There is no truly terrible or even all that difficult to sit through Scream movie. Some are better than others by a long shot, but this isn’t a series that has a Halloween: Resurrection or a Jason X or an A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010). This is a series that thrives on being smart. Of course, it’s also a series that thrives on an iconic mask for its killers, an always-fun guessing game, and impeccable chemistry between the lead cast. In fact, that latter element is so integral that the upcoming Scream 7 is bringing back not just the surviving original characters, but some of the deceased ones, as well.
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But are the earlier films—where Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers, and David Arquette’s Dewey Riley were the main stars of the show—really the very best or have any of the more recent reboot-sequels given the classics a run for their money? Let’s dive in.
6) Scream 3
Coming off of two of the best franchise horror movies of the ’90s, if not the two very best, Scream 3 had a lot to live up to. It didn’t succeed in that, but it’s hard to put the blame on any particular set of shoulders. If anything, this is a film that should have been delayed a few years. However, while that may have resulted in a movie that wasn’t feeling the pressures of Columbine’s fallout (not to mention it could have gotten Kevin Williamson back with a delay), it would have run the risk of losing some of the first two films’ audience.
Regardless, what we have is what we have and for over a decade Scream 3 was the highly disappointing end of a formerly great franchise. Subsequent sequels have removed the sting of its tameness and predictability, but it is still undoubtedly the weakest entry of the IP’s history. It all just feels like a watered-down version of the first two movies, in terms of violence and wit in the screenplay.
Stream Scream 3 on Peacock.
5) Scream 4
Scream 4 ended up being Craven’s final film, and while horror fans are grateful that he got to return to the IP after the disappointment that was Scream 3, it’s not as if this 2011 movie is leagues better. The biggest issue is that it has a far too glossy, overexposed look that really deflates any attempt it makes at building tension. Then there’s the opening scene, which is just one layer of meta too many.
Even still, there are two aspects of the movie that are critically important to the franchise as a whole. First, there’s Hayden Panettiere’s Kirby Reed, who was truly the successor Jamie Kennedy’s Randy Meeks deserved. Then there’s Emma Roberts’ performance as the villainous Jill Roberts, which is every bit as unhinged as was required of her.
Stream Scream 4 on Paramount+.
4) Scream VI
Scream (2022) was one of the best modern slasher movies, so Radio Silence’s Big Apple Ghostface movie, Scream VI, had big shoes to fill. The good news is it did a better job than Scream 3 of filling big shoes. The not so good news is that it’s otherwise a middling and often jumbled entry into the canon.
Regardless, the directors do an admirable job of bringing Ghostface into the big city and making that seem like a plausible concept. The killers may be a little predictable, but the film benefits from an aura of genuine danger, which is something not even the 2022 movie had. It’s also better than the 2022 film in another regard, which is Melissa Barrera’s performance as Sam Carpenter. She seemed a bit uncomfortable in her franchise debut but here her work plays as far more organic, as if she’s grown into the role. It’s just unfortunate this also marked her (and Jenna Ortega’s) end in the franchise.
Stream Scream VI on Paramount+
3) Scream (2022)
Like with Scream 4, there were over ten years between Radio Silence’s Scream and the previous entry. Which was, well, Scream 4. But in the case of Scream (2022), the wait was very much worth it.
From the opening scene featuring Jenna Ortega’s sharp Tara Carpenter to the reveal of the film’s two excellent killers (one of whom would soon win an Oscar), Scream just works. It’s smart, tense, funny, and the perfect mix of the old guard and the new blood. It even manages to carry the spirit of Craven’s original film as well as a movie made over 25 years later can. If there is one major flaw in the film it’s the whole Sam Carpenter is the daughter of Billy Loomis thing, which really just comes across as stone-cold silly.
Stream Scream (2022) on Paramount+.
2) Scream 2
It may feature a scene that stretches suspension of disbelief to its breaking point, but overall Scream 2 is the best horror sequel of the ’90s. It’s also perhaps the biggest cinematic success story of the decade, considering the script leak and quick turnaround between the release date of the first film and second.
The lead trio of Campbell, Arquette, and Cox all feel fully comfortable in their roles, both Laurie Metcalf and Timothy Olyphant are wonderful as the villains, and the college setting allows the film to feel different from the first film even while its visual aura and barely aged cast members help keep it feeling like a perfect companion piece to it. Toss in an opening scene that is nearly as strong as the Casey Becker opening that came before, as well as a wonderfully tense stalk-and-chase scene featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Scream 2 is a sequel that delivered. This was also the point where the film reached its meta peak. Having the Stab movies become a thing was both perfectly in line with the young franchise’s attitude and the perfect opportunity to comment on violence in cinema (which was exactly the concern raised by this film and its predecessor).
Stream Scream 2 on Peacock.
1) Scream
The Friday the 13th, Halloween, and A Nightmare on Elm Street franchises tried to keep on chugging through the ’90s, but the results were all critical flops, commercial disappointments, or both. Enter Scream, which was the spark of energy the slasher subgenre needed to remain relevant, entertaining, scary, and profitable (it even helped Michael Myers come back successfully just after with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later). Audiences had seen the stalk-and-slash type of pseudo-narrative carried out numerous times with numerous villains, some of them iconic, most of them not so, wielding the weapons. Scream had that too, but it also had a sense of humor and a lens aimed squarely at the tropes of the subgenre.
Then there are the things that have already been mentioned several times throughout this list. Namely, the effective hook of the mystery at its core and the chemistry between Campbell, Arquette, and Cox. In fact, the first film has the best all-around chemistry of the entire franchise. Campbell and Rose McGowan are fun together, Jamie Kennedy and Matthew Lillard are fun together, W. Earl Brown and Cox have some hilarious interactions and so on. Furthermore, as Billy Loomis and Stu Macher, still the two most iconic killers of the franchise, Skeet Ulrich and the aforementioned Lillard couldn’t be any better. They’re two different personalities bounding off one another to a degree that makes their twisted friendship feel very real. Lastly, there’s the opening scene, which is devastating no matter how many times you watch it. Scream is a masterpiece, and the second-best film of Craven’s career (if anything, it’s more of a tie with A Nightmare on Elm Street than a silver medal finisher).
Stream Scream on Peacock.
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