There are many famous final girls in horror movies but no one is as special as Sidney Prescott. Scream was inspired by a news story Kevin Williamson read, and soon the popular horror franchise was off and running.
Since it was released in 1996, Scream has so many loyal fans and it will be amazing to watch Neve Campbell star as Sidney again. Audiences felt immediately invested in the other cast of characters, from tough broadcast journalist Gale Weathers to Sidney's group of friends.
With a long list of fan theories about Scream out there, one, in particular, is very compelling. This theory says that the character of Dewey Riley is Ghostface. Let's take a look.
Could Dewey Be Ghostface?
Campbell and Wes Craven had a great bond and onscreen, Sidney had a fondness for her high school friend Tatum's brother, Dewey Riley. He cared about her and it seemed like he had a special determination to keep not only the town of Woodsboro safe but Sidney as well.
Played by David Arquette, the character is bumbling yet charming, and as a young deputy who grows up throughout the franchise, fans really feel like they've gotten to know him.
This fan theory says Dewey is Ghostface. According to Ranker, there are many reasons given to support it.
One reason is that when Sidney starts suspecting her boyfriend Billy Loomis in the first movie, Dewey talked to him at the police station. This resulted in Billy having an alibi. Fans also didn't like that Dewey didn't seem to be upset or sad that his sister, Tatum, was killed, and that could mean that he was involved.
Another reason to back up this fan theory? Dewey is in love with Sidney and that could give him a motive.
This One Scene
There's a scene in the first Scream movie that could suggest that there's something to this theory.
Tatum and Sidney went to a supermarket and walked around, passing the freezer aisle that had some ice cream. According to Joy Scribe, audiences could see Ghostface in the door of the freezer, as he was nearby and watching them, but they didn't notice him and kept buying food.
In the scene that followed, Dewey was eating ice cream. This led some people to believe that Dewey was Ghostface and that there was a strong connection between these two scenes.
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More Explanation
There is some more discussion of this fan theory on Reddit. In one thread, a fan wrote "Dewey is the only character in the films who is repeatedly pretty seriously injured by the various killers without actually being killed."
Another replied that when Billy had been arrested and Sidney was sleeping over at Tatum's, she got a phone call from Ghostface. The fan explained that Wes Craven made sure that when Ghostface and Sidney were off the phone, that's when Dewey left his bedroom. This made fans think that perhaps Dewey had phoned Sidney. The fan called this "a red herring" and while it's true that other characters were found to be Ghostface, this does point to something fishy going on with Dewey.
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Playing Dewey
David Arquette told The AV Club that he could tell that Scream was "special." He also shared how much his personal life changed while working on the franchise. Arquette explained, "Definitely changed my life. I met my ex-wife [Courteney Cox] on it. There’s not many films where you end up with a child after filming. Or getting a divorce, like the fourth one. We met, we got married, we got a kid, we got divorced, all within the scope of those four films. It was a pretty interesting snippet of my life, for sure."
Arquette also said that Wes Craven was a "mentor" and told him that there was a chance that Dewey would be killed in the first movie, but there was also a chance that he would survive.
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Of course, it's not likely true that Dewey really is Ghostface in the Scream movies, as the other killers did have legitimate motivation, and the movies all wrapped up the mysteries in a way that makes sense. But it's fun to think about, and it makes fans even more excited to see the fifth movie in 2022. It'll be especially interesting to see what Gale, Dewey, and Sidney are up to and how they get along now that it's been a long time since the original story began.
Arquette told Yahoo! News that filming the new movie would be "fun" and he wanted to "continue Wes’s legacy."
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