Revealing mistake: Sidney is teasing Billy, and as a sort-of-reward to him she flashes him before he goes. That's the idea, but in the view from behind you can actually see through the nightie the shoulderstrap of a bra. (00:16:55)
Sammo
19th Feb 2022
Scream (1996)
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Suggested correction: Could she have had a bra that undoes at the front and quickly flashed him?
To actually answer the question; her hand is on full display, holding the nightie open. She'd still have to open the bra. You can technically argue that you can't see her other hand, which she could be simultaneously maneuver to pull down the cup of the bra and expose a nipple, since there's hardly any time to undo it fully and she'd have to fasten it back afterwards. Or that cupless bras exist. Truth is, she opens her casual, normal, comfy nightwear during the unexpected visit of her boyfriend, and the way the scene is shot leaves no room to interpretation.
This is a question, not a correction.
19th Feb 2022
Scream (1996)
Stupidity: Dewey and Sidney jumpscare each other at the front door. There's just no possible logical reason for a deputy (or ANYONE) to be holding the mask the way Dewey is in the scene. If he were leaning against the door, he would have lost his balance or reacted in any way to the door shifting. (00:30:30)
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Suggested correction: Perhaps he was going to knock on the door with the mask. And Dewey didn't call out for Sidney.
I am not sure who would almost-but-not-quite knock with his hand wrapped in a mask and holding perfectly still keeping the pose, facing the opposite direction. It's a pose completely unnatural especially looking frozen and not in the middle of something else. (I amended the part about calling out, it was wrongly phrased since I wanted to say the exact opposite, thanks!).
He was about to knock on the door and was then looking behind him, probably heard a noise. He ain't the most solid type either.
I personally think this is a good stupidity entry. The stupidity section exists for stuff that isn't technically mistakes, but is still irksome or just silly. And this fits that. It's good for a quick jump scare, but doesn't really add up. It's a piece of evidence, so he probably wouldn't be touching it anyways, the way he's holding it is completely unnatural (nobody holds a mask they just picked up off the ground like that), and it's conveniently held at exactly the right height and position to be in Sidney's face when she opens the door. The movie was flying in the face of basic logic to manufacture a quick scare. And it's effective in context... but it doesn't really make sense if you dissect the scene.
2nd Mar 2018
Scream (1996)
Trivia: After the release of this film, Caller ID sales shot up by over 300% for a period of time. This was a pretty big deal, too, as it was the mid-90's and Caller ID was not a standard feature on phones as it is now. The spike in sales is sometimes attributed to young adults seeing this film and becoming frightened by the idea of receiving a phonecall and not knowing who was on the other side, although it's never been 100% confirmed that this was the case. Either way, it's an interesting correlation.
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Suggested correction: It's one of those rumors I'd really love to be able to get a quotable, reliable source for. The figure "300% up" is referred to the US market, from what I understand, but again, color me surprised if it's an actual, legitimate figure and not just one random number.
Submitted a word change saying that's it's never been 100% confirmed because it is indeed hard to verify. But given it's also one of those "cool factoids" that people have thrown around for decades, I do think this rumor has a place in the trivia.
8th Jun 2005
Scream (1996)
Deliberate mistake: When Sidney is typing the message to the police, you can see that there are red lights flashing, which must mean the police are there, 5 seconds after she types. Obviously deliberately done for the humor. (00:29:30 - 00:30:25)
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Suggested correction: Contrary to what the entry says, I don't see police lights flashing as she types, nor when she talks to Billy. I do agree that still it's barely a minute before the police arrive in full force on the scene and it's pretty ridiculous (although I am not sure it's deliberate humour).
There's a time skip between Sidney encountering Dewey at the front door and Billy being arrested. It's plausible Tatum had sent Dewey to check on Sidney knowing she was going to be late, and so he arrived before the rest of the authorities. Billy did not chase after Sidney and likely reacted calmly to Dewey to look as innocent as he could, he wouldn't necessarily have been arrested right away.
