (with more on the way) and will soon be reimagined as a television show. In each film, Sidney Prescott is hunted by a murderous member of the community hiding beneath the iconic mask of Ghostface. The franchise is known for its tongue-in-cheek storytelling, laying out the rules of horror films and then breaking and tweaking them as it goes along, often mocking the very genre it inhabits.

The characters in the fourth film are reminded by the killers that this is a "reboot" of the events prior, and that the rules have changed. This time, Sidney's cousin Jill is revealed to be the killer, who plans on killing Sidney and posing herself as the lone survivor of Ghostface's recent slew of murders. However, as we all know, Sidney's a bit of a badass and makes it out of the film alive after killing Jill herself.

How great would it have been if Jill got away with it? She could kill Sidney, pose as a victim, and then become the focus of Scream 5. Wes Craven could have taken the franchise in an exciting new direction, telling the story from Jill's perspective. How would she deal with fame? How would Sidney's death affect the other characters in the franchise? And could Jill get away with murder for long? Instead, Craven resorts to the same bag of tricks we've seen three times now: someone tries to kill Sidney. She kills them instead. Next!