The original "Scream" movie came out in theaters in December 1996. There have been many sequels in the series, the most recent being "Scream 7," which was released in theaters in February. There is lots of discourse between fans over which movie is the best. Here are all the "Scream" movies ranked from best to worst.
"Scream" spoilers ahead!
"Scream" (1996)
Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, was the original final girl. She appeared in all the "Scream" movies except for the sixth.
Sidney and her friends lived in a small town. She received a phone call on the anniversary of her mother’s death, serving as the audience's introduction to Ghostface, one of the most popular horror movie villains.
The reveal of who Ghostface is a surprise in every movie, but they do not compare to the surprise the audience had in the first movie. Watching the killers be revealed as two of the main characters is a plot twist that "Scream" fans would grow to expect after the first film.
The originality and new idea allowed the film to become such a huge success and end up building a series from it. This, and the nostalgia of the original, set it apart as the best movie in the franchise.
"Scream VI" (2023)
"Scream VI" continued the story of Tara (Jenna Ortega) and her sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) as they moved to New York City, only to be followed there by Ghostface. They were introduced as the newer main cast of the movies in the fifth "Scream" (2022).
This film was very fast paced and climatic, with fight scenes in the air over alleyways, on crowded subways and shocking deaths with a touch of gore. This coupled with the fake death and first appearance of three Ghostfaces make this the second-best movie in the series.
In this movie, the audience saw two Ghostfaces doing the iconic knife swipe in sync. This is the only time in the entire franchise two Ghostfaces have been seen on screen at the same time.
This film also saw one of the original Ghostfaces, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) make a cameo, since his daughter was one the current targets.
"Scream 4" (2011)
This was the first "Scream" movie in over a decade, and it came in with a bang. This movie was centered around Sidney and her cousin, Jill (Emma Roberts).
This movie takes place during Sidney’s book tour, where she returns to her home of Woodsboro on the anniversary of the killings, only for them to start back up again.
The Ghostface reveals of this movie make it the next best ranked. Jill, the killer, took out her accomplice and framed her friends for the murder so she could become the final girl. Her motivation came from jealousy of Sidney’s “fame.”
The betrayal to Charlie (Rory Culkin), the other Ghostface, and her own cousin, Sidney, brought the shock factor back to the series. Another example was having a main character, Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox), who appeared in the first "Scream," be attacked.
"Scream 2" (1997)
After the death of Billy Loomis and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), Sidney assumed she was safe and wanted to move on. However, a spoof of the murders was turned into one of the most popular films in their world, entitled “Stab,” which is a play on the "Scream" movies themselves.
This causes one of the most popular deaths in the series, when a woman is killed at a movie screening. But, since everyone in the audience was dressed as Ghostface for the movie, they assumed it was all just for show.
The killers in this movie ended up being Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant) and Nancy Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), who was getting revenge for her son. Not only was this a surprise to the audience, but it continued the story from the original film of families wanting to get revenge.
"Scream" (2022)
This was the fifth movie, but retitled "Scream" because there was another decade break between movies. With a focus shift to a mostly new cast, with the main characters still returning. The movie introduced and was centered around Tara and Sam, who returned for movie six.
It was harder for fans to get as connected to this movie as the shift focused to new characters, but the kills and the killers still surprised the audience and drew them back in.
Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison) and her boyfriend Ricky Kirsch (Jack Quaid) became Ghostfaces. Because of their obsession with the "Stab" movies, they wanted to make more good “content” for the films.
The most shocking twist was when fan favorite, Dewey Riley (David Arquette), the town cop from all the original movies was murdered by Amber, before Gale got her revenge by killing her.
"Scream 7" (2026)
This movie brought back Sidney, who has grown and moved away with her daughter, who she wants to protect. Ghostface, of course, calls her again, claiming to be her old friend Stu, who was thought to be dead after being revealed as Ghostface in the first movie.
The film was very family centered as Sidney tried to protect her daughter, Tatum (Isabel May), who quickly became Ghostface's new target.
The reveal ended up falling flat after all the teasing and build up to Stu, only to reveal the killer as Sidney’s neighbor, Jessica, and the movie ended with Sidney and Tatum taking her down.
"Scream 3" (2000)
This movie fell flat compared to the others. It was centered around the spoof “Stab” movies as Ghostface was terrorizing the Hollywood set of their film.
What makes this film different from the others was having one Ghostface act alone, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), who was also the director of the movie.
"Scream 3" had more humor than gore, which was an attempt to be sensitive as this movie came out not long after the Columbine shooting.
Overall, the "Scream" franchise does not have a bad movie. Each one proves to be different from the last, and fans can expect the series to be picked up for another film.
