Today I give you a Harvey Weinstein lookalike, the man who's the reason to "Scream" franchise's insane heinous standard, John Milton.
What Is The Work?[]
John Milton appears in "Scream 3", serving as the bigger bad and secondary antagonist. He's the birthfather of the main antagonist, and as such, he was one of the people who ignited Ghostface's gruesome legacy.
Who Is The Villain?[]
Milton was a Hollywood producer focused on the horror genre. During his long years in showbusiness, Milton made many horror movies for Sunrise Studios, and had the habit of making one-sided deals with his actresses, or "dirty work" in his language.
What Does He Do?[]
Long before the "Scream" franchise began, Milton employed many actresses, one of them is Maureen Prescott, and promoted them less by talent and more by their willingness to sleep with him. Their consent wasn't necessary for him. If any actress refused, he either raped her or made sure she won't be employed anywhere. Many of his sexual assaults and abuse were preformed on "special parties", which were meant to pressure on actresses to sleep with him or with some of his colleagues. In Maureen Prescott's case, the situation escalated to a gang rape led by Milton. The gang rape led to the birth of Roman Bridger, who would eventually become the overarching antagonist of the whole franchise. The rape Maureen went through made her a broken woman who go around with other men and recreated her trauma in a compulsive manner.
In Scream 3, Milton was seen working on yet another "Stab" movie, one of a series of movies based on Sidney Prescott and her friends' tragic life and deaths. Angelina Tyler revealed that Milton never changed his bad habits, still extorting sex from actresses in exchange for the possibility of a leading role. Roman Bridger revealed himself as Milton and Maureen's birthchild, and also that Milton is the reason for Maureen's inability to love her own son. His reign of terror ended shortly before the final battle, when Roman slashed his throat.
Redeeming Qualities[]
None. Given he's a high-ranked rapist in a horror film, he's is a dangerous man who's played for dead serious (no comedic qualities such as comic relief, incompetent or mischievous), never showed a genuine empathy for anyone (even if we forget the fact he made many birthchildren with no intention to ever acknowledge their existence, let alone the pain he made their mothers go through, he made a buck out of Sidney and her friends' tragic life and death), and never showed any sincere interest in anything but his own gain, crushing everyone and everything under his boot for getting his way. The closest thing to regret he ever shown was a Darwinist speech about how Maureen Prescott deserved to be raped and exiled from Hollywood and happiness alike. Sidney was sad and frighten to see him get killed, but it doesn't make him a scapegoat. Compare to his actions, having his throat slashed was actually one of the most peaceful deaths in the franchise. The fact many of his vile deeds are off-screen doesn't make him on & off. The things he did to Maureen had a major impact on everything and everyone in the franchise. He started the chain of events that caused Roman to execute his own mother, inspiring Billy Loomis and Stu Macher to commit their second killing spree, and overall being the reason Roman made Sidney so miserable.
Freudian Excuse[]
He have none. He raped and sexually abused all these women for his sense of power alone. No tragedy, no specific emotion other than sadism and greed, nothing.
Heinous Standard[]
The standard is insane, and Milton is the reason for that. He literally created a complete psychopath, who in turn created other 6 killers, and even served as a major inspiration for the tv series. Here's a brief rehearsal of the horrible things he did:
1. Sexually abused and assaulted many actresses. Maureen Prescott was not the first and not the last. Many actresses were raped before her and after her.
2. He was the leader of gang rapes.
3. By raping Maureen, he created a situation where a mother cannot love her own son. Whenever Maureen looked at Roman, she experienced the rape all over again. Milton is the man who made it happen.
4. Maureen's inability to love Roman, which caused by Milton, led Roman to execute her. In other words, Milton made a son executing his own mother. I'm not removing responsibility from Roman here. He's pure evil just like Milton, and everything after executing Maureen was his own choice, but Milton ignited the events leading to this unfortunate original choice.
5. He didn't just brought Roman to this world. He inspired him to become a cruel man who hate his own sister because she was born, kill 9 people just to frame her and is content with rape. A devil creating another devil in his image. With all considered, Milton is the reason Roman is pure evil, and there have an integral part in every tragedy Sidney went through and every death in the franchise.
6. You might say he's not comparable to 5 pure evil killers, and you'll be right, because he's comparable to Harvey Weinstein. It's even harsher in hindsight, because Weinstein was the producer of "Scream", and as such, he was a real-life Milton.
Verdict[]
He's more than just pure evil. He's the reason that Roman is pure evil too, and to an extent, he's also the reason Jill is pure evil.