| Stab | |
|---|---|
 Stab film poster | |
| Directed by | Robert Rodriguez |
| Produced by | Don Crosby Bill Birch Floyd Malone Virginia Grey John Milton |
| Written by | Will Kennison |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Dante Paltrow |
| Distributed by | Sunrise Studios |
| Release date(s) | December 5, 1997 |
| Running time | 111 minutes |
| Language | English |
| Budget | – |
| Gross revenue | – |
| Preceded by | – |
| Followed by | Stab 2 (1999) |
Stab is a 1997 true crime slasher film. It first appears in Scream 2 (1997 film).
In reality, it is a fictionalized version of the Scream franchise and a meta parody of slasher films, established as a gag reel within the Scream films.
The film was based on Gale Weathers' best-selling book, The Woodsboro Murders (published late 1996 - early 1997), a sensationalized retelling of the events of the first film. It was directed by Robert Rodriguez and produced by John Milton of Sunrise Studios.
Despite its success, even spawning seven sequels, it was marked by tragedy.
Its opening night saw two 22-year-old Windsor College students murdered in a copycat killing spree. 24 years later, it also inspired two cult-like super-fans, Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman, who created their own killing spree inspired by the disappointment of its sequels.
1 year after its release, Jennifer Jolie who portrayed Gale was also senselessly murdered by a music video director who was hired for the job to create a fictional Stab sequel. Due to these controversies, the official third film's development and release was delayed until around 2006.
Plot
"This is gonna hurt..." ROBERT RODRIGUEZ presents STAB, based on the tragic real-life murders that occurred in Woodsboro, California, during 1996.
Now the story BASED ON TRUE EVENTS is told. A masked killer, known as Ghostface, lurks around, stalking his prey, and has his eyes set on none other than Sidney Prescott (Tori Spelling) after killing her mother one year ago.
Now it's up to Sidney and her friends, along with Deputy Dewey Riley (David Schwimmer) and reporter Gale Weathers (Jennifer Jolie) to find out who the killer is, and if Woodsboro will ever be peaceful and quiet again.
Deaths
- Maureen Prescott (Off-screen; stabbed)
- Casey Becker (Stabbed repeatedly; gutted)
- Composite character version of Steven Orth (Stabbed)
- Kenny Brown (Gutted at 261 Turner Lane)
- Arthur Himbry (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
- Tatum Riley (Stabbed and Trapped in Cat Door; 261 Turner Lane)
Possible Slasher Movie Deaths
- Sheriff Burke (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
- Neil Prescott (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
Other Attacks
- Randy Meeks (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
- Dewey Riley (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
- Sidney Prescott (Stabbed at 261 Turner Lane)
Quotes
- "Look out back, do you see your boyfriend anywhere?"
- "I don't even have a boyfriend right now."
- "Would you like one? Come on... cat got your tongue?"
- "You know, I don't even know you, and I dislike you already."
- "My mom's dead and she's never coming back. Ever."
- "That's just how the cookie crumbles."
- "Fuck you!" (Sidney to Billy in the reveal scene)
- "Jamie, watch out! You know he's around!"
- "Turn around! Look behind you!"
Differences from reality / Adaptation differences
Throughout the Scream sequels, the Stab lore has expanded beyond the peripheral meta-parodic imitation scenes shown in Scream 2 and Scream 5. Therefore, many details given can give fans an idea of how events transpired in the film-within-a-film using internal world logic established in the Scream universe.
Furthermore, if Scream (1996) can be viewed as a subversion to generic slasher tropes, it can be inferred that Stab is essentially a watered down, generic slasher version (as implicated through its scenes), where each trope originally subverted is actually perpetuated in the parody version.
Summary of inferred differences
- Seen: Casey Becker is a single woman about to take a shower while making popcorn. Generic slasher movie logic. Reality: Casey did not take a shower. She was dating Steven Orth, lied about being single, and admitted it afterwards.
- Seen: Casey immediately gets suspicious and weirded out. There is no build-up tension. Reality: Casey briefly flirted with the caller.
- Seen: Cliched D-rate slasher movie idioms: Ghostface says "cat got your tongue", and Billy says, "That's just the way the cookie crumbles".
- Stated in dialogue: Randy Meeks is stabbed on Stu's couch, as he yells to Jamie Lee Curtis through the TV screen.
- Reality: Randy is left alone after he is almost stabbed. The twist in real-life is Stu went out to slice Kenny Brown's throat, who is distracted by a 30-second delay on his news van watching Randy through the secret camera set up by Gale. Presumably, this element was cut, as Kenny was likely already dead earlier.
- Stated in dialogue (inferred from Scream 2): Kenny Brown is gutted. Possibly inside 261 Turner Lane.
