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Maureen Prescott (née Roberts) is a character in the Scream series and was the mother of Sidney Prescott and Roman Bridger. While she dies before the start of Scream, she is an integral part of the series' back story. In all four films, the murderers trace at least part of their motivation back to Maureen.

Background

Maureen spent her whole life in Woodsboro, except for a secret two year span in the early 70's. She told no one about this period in her life, including her family and eventual husband, Neil Prescott. During this time, she moved to Hollywood and appeared in three plays and three movies for Sunrise Studios under the stage name "Rina Reynolds". Each film was produced by horror icon John Milton. Its strongly implied that during one of his parites, she was gang-raped, but the word is never really said. Milton himself quoted "They might have taken advantage of her", but said this was the real Hollywood. Then stated, you had to do dirty work to get somewhere.

Its more than obvious, Maureen didn't want to do that. She left Hollywood, never being the same again. She gave birth to a son, Roman, a product of that rape, who she gave up before she moved back to Woodsboro.

The rape affected Maureen for the rest of her life, but, if any case, she uses it as an excuse to get away with what she wanted. Even though she settled down and married Neil Prescott and had his daughter, she became promiscuous. She had affairs with at least Cotton Weary and Hank Loomis the father of Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis. When Debbie Loomis found out, she left Hank to raise their son Billy on his own.

Roman eventually tracked Maureen down, but she very cruelly rejected him. While most likely it was due to her past trauma or she simply didn't want Roman. She coldly said that he was Rina Reynolds' son and she was dead. She told him, bluntly, that Sidney was her only child. Roman was incensed, and began stalking her. He took footage of her affairs, including the one with Hank and showed the evidence to Billy claiming that she was the reason why his mother "abandoned him", this enraged Billy and Roman incites him to murder Maureen, Roman also told Billy to have a partner to sell out in case he gets caught and to frame Cotton. Billy, with help from his best friend Stu Macher, did as instructed and together they murdered Maureen and framed her lover, Cotton Weary. They made the scene look like a rape and planted his jacket with Maureen's blood in his car to frame him. Sidney having witness someone wearing Cotton's jacket testifies that she saw Cotton leave the house and Cotton was subsequently convicted of the murder. After her death, some Woodsboro residents referred to Maureen as a "slut". Ironically enough, although she claimed to love Sidney, Sidney would ultimately suffer through the series due to her mother's past mistakes.

Films

Maureen's past was uncovered gradually throughout the quadrilogy with most of the details uncovered in the third film.

Scream

In the year following Maureen's murder, the general public believed Cotton Weary raped and killed her. Reporter Gale Weathers was the only one who believed Cotton's story and clashed with Sidney over it. Sidney was haunted by her mother's death, but eventually discovered the truth: that Maureen really did sleep around, and that she was killed by Billy and Stu. Sidney killed the two in self-defense and found some closure.

Scream 2

After Debbie Loomis revealed herself as one of the killers, she proved to Sidney that she was infuriated at Maureen ruining her marriage to Hank. The second killer, Mickey Altieri, taunted Sidney by telling her that her dead boyfriend Derek Feldman would have been the type of guy she could take home to mom, if she had a mom.

Scream 3

Roman left old head shots of 'Rina Reynolds' at the scenes of his murders to entice Sidney to Hollywood, so he could wreak his revenge. Sidney questioned her own sanity, when she dreamed of her mother, and when Ghostface terrorized her over the phone with Maureen's own voice. After Roman finally revealed himself to Sidney, he filled in the gaps of Maureen's life for her, told her how he was behind the killing sprees because of Maureen´s rejection of him and then murdered John Milton, who was actually his own father.

Scream 4

Kate Roberts said that she had emotional scars because of Maureen's brutal murder. Kate's death later in the film represents Maureen's, as Jill states that: "My own mother had to die, no great loss there, so I could stay true to the original".

Behind the Scenes

  • She was described as "beautiful and familiar" in the Screamscript.
  • Maureen was the first victim of Ghostface, and the only completely off-screen kill of the series.
  • Maureen was referenced by six of the seven killers. Charlie Walker was the only one who did not mention her.
  • The publicity stills of young Maureen Prescott, or "Rina Reynolds," are actually early modeling photos of a young Lynn McRee, the actress who portrays the adult Maureen Prescott.
  • Maureen is the main reason for the killings happening due to sleeping with Billy's father thus creating a chain of events.
  • In a deleted scene from Scream 4, Sidney picks up a framed picture of Maureen.


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