FINAL GIRLS We honor the women left standing when everyoneelse has been cut down to size (sometimes literally)^01 HalloweenLaurie Strode 1978 02 Sidney PrescottScream 1996 Sally HardestyThe Texas Chainsaw
Massacre 197403
line was “Oh my God, we hit a boot!” Dave Sheridan
[Laughs] I remember the move-
ment, how she would pick something
up and turn to the rest of the group.
REGINA HALL(Brenda Meeks) I just
remember watching Jada [Pinkett
Smith]’s scene inScream 2, trying to
get how she collapsed when she dies
in front of an audience. I literally
tried todielike Jada.
ABRAHAMSAll horror movies are
slightly ridiculous, but these were
being melded with popular teen
movies. For a good part ofScream,
Skeet Ulrich’s character’s main
objective is to get laid. [Laughs] So I
played into that.
CHERI OTERI(Gail Hailstorm)Spoof-
ing these movies was perfect. It was
just, like, young people getting killed
one by one, and the sexier the better.
I laughed so much.
DAVE SHERIDAN(Doofy/the Killer)
I’ve met [David Arquette, on whom
his character is loosely based] a
couple of times in passing, and I
remember thinking, “I think he
wants to kill me.”
SHOOT FOR THE CEILING
The writers continued tweaking the
script during filming, as Keenen encour-
aged improvisation.
LOCHLYN MUNRO(Greg Phillippe)
Keenen was all about, “What do you
have? What can you bring? Just do
it!” He made it comfortable for us to
let loose and not worry about mak-
ing a fool of ourselves. If we fell on
our faces, he would just kind of
chuckle from behind the monitor.
ELIZABETH Keenen said, “I want to
shoot what’s on the page, and then
I’m going to let you guys do anything
you want. At the end of the day, I’m
going to use whatever’s the funniest
and the best, and I, as the director,
will get credit for it.” [Laughs]
I absolutely loved him for that.
MUNROAll of a sudden you would
have a scene that on paper was
pretty funny, but then after you were
in the trenches, it just became
hysterical.
FARISOh, I was too terrified to try
much. There’s a moment where I’m
flailing through the cafeteria andthat was when I felt like, “Maybe
I’m starting to get the hang of this!”
But I would go home at the end of
the day feeling like, “Oh my God.
I’mnot funny.”
KEENENAnna got really nervous
about the scene where she gets
blasted up onto the ceiling [by
semen, during a sex scene], so I took
her for a little walk, and I said, “I will
not be the one to decide whether
this stays in the movie. The audience
is gonna decide. If they’re laughing,
then you will have nothing to be
embarrassed about. If they’re groan-
ing, I give you my word, I’ll cut it out
of the movie.” She took a deep
breath and committed 100 percent,
and the rest is history.
FARISKeenen told me two amazing
bits of advice. One was that there’s
no vanity in comedy, and two, don’t
wink at the audience. You have to
be willing to embrace the idea that
the audience is going to think
you’re an idiot. That was an impor-
tant lesson to me.
OTERIIt felt like we were kids play-
ing in a sandbox, but with a parent
there saying, “Not funny enough.”
[Laughs] But Keenen was always
smiling. There was a sense of peace
about him.
SHERIDANKeenen’s not just editing
the film, he’s editing the filmmaking
itself. He’s making tweaks just as a
tailor does. A tailor doesn’t make the
suit—he adjusts. That’s how he
viewed directing.BOX OFFICE KILLING
Scary Movie topped the box office its
opening weekend, raking in $42 million,
a then record for an R-rated movie that
surpassed even the Scream films and
more than doubled its own $19 million
budget. It would go on to gross $157 mil-
lion—breaking the record for a film by
an African-American director—and
launch four equally raunchy sequels,
three of which starred Faris and Hall.ALAMY STOCK PHOTO