Why we’re crushing hard on Sidney Prescott from the ‘Scream’ series

It’s October! Which means horror-movie marathons – at least, in my house. From Friday the 13th to Halloween to Ernest Scared Stupid (which, fine, isn’t a horror movie, but whatever), any free moment I have in October is dedicated to watching something scary.

The Scream franchise has always been one of my favorites, though. There’s something so deliciously ’90s about it, but also very classic. And Sidney Prescott, the series’ kick-butt female protagonist, is one of the big reasons I enjoy the original movie and its sequels so much. She refuses to be put in a damsel-in-distress position, makes her own rules, and also manages to make fun of the entire thing somehow while dodging a series of deranged killers and showing everyone how it’s done. Yas(Scream)Queen.GIF.

Here’s why Sidney is our second Halloween-month #WCW!

She was THE scream queen of the 1990s

What Lila Crane was to the 1960s, Laurie Strode was to the 1970s, and Nancy Thompson was to the 1980s, Sidney Prescott was to the 1990s. She has all the markings of a , without the whole virginity thing (which, let’s be real, is totally overrated anyway). From her determination to survive to her traumatic past after losing her mother, she is easy to root for from the beginning – and she did it all with the cutest and most quintessential ’90s outfits and hairstyles to boot. Scream-queen goals.

She called out the sexism in horror films while being in one

One of my favorite quotes in the first movie is when the killer asks Sidney if she likes scary movies and Sidney replies, “What’s the point? They’re all the same. Some stupid killer stalking some big-breasted girl who can’t act who is always running up the stairs when she should be running out the front door. It’s insulting.” DID SHE LIE? And what kind of makes it better is that, a few minutes later, she’s running up the stairs herself. True judgment + humble pie = a great combination for character development.

She didn’t let her teenage hormones cloud her judgment

Sidney could’ve so easily written Billy Loomis off as completely trustworthy from the very beginning of the first movie, but she never quite does. She never 100% trusts him, and it’s obvious from how she conducts herself around him (being close, but not TOO close) and the fact that she takes more cues and advice from her smart buddy Randy who, sadly, doesn’t survive all the sequels.

But um, yeah, Sidney doesn’t hesitate to shoot that psycho – twice, in fact, with the final shot being right in the middle of Billy’s forehead. Because she doesn’t leave the body before she waits for him to come back, like those idiots who don’t survive other horror movies. She knows they always come back.

She knew all the clichés – and used them to her advantage

Speaking of Randy, he knew everything there was to know about horror movies and what to do and not to do. Because of this – and her own toughness she developed after losing her friends and, shortly thereafter, pretty much all of her friends – Sidney knows what to look out for and how to avoid it.

The lesson here is the listen to your friends…even the weirdo ones. Their ramblings might save your life, even if they won’t save their own.

The “I’ll send you a copy” moment with Gale

Even though Sidney and Gale are kind of besties as of the latest film, this moment in the original Scream was gold and we’re still not over it.

(Image via Dimension Films; GIF via here)