FAQ for
Scream (1996/I) More at IMDbPro »

No. Because Cotton Weary and Maureen had sexual relations shortly before she was murdered, it was assumed that Cotton raped and killed her. What really happened was that Billy Loomis snuck in and killed Maureen while Cotton drunkenly left the room, then planted Cotton's coat (covered in Maureen's blood) in his car. When the police arrived, it appeared that Cotton killed Maureen, and semen samples made a logical theory that Cotton raped and murdered Maureen.

Although Billy Loomis already got his revenge on Maureen Prescott for breaking up his family, he still went after Sidney because he wanted to destroy Maureen's entire family just like she did to his.

The third killer theory was a theory developed by many Scream fans that claim that the events in Scream couldn't possibly have taken place with only Billy Loomis and Stuart Macher as the killers. Director Wes Craven claims that there were only two killers during the first "Scream", and that you can only watch a murder-mystery so many times before you notice minor continuities.

Of course, the events of Scream 3 indicate that there was in fact a third killer: Roman Bridger was aiding Billy. But this is obviously a plot development conceived after the fact. Not to mention Roman states "I'm a director, I direct..." and proceeded to describe how the events transpired. Indicating that he was more of a behind the scenes puppet master of the whole situation that Stu may not have even been aware of.

WARNING: This is not definite. These are just some of the theories, so don't trust this too much, it's not 100% true, no one knows how Kevin Williamson planned it.

MAUREEN PRESCOTT: Billy and Stu. They say so themselves and it's confirmed throughout the trilogy. Sidney only saw Billy however, who looks like Cotton Weary from behind.

CASEY AND STEVE: Both Billy and Stu were there. Yes, Tatum says Stu was with her that night, but what about what Randy said? "Was that before or after he sliced and diced?" Here's how it's a fact that both were there: when Steve is tied to the chair, he is looking in both directions, as if there are two people on either side of them and he has a "It's a trick! Don't!" look on his face. Biggest piece of evidence is when Casey's parents get home, the front door is opened, but the killer came in through the patio doors. The killer also seems to teleport all over the place at the beginning. Casey sees one Ghost-face run down a hallway, then looks up and sees another one right in front of her. Finally, at the end, Stu and Billy say, "We ask you questions, get it wrong, you die. Get it right, you die." With the Friday the 13th question, no matter what Casey said, it would have been wrong and right. The killer never specifies which F13 film he's talking about. If she DID say Mrs. Voorhees, the killer could have said, "Nope. Jason was the main killer of the series." Or he could have mentioned the copycat in part 5. No matter what she said, she would have been right or wrong, unless she did mention everything from Mrs. Voorhees to Jason to the copycat to Uber-Jason to Jason the Zombie to Alice who killed Jason's mother, which in that situation she obviously wasn't going to do. Same thing with "Which door am I at?" Billy and Stu were at both doors. So like with the F13 question, no matter what she said, she would have been right/wrong. That's why the front door is open, when we saw the killer break through the patio doors instead. With Steve, it could have been either who killed him. Billy was the one on the phone, since he was the one who called Sidney, a very similar call. And it seems more Billy-esque to be the tormenting caller. Billy could have put the phone down, went and cut open Steve and gone back, or Stu could have came out from behind a bush or something and gutted him on cue. It really could have been either, but I'm leaning on Stu, since Steve was looking in both directions, you'd think both were right there, and Billy would have been preoccupied with tormenting Casey over the phone. With Casey, I say Stu. It works better story-wise because the whole reason they chose Casey and Steve as their first murders was because Casey dumped Stu for Steve.

SID'S ATTACK: Stu was the attacker, Billy was the caller. If it was Billy in the costume, how would he make it to the window that fast? Stu snuck in through Sidney's bedroom window, hid in the closet, and was told to chase Sidney to her bedroom. Also, when the killer is running up the stairs, you hear a muffled "Easy...Easy!". This is exactly what Stu says in his next scene when Tatum hits him with a Popsicle.