29th May 2007
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: Sidney is talking with Stu and Tatum at the lockers when someone runs by wearing the Ghostface mask. She runs down the hall, bumping into Billy, then goes into the bathroom and meets the killer. We know it isn't Billy because we just saw him, but how would Stu get into the bathroom without passing by Billy and Sidney?
Correction: It was made pretty clear that it was two other kids that ran through the hall. There is a scene with Henry Winkler (principal) who is expelling the two students due to the prank.
Yes, and that scene happens before the killer shows up in the bathroom, so it can't be them. Sidney also says that she knew it was really "him", the real killer, and not a prankster, and there's no indication that the movie wants her to be wrong at that time.
The "tell" is that the shot of Sidney running out of the restroom has a voiceover from a news reporter talking about pranksters dressed as the killer. Sidney is far from infallible (she even misidentified her mother's killer) and is vulnerable and being psychologically manipulated by Billy and Stu.
The biggest tell would be that he has no knife, but there's nothing prankster-like in that assault, if he tackled her like that he would have hurt her (and he's in the girls' bathroom too?). The newscast about the pranksters establishes that it's the authorities' version, but the dialogue I mentioned happens later, addresses exactly that, and she negates it. I agree that Sidney is not infallible, but the fact that she was wrong (by deliberate misdirection from the real culprit) about Cotton is a specific plot point, she was supposed to be wrong and Gale even picks up on the fact that she deep inside isn't sure about it anymore. Overall the bathroom scene is one of those scenes that don't quite add up but people enjoy making theories about them ("it was all in Sidney's mind", "it was Roman", etc).
I agree this is one of the film's weaker moments, but I don't think it's just an accident. The high school section was rearranged from the script and a couple moments dropped, and I believe it was decided during editing to make the restroom scene more ambiguous (adding the "killer's" grunts that sound younger than any of the characters; moving the reporter's monologue to the end of this scene) to make up for an unfilmed scene where Sidney encountered two more masked impostors in the school.
13th Mar 2005
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: In the house when Sidney is attacked for the first time, she runs into her bedroom and tries to call the police using her house phone. When she realises it's engaged (because the other house phone is off the hook), she tries to contact the police via her computer. The police subsequently turn up. Problem is she only got as far as the computer asking what her emergency was. She never stated that she needed the police, so (a) how did the emergency services know what service to send to her, and (b) how did they even know who the request was from?
Correction: 911 has the obligation to respond to every call, despite knowing who called. At times, a caller - or in this case, the typist - can't hang on the line to tell the operator what the problem is or what services are needed. Granted, fire and ambulance services should have also arrived, but that's another argument.
If it helps understand the scene a little better, the screenwriter mentions in the DVD commentary that originally there was a shot of the computer screen with her entering the address, which was, imagine that, "34 Elm Street." But they cut that part for time constrains (thankfully; it would have been terribly on the nose).
23rd Apr 2005
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: In the scene where Dewey and Gale are entering the house where the party takes place he talks to Sidney and says anything like "Hey Sidney" and she replies something like "Anything new about my father?". This is really strange because Dewey dropped Sidney and Tatum at the party about only 5 minutes ago. The conversation gives the impression that they have not talked to each other for a much longer time.
Correction: The reason she asks about her father is BECAUSE Dewey dropped them off five minutes earlier. He drops them off, then leaves (at least, Sidney thinks he leaves), and so when she sees him returning so soon she assumes some urgent news has come up.
She just saw him arrive being Gale Weathers' chaperone and acting all smarmy, if anything you could argue that she's being passive aggressive asking "Have you found my father?" (because that is the actual quote), as in "Why are you wasting time here then?" but that's not how the scene plays out either. The dialogue feels pointless and forced as the original entry described, in particular because she then asks "Should I be worried?", which is definitely a question that does not match the context.
28th Jun 2004
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: When the killer comes out of the house, and pulls the knife out of Dewey's back, look close, and you can see that although the knife was in his back very deep, it is totally clean. (01:23:45)
Correction: The killer pulls the knife out of his back and wipes it with the sleeve of his costume.It is certainly not clear enough to see the blade the second he pulls it out of Dewey's back.
