Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) is one of the most unhinged Ghostfaces. Look no further than her brilliantly deranged monologue at the end of “Scream 4.” In the finale, she corners Sidney and reveals her true identity. “Hello, Sidney. Surprised?” she says. Her eyes gleam with a disturbed sparkle. It wasn’t enough to kill Sidney. Oh no, it was always about becoming her. And about that friend thing? She doesn’t need ’em. “I don’t need friends. I need fans.”
Jill could have lived a normal, ho-hum existence — go to college, grad school, and work. Instead, she argues the internet allows a kind of fame they never dreamt of before. “You don’t have to achieve anything. You just gotta have f***ed up s*** happen to you,” she adds. “Scream 4” came 11 years after the previous installment, so it’s the natural progression of an ongoing franchise to reconfigure a few things. “New movie, new franchise,” continues Jill. “There’s only room for one lead, and let’s face it, your ingénue days, they’re over.”
When her big speech is all done, Jill goes berserk and proceeds to inflict wounds upon herself. It just has to look like she fought back, after all. She’s absolutely mad, that one. Laced with sardonic humor, “Scream 4” was ahead of its time regarding its commentary on influencer culture. For her part, Roberts dishes up an ingenious, wonderfully imbalanced performance — making this killer reveal a middle-of-the-pack offering.
