The soft glow of multi-colored florescent lights was the only thing polluting the darkness. The shadows from the limbs of the faux-evergreen which they adorned creeped into the entryway of the room housing our console TV, distracting me as I waited for the black screen to transition.
There’s a conflicting and somehow complementary thread which runs through childhood sleepovers, a wholesomeness juxtaposed with an eerie sense of foreboding. On the one hand, there’s nothing too alarming about a group of friends that want to spend time together. On the other, there’s something dread-inducing about kids awake in the darkness, all alone.
That same thread always seemed to run through the Christmas season as well. A dichotomy between those beautiful decorations and the otherworldly hue those same set pieces cast in the dark that left me feeling in awe, one way or another. And when the two staples of childhood combined, well, magic was in the air.
I suppose that’s why my first time watching Scream 2 (1997) was so memorable. Like Scream (1996) before it, my friends and I had acquired a VHS copy to watch at a sleepover. Although the franchise felt distinctly summer-y to me, it had come to my local Video Store in December which, admittedly, gave the experience a mystical vibe. Still, the distraction of the brightly colored lights from the room adjacent wasn’t bothersome, it was atmospheric. It unnerved me… but that seemed right.
My friends were too busy shoveling handfuls of chips and popcorn into their mouths to notice or care, but it was there. The atmosphere. A controlled sense of danger. Then, we hit play.
The experience of watching the movie was electric. Like its predecessor, the film managed to walk that fine line between fun and frightening, allowing me to let my guard down just long enough to laugh only to be terrified by the next scare waiting in the wings.
Movies like that were akin to rollercoasters in my young eyes, not something I took seriously but something I very much enjoyed riding. I’ve said it many times over the thirty-five article run of this column, but it took me years to understand and embrace that amusement as more than a passing interest, but every experience I had with horror in my youth laid the foundation for the passion I’d eventually harbor — and that goes especially for Scream 2.
And when I think of the film’s high level of execution, the precise ability which Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven had to ratchet up the tension and make me hold my breath in anticipation, I think of Sidney’s police escort and its unfortunate run-in with Ghostface.
The scene embodies all of the trademark qualities of a great slasher set piece and constantly evolves as it moves. It’s fast paced but takes time to breathe, allowing for an increase in body count, blood flow and unparalleled tension that drives the narrative forward into its incredibly intense third act. The screenplay is descriptive but succinct, efficient in a way that supports the thrust of the scene. Still, there are some differences, primarily the notable absence of Sidney’s roommate Hallie, that suggest the transition to the screen was as much about Sidney’s characterization as it was about creating narrative tension.
Whether it be Christmas or Summer, Scream 2 will always be a holiday movie to me. One which represents the fun and fear of a thrilling ride that never loses its potency, no matter how many times I go back to experience it again. And I can’t think of a better scene than Sidney’s escort to represent that feeling.
THE SCENE
Sidney and Hallie ride in the back of the police escort car. They pull to a stoplight. Ghostface pops up. He breaks through the window and stabs one of the cops. The other cop gets out and grapples with Ghostface. Ghostface bests him and gets into the car, driving forward as the cop hangs onto the hood of the car. He crashes, impaling the cop on a pipe. Ghostface is passed out in the front seat. Sidney and Hallie are trapped in the backseat. Sidney pulls the grate which separates her and Hallie from the front apart, creating an opening which she climbs through. Realizing that she must climb over Ghostface to escape, she carefully pulls herself over his body. She contemplates removing the mask, but accidentally hits the horn instead. The door won’t open, so she must exit through the window instead. She climbs over Ghostface and out of the window. Hallie’s door is jammed from the outside, so she must do the same. She escapes the car unscathed and they run away. Sidney stops, wanting to check the identity of the killer. Hallie begs her not to. Sidney returns to the car. Ghostface is gone. She turns and Ghostface emerges, killing Hallie. Sidney runs.
THE SCRIPT
THE SCREEN
EXT. RESIDENTIAL STREET — MINUTES LATER
A squad car makes it’s way down the quiet campus street.
INT. SQUAD CAR — SAME
Sidney sits in the backseat. The two police officers ride in front.
The script opens with the eerie silence of Sidney’s escort, as does the film, with one major difference: Hallie is not present. In the script, Sidney takes the trip alone.
The film opens with a close up shot of the stoplight turning red, before cutting to a tracking shot which reveals the car slowly pulling to a stop. Sidney is visible in the backseat, staring vacantly and yet looking alert. Hallie sits nervously beside her.