- Seen: Sidney Prescott, played by Tori Spelling, is a redhead. Reality: Sidney is a brunette.
- Stated in dialogue: Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson's versions of the characters "killed everyone" at Stu's house.
- Speculative Stab character casualties: The Stab versions of Neil Prescott (who survived in reality but became a real-life sequel non-entity), Steven Orth, Kenny Brown, Tatum Riley and Arthur Himbry.
- Implied through dialogue (Accidentally): Arthur Himbry dies at the party.
- Charlie's line, "Two kids killed in a house while their parents are away, and the school's hot chick savaged beyond recognition" and saying, "We all know where it goes from there?" to which Sidney responds, "A party."
- While Charlie Walker stating this as a Stab structure is internally inconsistent with the actual events of Scream, it technically is not a writing error or inconsistent with Stab, as it is already established there are major differences between both films.
- It also implies Steven Orth exists in the opening, which Stab implies he is not (or at least unconnected to Casey as a boyfriend). However, this may be possible if the cameo occurs during the murder of Phil Stevens, which would be meta, as he was killed due to having a similar name.
- If not, it is possible another sequence occurs afterwards, where another teenager is killed home alone in a separate scene.
- Implied through the series: Stu Macher was an unmemorable, small-scale villain, likely because Gale had virtually no interaction with him in real life. Despite watching the film, Tara Carpenter cannot identify him as the other killer firsthand.
- Stated in dialogue: Gale (played by Jennifer Jolie) and Dewey (played by David Schwimmer) are a married couple, or about to be.
- First known divergence from the book. Gale spoke negatively of Dewey and said he "oozed with inexperience".
- It is presumed the love/romance element remained, and was exaggerated into a full marriage. Rebecca Walters states that by Stab 3, they have been married for a decade. While Stab 5 is established as being the first and only with "time travel", meaning it is logically impossible for them to be unmarried in the film due to Timeline continuity.
Adaptation tropes
- Adapted Out: Steven Orth is not Casey Becker's boyfriend (and possibly not in the film).
- It is possible he is a Composite Adaptation Character, and is killed at 261 Turner Lane.
- Hint: The real-life Sidney Prescott tells Samantha Carpenter that the house is the location "where your dad (played by Luke Wilson) and Stu (Vince Vaughn) killed everyone". In real-life events, Tatum Riley is the only Ghostface victim inside the house.
- Adaptation Distillation: Some adaptations take a deeply complex character or situation and greatly simplify it, removing elements the producer believed to be unnecessary, or in the case of this being True Crime, a lack of awareness to the complexity of Casey's real-life predicament.
- Internal Consistency in Adaptation Divergence (achieved): The fifth Scream film implies the Stab version of Randy Meeks (played by Christopher Speed) is stabbed by Ghostface in his "Look behind you, Jamie!" scene.
- This actually fits the continuity established in Scream 2 where Gale Weathers wrote in her book that Kenny Brown was gutted, as Stu Macher would not have jumped ship during the 30-second delay to slash Kenny's throat, and leave Randy behind temporarily, considering the film is an adaptation of the book, The Woodsboro Murders.
- Chad Meeks-Martin also identifies the film as being a movie where his uncle gets stabbed. In reality, Randy was not stabbed. He was shot.
- Mindy-Meeks Martin, Chad's twin sister and Randy's niece and successor, who is drunkenly watching Stab on TV while after the party for Wes Hicks's memorial at her former friend/Ghostface #8 Amber Freeman's house (which was Stu's old house 261 Turner Lane), is watching the exact same scene of Randy watching Halloween (1978), meta, when she then realizes before she is then ironically, stabbed herself by Ghostface as it plays out, and unlike her uncle, she wasn't spared.
- Similarly, both are attacked and survived, as they pass out not long after.
Relation to Scream 4 and Scream (2022)
The murders, who were in the original Stab, are related to the murders in Scream 4. As two kids were murdered in their house (Casey and Steve), are now related to Marnie and Jenny. As the hottest girl in the school, Tatum, gets murdered afterwards, which is related to Olivia.
Despite Steven being an unknown composite character and not Casey's boyfriend like in the original Scream, the death and attack of Casey while she was home alone, making her the only singular victim in the opening, is referenced and reversed in Scream (2022) with Tara Carpenter's attack while at home alone, who wasn't dating anyone. Unlike Casey in both the Stab film, as well as in it's real events, Tara isn't attacked outside, due to not going out to begin with, whose near-death attack by Ghostface happens indoors, much like that of Marnie and Jenny's in the fourth film (as well as their original deaths, non-canon), which reference Casey's.
