9 Reasons Why Scream 3 Is Not QUITE As Bad As You Remember It
8. Scream 4
The events of Scream and Scream 2 are intrinsically linked. Without the death of Billy Loomis in the first film, there would be no "Debbie Salt" out for revenge on Sidney, no Stab movies, etc. Likewise, without the events of the earlier films, there would be no Scream 4. If there were no Sidney “The Survivor”, then there would be no Jill Roberts.
Presumably the Prescott-Roberts family would have continued along its path of low-key seething familial resentments like the rest of us. When it comes to Scream 3, although the events are linked to the first movies and offer a differing narrative perspective, one which fans only have Roman's word about being true, Scream 4 never references it. While Detective Kincaid and her dog may still be alive and well, waiting in the remote farmhouse for Sidney to return from her book tour, the fourth film never mentions that part of Sidney's life at all.
In theory, you could move straight from Scream 2 onto Scream 4 and have no knowledge of Sidney's long-lost brother and her mother’s dark days in Hollywood. Unlike other horror franchises, Scream doesn't require reboots or retcons to make the lesser sequels disappear; it just requires wilful ignorance from its audience.