BATHROOM ATTACK: This has become the most debated of all. A lot say prankster because the killer didn't have a knife. Extreme prank, but possible. There is supposed to be a written interview were Wes Craven confirms a prankster, it has yet to be obtained. Until then, I say Billy, because the killer is wearing blue jeans which Billy was wearing. Also before jumping out, the killer says, "Sidnnnneyyy", which has to be the voice of Skeet Ulrich. And Billy has enough reason to want to scare Sidney, since she said his mother abandoning him didn't mean as much as her mother dying.

HIMBREY: Billy. Stu was busy inviting party guests. What was Billy doing?

BUSHES: Billy spying on Sidney to hear her weaknesses or thoughts. No reason for Stu to be there, and some say it was a prankster. What kind of prank is spying on two girls and not letting them know you're there? That isn't a prank. That's plain stalking.

GROCERY STORE: Same with bushes. It's not a prank if you don't pop up and scare them.

TATUM: Billy was waiting for her in the garage the whole time. It was important to get her out of the way because like Sid said, if Tatum saw Billy there she'd flip and probably drag Sid away from the party, destroying the whole plan. Stu sent her in and shut the door behind him. It had to be Billy because he would have nothing better to do, and if Stu, the host of the party, disappeared for five minutes and Tatum turned up missing and dead, people would get suspicious. Also, Billy probably would have still been bitter about what Tatum said about his penis.

WHO CALLED THE POLICE AND RANDY: Stu. It's not a coincidence that right after Stu disappears, someone radios the police about a car and someone calls Randy and tells him Himbrey's body was found hanging from the school flagpole. Stu's house was in the middle of nowhere, and Prescott's car was deep in the woods. The only people who would be driving past are the drunk kids leaving Stu's party. Would they have seen it, or even cared enough to call the cops? Fat chance. This was to get rid of Dewey, the armed cop, for a while Stu grabbed Sidney and killed Kenny. Stu also called Randy and told him and the partiers to go check out Himbrey's body, because Billy and Stu couldn't take on that many people. Why would the actual authorities call Stu's house and tell him? And there was the 9 o'clock curfew, so it couldn't have been a friend.

BILLY'S ATTACK: Obviously Stu.

BEHIND RANDY: Stu. He's chasing Sidney, she falls from the roof, he goes downstairs and hears "Watch out Jamie! You know he's around!" Randy is still at the party. He goes to cut him open, hears Sidney, and decides to get her before she can go and get help. Note: It is Skeet Ulrich in costume. But he just wanted to wear the costume for a scene. And it's most likely that the person behind Randy is the same person who kills Kenny.

KENNY: Stu. Stu claims that Gale died when she crashed into a tree with the news-van after finding Kenny's dead body. It is most likely that Stu stuck around the area in front of the house, even after Sidney got away.

DEWEY: Most likely Billy. Dewey goes in, starts calling names, and Billy hears from upstairs. Billy gets on a costume, goes down, stabs Dewey in the back, and chases him to the door where he sees Sidney. He toys with her by unlocking the doors, then when she escapes, Billy ditches the car and either runs to the garage, goes under Tatum's body, goes behind Sidney while she's being harassed and distracted by Randy and Stu and goes up the stairs as if he never left, or, he runs to either side of the house, climbs up to a window like he has done twice before in the movie, and then waits for Sidney at the stairs. It couldn't have been Stu, a very popular theory, because at the end of the movie, Billy says, "I thought you said she was dead!", Stu replies "She looked dead, man. Still does." Looked. That means he saw her body. Meaning he went down the hill and checked on it. If he was the one who stabbed Dewey, he wouldn't have even seen the crash from a window, let alone check the body. Also it is impossible for Sidney to obtain the costume she wore while attacking Billy if it wasn't left inside. Stu could've only wore that costume if he left it outside, which is impossible because Sidney got it from inside. It is most likely that after Sidney escaped from the car-attack, Billy ran into the house and stashed it where Sidney finds it later.

Prior to its theatrical release the movie had to be cut to obtain a R-rating. Several violent scenes were trimmed down a bit but the Unrated Director's Cut is indeed available on home media mediums. The US LaserDisc features that unrated cut but not the DVD and there are the German and Japanese DVDs that contain the unrated version as well. A detailed comparison between both versions can be found here.