The Hollywood Ghostface Murders, also known as the Third Ghostface Murders, were a series of violent murders in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollywood perpetrated by Roman Bridger as acts of vengeance after being abandoned by his mother, Maureen Prescott, and watching his half-sister, Sidney Prescott, become famous as a result of previous Ghostface murders. He began with the murder of former Woodsboro survivor, Cotton Weary, although his involvement dates back to the murder of Maureen Prescott.
Roman Bridger at the time of his reveal.
According to Scream VI, the murders take place in the year 2000 (as is noted Roman's death date), however, Scream 3 notes that Roman tracked down Maureen "four years ago" indicating that they took place in 1999 as Maureen was murdered in 1995, one year before the Woodsboro Murders. This causes an inconsistency in the timeline of the films (See: Continuity Errors).
The murders were spearheaded by 29-year-old Roman Bridger, a director at Sunrise Studios who was set to direct Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, who was seeking revenge against Sidney Prescott as a result of being abandoned by their mother. Unbeknownst to Sidney at the time, she and Roman were half-siblings as a result of Maureen being involved with a rape with Sunrise Studios president, John Milton, in 1969.
Roman had the intention on framing Sidney for the murders and posing himself as the sole survivor, subsequently taking the fame away from her.
Victims[]
Primary target:[]
- Sidney Prescott (survived)
Victims[]
- Christine Hamilton †
- Cotton Weary †
- Sarah Darling †
- Steven Stone †
- Tom Prinze †
- Angelina Tyler †
- Tyson Fox †
- Jennifer Jolie †
- John Milton †
Survivors[]
Perpetrators[]
- Roman Bridger † (Killed by shot in the head by Dewey Riley)
The Trilogy[]
Monterey[]
Following the Windsor College Murders in 1997, Sidney was placed into Witness Protection under the name "Laura". She was then sent to live in Monterey whilst being employed as a crisis counselor for the California Women's Crisis Counseling hotline who would patch in through her home phone line to speak with women needing help. During this time, the only two people who knew Sidney's whereabouts were Dewey Riley and her father, Neil Prescott, making it hard for Roman Bridger to track her down.
Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro[]
After the success of Stab and Stab 2, Sunrise Studios greenlit a third and final installment, Return to Woodsboro, which would be a fictionalized tale of Sidney returning to Woodsboro where she would fight a new killer, who would be revealed as Gale Weathers. After original director for the film, Fred Rifkin, was fired, Sunrise Studios hired a new director, Roman Bridger, who had a history of directing music videos. This deal was struck with the agreement that Roman could then direct a classic love story.
Cotton Weary[]
Sunrise Studios struck a deal with Cotton Weary with him agreeing to make a cameo in the film. Cotton, at the time, was dating Christine Hamilton. For whatever reason, Roman believed that Cotton knew Sidney's whereabouts and one night, after wrapping another taping of his talk show, Roman called Cotton, initially using a female voice to lure him in and then turn sinister. After Cotton threatened him, Roman hung up and then attacked Christine as he was already hiding in the house. Cotton returned home and searched for Christine, however, she attacked him as Roman had used Cotton's voice using a voice modulator. Ghostface then murdered Christine and subsequently killed Cotton.
Sarah Darling[]
Roman called actress Sarah Darling, playing Candy Brooks in Stab 3, and asked her to stop by the set. When she arrived, he called Sarah on his office phone, pretending that he was using the voice changer to sound like himself, and then began threatening Sarah after swapping to Ghostface's voice. Sarah hid in a rack of Ghostface costumes, where Roman was hiding in costume, and he then attacked and killed Sarah by stabbing her and throwing her through a glass door. After speaking with Sarah's roommate, Mark Kincaid discovers that Roman called the house and he is taken in for questioning. He is later released during the night.
Wrap Party[]
That night, after the Stab 3 production is cancelled, Jennifer Jolie hosts a wrap party at her home with the remaining cast members in which Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers also attend. Roman hides in Dewey's trailer on Jennifer's property and after Steven Stone, Jennifer's bodyguard, enters the trailer, he jumps out and kills him. Roman then causes a gas leak in Jennifer's house and begins sending faxes of faux script pages to the group which details how they'll die. After cutting the power, Tom Prinze uses a lighter to read the final page which claims that whoever smells the gas will die. The flame causes the gas to ignite and blow the house up, killing Tom whilst Gale, Dewey, Jennifer and Angelina are thrown to the ground below.
Roman, who was hiding on the street below, attempts to attack Gale, but is stopped by Dewey who shoots at him. He rolls under the car and is able to escape and leave a photo of Maureen as an actress behind, taking credit for her murder.
Set Tour[]
Sidney finally decides to come out of hiding and speak with Kincaid, and she is taken to the Stab 3 set where she meets Angelina, who is hiding in a bathroom stall with props she was intending on taking. Sidney explores the various sets, including ones of her old home and the Macher home, and is attacked by Ghostface who chases her through the set before being scared away by the police.
Milton's Mansion[]
John Milton hosts a 30th birthday party for Roman at his home which Roman uses as the final act. He begins by trapping Milton in a closet in his screening room and then getting the cast to split up and faking his death in the basement of Milton's mansion using various props he had from movie sets. After successfully killing Angelina, Tyson, and Jennifer, he knocks out Dewey and Gale and ties them to chairs and then calls Sidney using her own voice before swapping to the killer's voice and luring her to the mansion.
Sidney showed up, wearing J. Wallace's bulletproof vest, and Roman had her use a metal detector to expose a gun she had hidden on her which he gets her to throw into the pool. Sidney enters the house and Roman attacks her, but runs off when she shoots at him. Kincaid arrives and he is then attacked by Roman who re-emerges. Sidney runs and barricades herself in Milton's screening room which Roman enters through another door and then traps Sidney.
He unmasks himself and reveals himself as the mastermind of not only these murders, but the original Woodsboro Murders which he coerced Billy Loomis and Stu Macher into carrying out by showing Billy footage of Maureen sleeping with his father, Hank Loomis, an act which resulted in Hank and his mother, Nancy Loomis, divorcing. Roman also reveals that he is the son of Maureen and most likely John, who raped Maureen near the '70s when she attended one of his casting parties.
Sidney and Roman then fight each other which ends with Sidney stabbing Roman, presumably killing him. However, Roman tries one last attempt to kill her and Dewey shoots him in the head, bringing the killing spree to an end.