Question: Stu asks Randy, "What are you saying, that I killed her?", referring to Casey. Randy says, "It would certainly improve your high school Q." What is a "high school Q"? (I Googled this but did not find an answer).
TedStixon
21st Oct 2020
Scream (1996)
Answer: I believe it's a reference to "Q scores," which is a marketing industry term used to measure the familiarity and general appeal of a subject. The higher the Q score, the more familiar people are with it and have a positive opinion of it. It was a catch-all term that could be used for individuals (such as celebrities), brands, products, movies/shows, etc. The term "Q score" seems to be used less now than it was in the 90's, so I understand it being confusing.
Answer: He means his status, Stu is considered the outcast. The school weirdo.
Was Stu really an outcast? He had a girlfriend, Tatum, and he hung out with Billy, Sidney, and Randy. He also hosted a party, and I got the impression that it was not the first party at his house. I think he was the "cool slacker dude" type, before being revealed as a killer.
17th Feb 2023
Scream (1996)
Question: I think I can recall seeing a shot from Scream, maybe during a trailer or a promotional image with Ghostface swinging from a rope by his hands and smashing through a glass window, it seemed to be set in an industrial factory or something. Obviously I have never seen this scene again. Was it ever filmed or is this just a false memory?
Answer: To my knowledge, there isn't a scene like that in this film. It almost sounds like a shot from the movie "Saw 3D," where the Billy doll (whose face looks ever-so-slightly looks like the Ghostface mask) crashes through a window in an industrial-like setting in a cage attached to a wire. But at the same time, this isn't exactly an uncommon thing to see in movies. People swinging through windows from ropes and/or crashing through windows is very common, so it's probably just a false memory or your brain combining details from different movies.
11th May 2006
Scream (1996)
Question: Why did Billy and Stu want to kill Tatum? I've read that she said Stu was bad in bed, but when does she say this in the movie?
Answer: They didn't have anything against Tatum specifically, her death was just necessary for their scary movie plan against Sidney. They also said that anyone who isn't a virgin dies in a scary movie, and we know Tatum wasn't a virgin.
Did they say "anyone who isn't a virgin"? I thought it was anyone who has sex *during* the horror movie events - not including people who were *already* not virgins.
Typically, the cliche is "sex or promiscuity = death." I don't think it necessarily has to be during the events of the movie. Debating the minutiae is probably just gonna make us run in circles.
Answer: I don't understand why people are getting hung up on the virgin thing. Sure, there are some movies where someone who isn't a virgin survives. But the common cliche in horror that everyone knows is that sex typically equals death. Doesn't matter if some movies don't follow the cliche... it's still the cliche, and Stu and Billy are operating by the cliches.
In addition to this, Stu and Billy were planning to be the two survivors and make "the sequel." They probably viewed themselves as the main characters. Tatum was one of the "side characters" who would typically be killed.
Except even in this movie, Sidney should be dead by that logic. While Randy is explaining that rule, Sid is upstairs breaking said rule with Billy.
Answer: But Amy Steel's Ginny in Friday the 13th Part 2 wasn't a virgin and she survived. Yet these guys claim to know horror movies.
It's just a TV trope used in the movie.
11th Nov 2019
Scream (1996)
Question: Why does Stu go along with Billy's plan? He's got nothing to gain. That and why kill Sidney? She can't help what her mother did with Billy's father.
Answer: Stu is simply crazy. Probably brought down by Billy, sucked into his psychosis, sometimes that can happen if Stu is mentally unstable and easily manipulated. We don't know where his instability comes from, but its positive Billy has had a bad influence on him and brought him down this path of killing.
Answer: To add to the other answer, Stu briefly mentions "peer pressure" as his reason for going along with Billy's plan. Sure, he's being slightly sarcastic when he says it... but I think that it's a hint to his motivation. He's already somewhat unstable (his hyperactive personality throughout the film backs this up), and I think the implication is that Billy gave him the final "push" that put him over the edge into full-on violent insanity.
Answer: Some people are influenced by a "leader" friend. They don't make many decisions for themselves. Stu apparently latched onto Billy at some point, and is willing to join him in the murders. There are real-life cases in which murderers had associates who obeyed them.
3rd Nov 2017
Scream (1996)
Question: At the party Randy receives a phone call saying the Principal has been killed, and everyone leaves to go see his body. Who would have called Randy to say this? Most of his friends are at the party, and even if some of them aren't, no one is hanging around school at 7pm, and the cops definitely didn't call him, so who did?
Answer: This has already been asked. Copying the answer from the previous submission: Billy came to the party late, presumably because he was hanging the body. The school seems pretty deserted when the principal gets killed (he goes into the corridor and only the cleaner is there, presumably cleaning after school is out) so it's reasonable to assume no one would have missed him yet.
Answer: Well first, you said "most of his friends " so some of Randy's friends definitely aren't at the party. Also, news travels fast in a small town, especially things that are serious like murders/accidents/etc. In addition, given the subtle implication that the principal was attacked and strung up on display on purpose to make the kids leave the party to go check it out (thinning the heard so to speak), it's entirely possible one of the killers might have tipped someone off about the body so it'd be found, or that it was left wide out in the open where a student or groundskeeper or someone driving by might have seen it. Either way, it's a very plausible scene.
Answer: Roman Bridger, director. And brother. Well, half brother.
Answer: Maybe "the killer"?
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Answer: I don't know if the letter "Q" was used or if you just heard what sounded like "Q", but "Queue" - pronounced like "Q" - is British for "line." People can be said to stand in queue [line], meaning in a row. Where one falls on the queue, in this case, would indicate his/her ranking in terms of popularity.
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