Every Scream Movie Ranked (Including Scream 7)

Almost thirty years ago, a new slasher movie was released at a time when horror films had fallen into a second tier of interest by both the public and Hollywood studios. Released on December 20, 1996, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s Scream made a major splash, surprising audiences with its twists and turns, with the ways it toyed with horror movie tropes and continuity, and the perfect cast that delivered a “real” take on the idea of a killer with a mask and a knife. The success of the film caused a movie that was eager to make fun of horror movies to then go down the well-worn path of many other successful horror movies: franchising.

At one point it seemed like that potential for franchising was over, with the Scream trilogy being a sacred piece of horror lore for over a decade. In the time since then, though, Scream has grown into a bigger beast than ever could have been predicted. Now, the film has seven feature films under its belt, more than other slasher mainstays like Candyman and Psycho, and matching the original Chucky continuity. With that many Screams now released, how do they all stack up with each other?

7) Scream 6

There are some decent ideas in Scream 6 that immediately make it seem like it has a solid foundation. Not only does it begin with a pair of Ghostface killers whose plan is quickly thwarted by a DIFFERENT set of Ghostface killers, but it also brings the setting to New York. These two things are big swings, but in the end, prove to be the only real ideas that the sequel actually had, and they’re old hat by the 15-minute mark. Scream 6 commits the biggest cardinal sins of a film in the franchise, which lands it at the bottom of the list: it’s not scary, has no sense of humor, and lacks a guiding ethos for its place in the genre. Furthermore, the Ghostface reveal is a tired one, but most importantly, the movie is just plain boring.

6) Scream 7

The deck was stacked against Scream 7 before a frame was shot, given the behind-the-scenes drama that forced major pivots for the sequel. That said, the film didn’t do any favors for itself by delivering a stale and tired sequel that not only plays it too safe, but doesn’t actually bring anything new to the table for the series. It’s worth highlighting that, as lame as the script and story are in the movie, it does still have Neve Campbell in the lead role, and her magnetic presence alone is enough to make this not the worst film in the series.

Scream 7 lacks a lot of the qualities that make the best movies in the series so memorable, completely eschewing any sense of meta-commentary or even flipping the script on tired tropes of the horror genre. In fact, the film leans on its tropes simply for the sake of “if they don’t happen, there’s no movie.” With the latest film, Scream has become the thing it once ruthlessly mocked. Any film this late into the franchise that promises “It has all led to this” is, in fact, leading nowhere.

5) Scream 3

Scream 3 is supposed to be a little wobbly, with a concept that is deliberately sweaty and puts the structure of the series to the test. At the time, the film’s big reveal that a secret big bad had orchestrated the entire trilogy was in keeping with the expectations of movie lore being made up on the spot. The problem, of course, is that there wasn’t much to go along with this beyond the joke of “a bad movie would do this, and now we are too, get it?” What it lacked in cohesion for that narrative idea, though, it made up for in the iconic cast of the series, who continued to give great performances. The reason the Scream series managed to stick around as long as it has is because of stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courteney Cox, all of whom elevate this material as much as they can. They’re not superhuman, though, and parts of the film haven’t held up to time (some elements, however, aged well)

4) Scream (2022)

As prescient as Scream 4 was about movie remakes and legacysequels, the fifth film in the series proved that the time between entries allowed for a new conversation to be born, one about the fandom around these things. Scream (2022) does have a killer third-act, one that walks the path of a legacysequel in respectful and inventive ways but also features one of the best monologues of the entire series with Jack Quaid’s killer reveal.

The trouble is that, on the whole, there is nothing that is distinct about Scream (2022) to elevate it above the other films. In fact, its biggest hindrances are being too reverential for the series as a whole, with corny ideas that go against the meta-commentary that Scream was built on and lean too far into real horror tropes. Scream (2022) also opens an awful Pandora’s box for the entire series, venturing into the supernatural with Billy Loomis’ return as, essentially, a Force Ghost from Star Wars.

3) Scream 4

Over a decade before Scream (2022) confirmed there was an ounce of gas left in the tank, Scream 4 managed to prove that the legacy-sequel idea could really carry the franchise. Though the series had been dormant for a decade, the horror genre had seen a resurgence in remakes and reboots, leaving the door open for a new piece of commentary that wasn’t even on the table when the original trilogy was created.

As a result, Scream 4 is a surprising film that not only arrives with something to say about where the genre is at the time of its release but proves that the simple formula distilled in the first movie can still work. Scream 4 was ahead of its time in many respects and has actually aged like fine wine compared to other movies that have since copied its formula.

2) Scream 2

In a world where the first Scream is as perfect as it is, the fact that its sequel is not only a great film but one that manages to fully understand the assignment in lampooning a horror movie sequel is a minor miracle. The only things holding Scream 2 back from being the best are that it cannot exist without the first, and its final reveal of the killers pales in comparison to the first movie, including a mediocre twist that would prove to be painfully influential on the franchise (surprise, the killer is related to the last killer). To that end, though, Scream 2 ranks among one of the best horror movie sequels of all time, one that doesn’t trample on the original and manages actually to build on it in surprising ways.

1) Scream (1996)

There’s truly no other choice. The original Scream not only created a template that the entire rest of the franchise has tried to replicate (and largely failed to live up to), but which fundamentally changed the face of the entire horror genre for years. Prior to its release, horror films had fallen out of favor entirely, but the meta-twist that Scream put on the genre totally changed horror films and made the genre both accessible again. Furthermore, it forced the blueprint of horror to change in its own image, with Scream copycats becoming the backbone of the genre for years afterward.

The best thing about Scream is that it remains timeless and has aged gracefully, with a top-tier script, perfect cast, and Wes Craven’s career-defining direction. The film plays just as well now in the decades since it arrived as it did when it premiered. Horror films continue to fall into all the tropes that Scream called out, and there has not been a slasher movie remotely as smart as this one in the thirty years since it was released. Accept no substitutes.

Every Ghostface Killer in Scream, Ranked