Maureen Prescott

Maureen Prescott (née Roberts) is a character in the Scream series. She is mother of Sidney Prescott and birth mother of Roman Bridger. She was also the sister of Kate Roberts and aunt of Jill.

While she dies before the start of Scream, she is an integral part of the series' back story. In the first four films, the murderers trace at least part of their motivation back to Maureen.

Hollywood
Maureen Roberts was born in 1951, the elder daughter in the Roberts household located in Woodsboro, California. Her younger sister, Kate was born approximately five years later. She spent her whole life in Woodsboro, except for a secret two-year span between early-1969 and early-1971 (approx. two years), between the ages of 18 and 20.

It is revealed the young and impressionable 18-year-old was an aspiring actress. She relocated to Los Angeles in 1969, and she followed her dreams. She chose the stage name Rina Reynolds, and met horror movie producer in his heyday, John Milton, attending one of his parties.

She was introduced to men Milton claimed would help her career in return for sexual favors. A young and innocent Maureen was then gang raped by several men. She became pregnant with a son who she gave birth to on February 4, 1970. She gave him up for adoption.

Short-Lived Career
Maureen was unable to make a big break in Hollywood. She shot three horror movies somewhere along this period (between her nine-month pregnancy in 1969 all the way to 1971): Amazombies, Space Psychos and Creatures from the San Andreas Fall between 1969 and 1971.

She also did three plays: The War on Earth, Young Women and I Want to Scream. Each film was produced by horror icon John Milton.

During the events of the third film (which take place in 2000), Dewey refers to a photograph at age 19 or 20 "28 years ago" indicating it was approximately 1972 (two years after Roman Bridger's birth year). It is likely the photograph was one of Maureen's final moments in Hollywood.

Sexual Assault Claims and Return to Woodsboro
She made the decision to leave Hollywood behind and moved back home to Woodsboro. That same year, sometime in 1971 or 1972, she met her future husband, Neil Prescott when she was around 21 years old. They eventually got married, bought the house 34 Elm Street and she gave birth to a daughter at approx. 28 turning 29 years old, Sidney Prescott (born 1979).

She told no one about this period in her life or her traumas, including her family and eventual husband, Neil. No charges were ever brought towards her rapists, despite Maureen’s claims and for pressing on the matter between 1970 and 1971. As Milton states, "It was the seventies, everything was different", though this would later appear to be untrue. She was eventually completely blacklisted for trying to expose the truth during this timeframe.

Films
Maureen is a motivating factor for killers in the original trilogy, and to a greater extent, her legacy is the cause of all events in each released film.

Scream
In the year following Maureen's murder, the general public believed Cotton Weary raped and killed her. Reporter Gale Weathers was the only one who believed Cotton's story and clashed with Sidney over it. Sidney was haunted by her mother's death, but eventually discovered the truth: that Maureen really did sleep around, and that she was killed by Billy and Stu. Sidney killed the two in self-defense and found some closure.

Scream 2
After Nancy Loomis revealed herself as one of the killers, she proved to Sidney that she was infuriated at Maureen ruining her marriage to Hank. The second killer, Mickey Altieri, taunted Sidney by telling her that her dead boyfriend Derek Feldman would have been the type of guy she could take home to mom, if she had a mom.

Scream 3
Roman left old head shots of 'Rina Reynolds' at the scenes of his murders to entice Sidney to Hollywood, so he could wreak his revenge. Sidney questioned her own sanity, when she dreamed of her mother, and when Ghostface terrorized her over the phone with Maureen's own voice. After Roman finally revealed himself to Sidney, he filled in the gaps of Maureen's life for her, told her how he was behind the killing sprees because of Maureen´s rejection of him and then murdered John Milton, who was actually his own father.

Scream 4
Kate Roberts said that she had emotional scars because of Maureen's brutal murder. Kate's death later in the film represents Maureen's, as Jill states that: "My own mother had to die, no great loss there, so I could stay true to the original".

Scream 5
Gale regrets writing the book about her murder, believing that if she didn't, none of this would've happened and she started it. Sidney said she did not, and that Billy Loomis did.

Behind the Scenes

 * She was described as "beautiful and familiar" in the Scream script.
 * Maureen was the first victim of Ghostface, and the only completely off-screen kill of the series.
 * Maureen was referenced by six of the seven killers. Charlie Walker was the only one who did not mention her.
 * The publicity stills of young Maureen Prescott, or "Rina Reynolds," are actually early modeling photos of a young Lynn McRee, the actress who portrays the adult Maureen Prescott.
 * Maureen is the main reason for the killings happening due to sleeping with Billy's father thus creating a chain of events.
 * In a deleted scene from Scream 4, Sidney picks up a framed picture of Maureen.