The space inside the vehicle is very tight. Sidney and Hallie are shown in close ups, only able to view the goings on in the front seat through a black grate which separates the cops from their human cargo. There’s an immediate sense of claustrophobia and discomfort permeating the space well before anything upsetting occurs.
The script opens with a small bit of banter, Sidney comparing herself to “Eddie Murphy” and one of the guards comparing himself to “Kevin Costner”. The film forgoes the celebrity comparisons and rather utilizes Hallie to ask the cops, “Where are you taking us anyway?”, to which one responds, “If we tell you, we’ll have to kill you.”
The joke lands better as a play on the Scream franchise’s tendency to invoke red herrings at every turn than it does a commentary on Sidney’s celebrity status as it appears in the screenplay. Still, the exchange, ending with the other officer in the car playfully saying, “Don’t ask, don’t tell”, culminates in a similar reveal.
Sidney smiles at this just as the car door rips open on the passenger’s side. Two hands reach in and yank Police Guard #2 from the car.
While the script suggests Ghostface tears into the car without warning, the film opts to show the ghostly white face pop up in the window just behind the cop as he makes his remark. The moment presents a slight pause before moving on to the action of the set piece, almost in an effort to give the viewer a second to jump and digest the scare. Sidney screams and then Ghostface shatters the window and slits the officer’s throat. The action occurs in several close up shots, finally holding on the man as he attempts to grip and stifle the opening in his neck that’s so freely spilling blood.
In the script the Ghost Masked Figure moves around the side of the car and opens the other door as the second cop struggles with his seatbelt. While the cop reaches for his gun, Ghostface appears and: A flash of silver and the Police Guard’s throat is slit.
There’s a sense of overwhelming precision and confidence to the killer as they’re written in the screenplay. While the viewer knows them to be human, the character embodies many of the qualities seen in a superhuman villain. In the film, Ghostface is slightly less smooth, but all the more terrifying because of it. After slitting the driver’s throat, he climbs on top of the roof of the car. His heavy footsteps can be heard creaking atop Sidney and Hallie’s heads, further adding to the trapped, claustrophobic atmosphere of their backseat prison.
The second cop jumps out of the car on his own in a wide shot, only to be kicked hard in the head. Dazed, Ghostface leaps down from the car and slams the man against the backseat window. Blood splatters across the glass before Sidney’s eyes as she’s forced to watch the terror unfold helplessly.
The screenplay reads, Sidney SCREAMS and SCREAMS, BEATING on the door of the car. It won’t open. She’s trapped like a caged animal. In the film, Hallie is more heavily depicted as the one desperately beating on the door and window of the car. Sidney does scream and exhibit similar behaviors, but seems to be more subdued than written.
In the script, The Ghost pulls the Police Guard from the car, then gets in, behind the driver’s seat. The Ghost puts the car in drive and takes off down the road. In the film, he fights off the cop and tosses him in a medium wide shot onto the hood. The cop slides off and hits the pavement. There’s more of an urgency to Ghostface’s actions in the film. The killer feels more human and driven toward getting out of there.
More still, the cop pops up in front of the car, his gun drawn. Again, the viewer sees all this through the black grate from the back seat, the cop shakily shouting at Ghostface and Ghostface in the driver’s seat. The killer slams on the gas and before the officer can pull the trigger he’s thrown onto the hood, slamming against the windshield as the car barrels forward.
The script depicts a far calmer drive, other than Sidney’s continued attempts to escape: She turns to the door, BEATING and CLAWING at it. She leans back, manic, and KICKS at the window with her feet. No use. As written the car simply, makes its way down a deserted street. The script seems to suggest more about the killer’s ultimate plans, their clear desire to get Sidney to whatever it is their endgame is supposed to be.
The film is far more hectic and exciting. Ghostface swerves manically, attempting to throw the cop from his hood. In a series of wide shots, the car slams into orange cones and construction equipment, snapping through propped up boards and finally coming to a halt when it slams into a parked truck, its bed packed with long metal pipes.
One of the pipes connects with the officer’s head, impaling him and breaking through the windshield, coming to a stop at the black grate. The film holds on a close up of the cop’s quivering head, twitching as blood seeps from the edges of the metal pipe embedded in it. He makes an odd sound, like a shocked whimpering, as the camera pans to his convulsing hand, still clutching his gun.
