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10 years after Stab 7 seemed to close out the series, Ghost Face returned in the 8th film, Stab, an attempt to reboot the franchise for a new generation. Controversial The Last Jedi helmer Rian Johnson took over the series, and despite his established love of detective mysteries, pivoted away from that genre, opting instead for a true-crime docu-drama approach recreating the 2011 Woodsboro killings originally featured in the film Scream 4, including the involvement of local Woodsboro police officer (and later Sheriff) Judy Hicks. However, this new Stab film apparently takes several major liberties with the “actual” events.

The main character of the film is said to be a "Mary Sue." A Mary Sue is a type of fictional character, usually a young woman, who is portrayed as unrealistically free of weaknesses. Originating in fan fiction, a Mary Sue is often an author's idealized self-insertion.

Stab 8 dropped the number system, simply calling itself Stab, which was one of many things that set it apart from the original seven movies. So, in this world, even before Stab 8 was released, fans were mad at it. We then learn when it was released, fans felt the movie went too far away from the basics of what makes a Stab movie—many found it to be too heady, too “woke”, and naturally, those fans really came down hard on how un-Stab they felt the new Stab was. At one point, one of the characters in Scream 5 are seen watching a clip of YouTubers shitting all over Stab 8. In fact, the film became a constant subject of scorn and ridicule on the internet, and played a major role in inspiring the 25th Anniversary Woodsboro Murders, committed by toxic horror movie fans Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman. 

This version of Stab 8 (simply titled "Stab") debuted in Scream 2022 but was released in the Scream-movie-verse in 2021. No actual description has ever been released, but here's what I came up with:

Stab attempts to re-launch the famous franchise in a new direction. With an all-new Ghost Face, who also has a new look, new weapons and new victims, Stab is the most fun you’ll ever have. Ghost Face lights up Woodsboro like never before as he chases down a new set of teens who are trying to have a peaceful summer vacation. But with a killer around every corner, school may be out for more than the summer. 

Tyler Gillett: Yeah, actually, we talked about [Stab] a lot. You see it in the background of several shots at the Meeks-Martin house (the house of the twin characters played by Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown), but there is a box set of Stab movies on the mantle that does answer this question. And we actually shot a lot of fun Stab 8 stuff that just ultimately for various reasons, didn’t end up in the cut. We designed some pretty wild and pretty wacky Stab 8 moments that maybe will appear on a digital release at some point. But we really love that there is a sort of off-screen world that exists with these movies, right? It’s one of the ways that they kind of blend our reality with the movie reality and it’s always really fun. It was fun to have a space to maybe do the weird, campy thing that didn’t necessarily feel like was a Scream movie idea, but still was fun enough to be shot and be a part of the universe of these movies. And that’s really what Stab is, right? It’s a kind of release valve for some of those crazier “bad choices.”

CAST

Matthew Lillard  as  The Voice of the Killer

CREW

Directed By
Rian Johnson

Written By
Will Kennison

Music By
Marco Beltrami

Produced By
Ram Bergman
Kathleen Kennedy