2nd Apr 2007
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: After Sydney gets attacked at the beginning and is sitting in the back of an ambulance for police questioning, the ambulance says Bayshore, when Woodsboro is inland in California.
Correction: Bayshore is just the name of the ambulance company - it doesn't imply that the ambulance can only operate near a bay or a shore.
1st Apr 2007
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: When Sydney is in the police car, she picks up the radio and tells the police that somebody is trying to kill them. Not only does she give the name of the homeowners and the address, but she is attacked in the middle of her conversation, and screams. A few minutes later, Billy grabs her and says that it is a few minutes after midnight, exactly one year after they killed her mother. However, the police don't show until sunrise. What happened in the six hours?
Correction: Just because the last scene started at sunrise doesn't mean that's when the police just got there. They could have been there for hours before hand, shortly after Billy was killed. It sometimes takes the police 1/2 hour to an hour to get somewhere, so they were probably there shortly between the second to last and the last scene. Also, the call Sidney made in the car may not have officially gone through.
2nd Jul 2003
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: During the final scene in the house after Billy and Stu are revealed as the killers, Billy and Stu showed that they put a great deal of effort in planning the murders and the cover ups. But they seemed to forget their fingerprints. Their prints were on the cell phone and voice distorter they put in Mr. Prescott's coat pocket.
Correction: There are many ways to conceal fingerprints. One common way is to smear Elmer's glue on the tips of your fingers and let it dry. It is not easy to notice and effectively eliminates your fingerprints. Since they had to touch many things while committing the murders, but still had to appear as themselves, they very likely used a similar method.
Correction: It is also possible Billy and Stu forgot about it. They were obsessed with their plan they just didn't think it through.
Correction: They may well have planned to wipe the prints off after killing Sidney.
16th Dec 2004
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: Right after curfew is in effect, when Tatum and Sydney are sitting on Sydney's front porch, you see the killer in the bushes in the background. The very next scene is of the video store where both killers, Stu and Billy, are speaking to Randy. The next scene that follows directly is Sydney and Tatum in the grocery store where you see the killer's reflection on the cooler glass. How can the killer(s) be in more than one place if this is all going on at the same time?
Correction: We see two students at the school dressed up as the killer. It is plausible that other students do it too and follow Sidney around as a joke.
One thing is prancing around at school screaming in the corridors in an obvious joke (that got both students suspended, by the way), another thing entirely is stalking someone to their home or in the streets with the police looking out for the suspect. Both scenes don't make sense other than to give cheap scares and throw red herrings.
These moments come off silly (the one in the supermarket especially), but it's no mistake. These costumed figures being imposters wanting to harass Sidney for kicks is really the only plausible explanation, and the jaded cynicism and callousness of 90s youth culture is a major recurring theme of the film, so it fits.
I agree that it's the only explanation you have to give to make sense of it, but in this movie and in the next movies in the saga, when they wanna show imposters, they show prancing idiots who do want to harass and be goofs (such as the guy in the hallway in this movie). Sidney never notices those people who do absolutely nothing to be noticed, so they are there to harass the audience, not her.
26th Sep 2003
Scream (1996)
Corrected entry: In the space of 15 seconds (between the time Casey's mom hears her daughter on the phone and the time when she walks out her front door and sees Casey) how did the killer manage to tie Casey onto the swing? It would have taken quite a while to lift her body and twist the ropes around her tightly enough that they held. Stu couldn't have helped as he was with Tatum that night.
Correction: Stu was most likely helping Billy that night, which would cut down the time needed to tie Casey to the swing. Tatum's defense that Stu was at her house on the night of the murder was challenged by Randy, who said that Stu could have been at her house before or after the murder. In fact, Billy shows up at Sidney's house after the murder.
The correction disputes the part that says that one of the killers wouldn't be on the scene of the crime, but the main objection of the entry still stands. Even assuming the second killer was there (but they never cooperate that way and if they were seen doing that right in front of the door their gimmick would have been exposed) the timeframe from the last time we see her dragged (by one person) and still alive to the time when she is hanged by the neck and gutted is too short.
15 seconds to gut, taker her liver, spleen and pancreas and put it in the mailbox, tie and hang her? No way.
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