The moment is truly horrific and deeply disturbing. Not to mention, holding on the gun again gets the gears turning in the viewer’s mind. Every second of screen time counts, every object matters and anything could have meaning. Or… maybe it doesn’t. Either way, the sequence really takes advantage of the puzzle-like nature of the Scream style narrative, especially in the small moments like this one.
Of course, given that the script dispatches of the cops right away, the crash occurs in an entirely different manner. Sidney is described as beyond frantic and continues to scream as the car turns onto another campus street. She looks around her and finds her backpack, pulling out books, pencils, paper and finally a long, yellow No. 2 pencil. Noticing that the Ghost’s neck is right up against [the metal grate], she RAMS the pencil through the grate, into the Ghost’s neck. The car jumps the curb and SLAMS against a building and though he tries to bring it back to the road he doesn’t see the lamp post that stands directly in the car’s path.
While this version does hone in on Sidney’s resourcefulness, the film offers a much snappier, more intense iteration. The aftermath of both versions finds Sidney in the backseat where All is still. Of course, in the film Hallie is present, allowing for conversation and an ability to articulate a plan that the viewer can more clearly follow the logic of.
In the script, Sid quickly pulls herself together, looking about, sizing up her options. The script follows Sid’s quick problem-solving skills at work, efficiently bouncing about the car, checking for possible escape routes, all the while keeping an eye on the Ghost Masked figure slumped over the steering wheel. Out.
In the film, Hallie adds a further complication for Sidney. Hallie is panicky, asking if “he’s dead” and “How are we supposed to get out of here”. Sidney still has to formulate an escape plan, but she also has to keep her best friend calm and get her out of the situation too. It adds another dimension to what is already an incredibly tense scenario. Plus, an element of danger, as while the viewer is fairly certain Sidney will escape with her life, anything could happen to Hallie.
In both, Sidney “notices the metal grate”. While the script continues in a very pointed, matter-of-fact description of Sidney’s meticulous actions, the film breathes a little life into it, feeling less like Nancy Drew and more in line with the edge-of-your-seat desperation the moment calls for visually. As in the script, Sidney pries open the grate and crawls through in a series of tight close ups, her eyes never leaving the Ghost.
In the script, Sidney tests the waters some before and even during her attempt to climb over Ghostface upon realizing the passenger’s side door is jammed shut: After what seems like an eternity, she slowly reaches over with her foot and nudges the Ghost. No movement. Nothing. Further, She reaches with her hand and pushes on the Ghost’s shoulder causing his body to move, slumping back against the back of the seat. The act clears space for her to pass through.
Again, the screenplay takes a logic-based approach to the goings on onscreen versus the film’s more emotional portrayal. Forgoing much of the initial interaction, Sidney moves to climb over her assailant. A close up of Sidney graces the screen, her face twisted in worry and contempt. This is then juxtaposed with a mirror shot of Ghostface’s mask, lying completely still, its plastic visage feeling more like an inanimate doll than a human being.
In the script she hits the horn on accident, tensing her up and bringing a CLOSE ON HER FACE” as “she fights with a decision.
Then, with a fierce determination, Sid reaches for the Ghost Mask. She finds the edge and begins to peel the Mask away when…
THE GHOST COMES TO LIFE
The film deviates dramatically here from the climax of the scene on the page. Whereas, in the screenplay this leads to a brief altercation outside of the car and ends with Sidney tearing off down the street, running, burning up the pavement, the film repurposes these handful of moments into one of the most tense sequences in its runtime.
Sidney does debate about removing the mask, but before she accidentally hits the horn. As she attempts to climb over the Ghost in the car, the viewer watches a silent shot-reverse-shot exchange. Sidney’s hand extends toward the mask and grabs hold of the white plastic. Then: HONK!
Sidney mutters an unscripted “I hate this shit” and finds that the driver’s door too is jammed. Instead of the scripted escape route of the car door, she is forced to climb out of the window in a medium shot. Ghostface is visible slumped against his seat through the window as Sidney gets out and runs to the door directly behind him in an effort to release Hallie. Again, jammed.
Hallie’s presence completely amplifies the tension here and somewhat rewrites the sequence which just played out. The viewer was on edge the first time around, now they have to watch the whole thing play out all over again with a character who is far less able to cope. Also, the film again calls attention to Sidney’s desire and ability to take care of and coach others through trauma— a theme that runs throughout the entirety of the franchise and one that makes Sidney one of the more empowered and empathetic heroines in horror.
