horror saga lovers scream they have had to wait 11 years since their last installment. Today, one of the most famous and feared masks in the history of horror movies returns to theaters with scream 5 (Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, 2022). We do not know who will be behind the character this time ghost face, nor if the writers will be able to capture the psychopathic essence in his personality. What we do know is that his two predecessors, Billy Loomis and Stu MacherYes, they are part of the list of movie psychopaths analyzed in 2013 in a curious study.
In it, a team of film critics and psychiatrists from the Erasmus Academic Hospital, from Brussels, analyzed 126 psychopaths, 105 men and 21 women, belonging to some of the most famous film titles. His goal was to see if they really fit the profile of a psychopath in real life.
And the truth is that there was everything. Some fit the reality perfectly. Others introduce features that perhaps give the story more drama, but do not correspond to the usual personality of a psychopath. And others fall somewhere in the middle. Yes, they are relatively well based on psychopathy, but not enough to give as an example to a group of forensic psychology students.
Classifying psychopaths
This study focused on the characters of 400 movies, released between 1915 and 2010. Some of the characters were described as psychopaths in the film itself. Others, even without ever mentioning the term, could easily fit into the definition.
The objective was to see what could be good examples to teach the traits of psychopathy in the field of Forensic psychology. And, for this, they were first classified as primary or secondary psychopaths. Primals are superficially charming, manipulative, self-centered, and incapable of love or regret. The secondary, on the other hand, are those who are impulsive and compulsive, with a continuous need for stimulation and opportunities to reaffirm their power.
Although the primary is usually related to the cinema, in reality the authors of this study saw more secondary traits in the analyzed characters.
In addition to this general classification, they were divided into idiopathic, manipulative, pseudopsychopathy, or macho psychopathy. The idiopathic psychopath is the one that corresponds to the classical definition of psychopath. The manipulative, on the other hand, lives up to its name and is characterized by a great capacity for manipulate the people around you. On the other hand, the pseudopsychopath usually someone with sociopathic traits, with a lack of emotional control and responsibility, usually due to illness or injury to the brain. And, finally, the male psychopath is the one who intimidates those around you to obtain their purposes.
Characters from horror films were analyzed, such as Scream itself, but also from many other film genres. For example, in the list are the Sheriff of Nottingham, from Robin Hood, or Michael and Vito Corleone, Both of The Godfather.
From ‘Scream’ to ‘Psycho’, passing through ‘The Silence of the Lambs’
Regarding Scream, the two main characters behind the famous Ghostface mask were analyzed. The first is Billy Loomis, which is defined as a primary psychopath of the idiopathic type. As for the second, Stu Macher, is displayed as a secondary type pseudopsychopath. In addition, it is indicated that this Scream character has another diagnosis, specifically a antisocial personality disorder.
The study indicates that the psychopaths that best correspond to reality are Anton Chigur, from No country for old men, Y Norman Bates, from Psychosis. The first is of type primary and idiopathic. A textbook psychopath. The second, on the other hand, is a secondary pseudopsychopath, with a second diagnosis of psychosis.
In this it is emphasized that it represents very well that typical disconnect from reality that can occur in some psychopaths. It has features, in general, that can be very useful for it to be set as an example in the field of forensic psychology.
Instead, despite being one of the most iconic psychopaths in cinema, the authors of this study think that Hannibal Lecter, from The silence of the lambsis somewhat further from reality. In fact, they can’t even classify it based on any definite traits. Yes they can with another character from the movie: Jamie Gumb. In your case, it’s a pseudopsychopath, secondaryalso diagnosed with paraphilia.
Will the new murderer be well defined as a psychopath? scream? Time will tell. Now it’s time to enjoy the movie. The time for evaluations will come.