The Cars Of The Scream Trilogy

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Do you remember spotting these cars?

When Wes Craven’s hit movie Scream hit theaters back in December of 1996, viewers were so freaked out by the movie caller ID use tripled afterward – at least that’s the urban legend. We wonder how many people also developed an irrational fear of garage doors. Anyway, being car nerds, when we re-watched the original trilogy recently to celebrate the Halloween season, we were absolutely smitten with the cars in all three Scream movies. Let’s just dive right in.

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Tatum Riley drives a 1967 Volkswagen Beetle or Type 1 in the first movie. It’s the kind of car many high school kids had at the time because they were in high supply, cheap to buy, and simple to maintain. After Ghostface breaks into Sidney Prescott’s house, Tatum drives her friend to the safety of her house in the Beetle, but not before reporter Gale Weathers aggressively taps on the window and demands to know all the gory details of what happened.

One of the most iconic cars from the first movie is Dewey Riley’s 1984 Jeep Cherokee, a two-door model. It gets plenty of screen time with its rugged XJ looks, accentuated by tan paint and the light bar mounted to the roof. Many other Jeeps like this one served as law enforcement vehicles in countless communities across the United States in the 80s and 90s, so it’s really a slice of Americana gone by.

The Jeep XJ also is where Sidney Prescott flees from Ghostface toward the end of the film, activating the manual locks and cranking the driver’s window up (oh, the memories of not having power everything) to keep the killer out. She traps him outside, only to find he has the keys and her refuge in the law enforcement vehicle is only temporary.

The 1983 Ford Econoline news van from the first movie was key in several scenes, most notably in the climactic action where Ghostface kills Gale’s cameraman, almost kills her, and seemingly kills Dewey. In her attempt to escape the carnage, Gale drives with her cameraman’s body hanging off the roof and over the windshield, almost runs down Sidney, then crashes into a tree. In a testament to how solidly those things were built, she’s able to walk away from the wreck.

Sure, a news van isn’t sexy because it’s a thing of utilitarian function. Many vans just like this one roamed communities throughout the country back when Scream debuted, adding to the realistic feel of the movie.

There are plenty of cool background vehicles in the first movie, like a 1995 Dodge Ram, 1986 Buick Century Wagon, 1991 Toyota Land Cruiser, and a 1994 Ford Mustang. These help add the right period flavor to the movie since they’re not all brand new, plus it’s done right because the film wasn’t made today by people who weren’t alive back then.