Hallie escapes and the two run. The shots get wider as the two become more removed from the confined space of the car. However, just as they’re about to round the corner, Sidney stops them both. The two talk hurriedly, Sidney wanting to go back and Hallie wanting to get away, Sidney tells Hallie that she’s “sick of running” and that if she knows who the killer is, then “it’s over”. Defying Hallie’s wishes, Sidney returns to the car.
When she arrives, however, Ghostface is gone. Sidney turns to look at Hallie, on the cusp of realizing what the killer’s absence represents, only to watch as the black draped figure leaps out and catches Hallie unawares. Sidney watches as yet another one of her closest friends is taken by the killer. Ghostface stabs Hallie multiple times, relentlessly, as if this was what had been planned all along.
Whether that is the case or not is irrelevant, especially in Sidney’s eyes as she runs away. While the script would have had her escape due to her ingenuity, the film forces her to do the same with an emotional caveat. The aching, painful reminder that while she may be able to get herself out of a life and death situation, she may not be able to do the same for everyone else.
THE BLOODY CONCLUSION
“Sometimes the most effective things in this kind of film,” Wes Craven said in regards to the police escort scene in his commentary found on the blu-ray disc (Available here), “are things that don’t even have lines…”
Some of the most wonderful, comforting moments of childhood have an undeniably eerie undertone lying just beneath the alluring veneer of their surface. Christmas with all of its beautiful decorations and enticing packages casts a ghostly hue in the darkness. Sleepovers, with every friend in attendance, snacks in tow, culminate in children alone in the night, certain that each creaking floorboard is something otherworldly… something dangerous.
Horror, too, shares that feeling. Safely packaged experiences in fear and the unknown, that can be applied to any such situation. They’re malleable in that way— perfect for Christmas… perfect for summer. Perfect for whatever moment they might be called upon to scare.
Scream 2 picked up the mantle of its franchise, embodying the same playful tone, peppered with dread and dire circumstances, that the first presented so well. It was familiar, which made it all the more genuine and therefore frightening when the time came. And few sequences represent the movie at its scariest, then the scene where Sidney and Hallie are trapped in the back of the police escort car.
“In a certain way it plays into the whole notion of the theater,” Editor of the film Patrick Lussier said on the commentary track, “they are observers who are helpless to watch this thing being staged in front of them, to watch the death of their protectors.”
The bones of the scene were there in the script, heavily focused on Sidney’s interior ability to stay calm and collected in a terrible situation. The film allowed that notion to evolve, maintaining Sidney’s resourcefulness but adding in an audience surrogate in her roommate Hallie.
“The other important element here is the roommate doing a great job acting as a foil, reflecting all the terror Sidney refuses to show,” Wes Craven said in the commentary.
The sequence is a master-class in blocking and tight camera work, complimenting Special Makeup Effects Supervisor Howard Berger’s work and bringing it to brutal life, even if it wasn’t always as they planned it. For example, in the commentary Patrick Lussier mentions that the pipe was supposed to go through the dummy’s back when the car crashed, instead of the head. Still, in the end, after some touch-ups and make-up alterations, the moment came out more intense and effective than previously imagined.
As I get older, I realize more and more how big of an impact horror had on my life. Whether I rejected it or not, it was there. Calling to me. Inviting me in. Even during the most comforting holiday of the year, I couldn’t help but see those colorful lights in the shadows and feel a chill run down my spine… albeit an exciting chill.
I suppose that’s one of the things the Scream franchise does best, it puts the viewer in the driver’s seat. It endears the audience to the characters and provides them with the awareness of the audience and, in that way, when the killer comes around, the danger is projected far beyond the screen.
Patrick Lussier said it best on the commentary when he was talking about Hallie in the car. She, again the audience surrogate, had just watched her best friend perform an impossible escape and was about to receive some worst-case-scenario news:
“Now you have to do it too,” Patrick Lussier said.
A perfect encapsulation of how I felt that night, watching Scream 2 on VHS with all of my friends in the vague light of Christmas— that moment when realization dawns and the warm embrace of safety is swept out from under you.
Still, unlike Hallie, when the feeling hit me, I was smiling.
Scream 2 (1997): Written by Kevin Williamson & Directed by Wes Craven
 to see how it's famous car crash scene was brought to life and the changes that happened between script and screen.){kind=link}