Cast
- Tori Spelling as Sidney Prescott
- David Schwimmer as Dewey Riley
- Jennifer Jolie as Gale Weathers
- Luke Wilson as Billy Loomis
- Heather Graham as Casey Becker
- Christopher Speed as Randy Meeks
- Vince Vaughn as Stu Macher
- Alicia Silverstone as Tatum Riley
- Craig Bierko as Cotton Weary
- Ron Howard as Arthur Himbry
- Unknown as Kenny Brown (Appears in Easter egg) (Confirmed Appearance)
- Unknown, possibly no-one as Steven Orth (Implied)
- In the opening, Heather Graham's Casey appears to be genuine about not having a boyfriend after she's told to check outside for him.
- It is possible Steven Orth is a composite character in the released version.
- Unknown as Sheriff Burke
- Unknown as Neil Prescott
- Unknown as Hank Loomis
- Unknown as Mr. Becker
- Unknown as Mrs. Becker
- Unknown as Mrs. Tate
- Unknown as Fred
Crew
Executive Producers:
Producers:
Director:
Writer:
Music:
Trivia
- Release date retcon: According to Tara's IMDb image results in Scream 5 (2022 film), the film was released in 1997. This is further solidified with the deaths of Nancy and Mickey listed as 1997 in Scream VI (2023 film).
- This is somewhat inconsistent with other references in the film itself. It is almost certainly a reference to the film it was first shown in, Scream 2 (1997 film). See more: Continuity Errors.
- It is possible the second film is simply one year later, and the reference to "a couple of years ago" is also a reference to Maureen's murder as a collective, as is Gale's conversation when trying to lure Sidney into doing an interview with Cotton.
- However, this is also unlikely, because the length of time needed for publication and filming the movie, and the extra at the cinema refers to kids dying, which would not apply to Maureen.
- Explanation: It is possible then, that the film was released in 1997, but for limited screenings only, with the film being released around the end of the year, before wide distribution in 1998 (see above for Continuity Errors for more information), with the dialogue of "those kids got killed in California a couple years ago" and Gale's statement upon trying to interview Sidney and Cotton, "looking back on the last couple of years", more aligned, due to Scream VI's murder board listing date of the Windsor College Murders as 1997, being actually in December 1997, due to Sidney's role in The Agamemnon, in her "end of year production".
- Also stated that the screening of which the first two victims of the Windsor murders, seniors Maureen Evans and Phil Stevens, attended was a sneak preview or screening ("sneak peek"), implying that the film was on limited theatrical release, not necessarily a full one, which doesn't necessarily contradict the statement Gale Weathers gave on a phone call, upon arriving to the college, for her to also cover the murders: "They'd be stupid to pull this movie. With all this press, they're going to have huge numbers this weekend".
- Meaning, how due to the murders committed in meta-fashion, by a copycat Ghostface depicting the one from the film, Stab could've been then capitalizing on the sensationalized real life copycat murders, released the film at the end of 1997 (as seen on IMDB)/start of 1998 instead, both viable.
- Another glaring error shown is the release date of April 12, 1997 (filming date of shooting the opening scene) inside the theatre in the opening of Scream 2. This would mark the film as taking place when Sidney was still finishing high school, which would be impossible.
- It is revealed in Scream 3 that John Milton, a producer of the original Stab trilogy and former director at Sunrise Studios, who produced and also distributed the films, hid information from the press regarding the mother of Sidney Prescott, as well as the first victim of the Woodsboro Murders (1996), 44-year old Maureen Prescott, in September 1995, and her association as being a former actress at the studios, during the release of the first Stab film, based on the murder spree of which she'd been the first victim of in Woodsboro; who prior to Gale's second novel being adapted to film (basis), had her murder sensationalized by the trial of her accused murderer, Cotton Weary, during 1995-1996, which Gale had then went and written her first book on her murder.
- Due to how prior to her death, had been a former actress at the studio under the alias of "Rina Reynolds" in the 1960s, and was blacklisted following her being a rape victim of Milton and other producers (whether or not if from Sunrise) at a shady party in 1969, who didn't want to deal with the warranted press and unveiling the truth, which Gale would later do, as an investigative journalist, after the production of the then-third Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, was halted due to the Hollywood Murders taking place.
- The first film of the in-universe Stab franchise (1997/98-2021), which is also considered the best film of it's series and regarded as the "original".
- This is meta commentary on the Scream franchise itself (1996-present) and how the first film is regarded as the best and original, and how even after the success of the sequels, the original still reigns supreme in terms of being the start of the franchise and reinvigorating horror in the slasher genre of the 1990s, as well as it's positive reviews by audience and critical reception, who noted it's meta-commentary and its self-awareness, which expanded upon the lore and continuity with the film-within-a film, Stab.
Poster Gallery
Screengrabs
| Franchise |
|---|
| Scream franchise |
| Scream | 2 | 3 | 4 | TV Series | Scream (2022) | VI | 7 | 8 (Upcoming) |