Every movie is someone’s favorite movie. If you are a fan of the Scream franchise and see your personal favorite movie ranked at or near the bottom of this list…don’t take it personally. Every movie has value.
Spoilers for the series and individual films are unavoidable.
6. Scream 3
Ghostface Does Hollywood
Having survived 2 Ghostface killing sprees, Sidney Prescott has removed herself from society. Living in isolation and working for a hotline crisis center Sidney hasn’t so much put the past behind her as run away from it completely. When murders start happening again, this time on the set of the latest Stab movie(franchise within a franchise based on the events of the Scream movies) the old gang must reunite once again to discover who is behind the mask this time and put a stop to them once and for all.
The consensus worst movie in the series, Scream 3 feels the least like a Scream movie. That doesn’t have to be a bad thing but it also doesn’t feel like a good movie. The main cast is given less to work with and Ghostface’s motive is easily the worst of the franchise. Still…there’s an inspired performance by Parker Posey and a terrific set piece staged on the movie set version of Woodsboro we know from the original. It’s worth an occasional chuckle which is actually damning it with faint praise since it so badly wants to be a comedy. It misses the mark both on that front and on understanding what the tone of a Scream movie is. The most interesting aspect of the movie is that it’s ahead of it’s time on the sexual politics and abuse of Hollywood. And that a movie secretly about that was produced by…Harvey Weinstein.
Simply put this is the one entry in the franchise that doesn’t understand what the franchise is. It’s a whodunnit with a disappointing reveal. It’s a genre commentary with nothing new to say. This becomes less of a surprise when you find out that series creator Kevin Williamson sat this one out. Wes Craven returns to direct and that actually might be to its detriment in a weird way. It’s a bad movie too competently made to be a fun bad watch.
On the bright side…compared to the worst entry in most slasher franchises…this is actually pretty good.
Check out our full Scream 3 review
5. Scream VI
Ghostface Takes Manhattan
The latest entry in the Scream series takes a page out of Scream 2‘s book and relies on bigger spectacle and more character development. The surviving new characters from Scream (2022) just can’t escape their past…or a knife wielding Ghostface.
Featuring an opening sequence with one of the most stunning moments of the series and set pieces that rank among the best of the series…it may seem strange to see Scream VI ranked second from the bottom. That’s a product of the overall quality of the series as a whole. Most franchises would die to have an entry this strong…especially for a sixth go around. The truth is that all but one Scream movie is great. But something has to be last even in that category.
The biggest issue facing this entry is that it feels trapped between honoring the past and building a new future. But fresh kills and some great performances make the whole thing work on a high level anyway. It remains to be seen if the series will ever fully take bold steps that this one hints at…if they do…there’s a good chance that entry will rank much higher on future lists.
Check out our full Scream VI review
4. Scream 2
Ghostface Goes to College
Perhaps it’s controversial to rank this beloved sequel so low in the series…but please understand…5 of the 6 Scream movies are great movies. We find Sidney at college when a movie based on the original Ghostface killings, and subsequent new Ghostface murders, threaten to destroy the new life she is trying to build. Scream 2 does everything you expect in a sequel…it’s bigger, it’s louder, it’s more. And it’s surprisingly great given that it was written, produced and released within a year of the original.
The biggest fault of the movie is in no way it’s fault. Scream hit like a hurricane the year prior with its clever genre commentary, use of new technology and deadeye aim at the generation of teens it’s pointed at. With only a year between movies there simply wasn’t any new ground to cover on any of those fronts. In a weird way that works well enough here though as Williamson’s script is smart enough to point it’s purpose at the one thing they could deliver…and the one thing sequels are known for…more. And more is what you get. It never becomes completely overstuffed but it’s constantly walking a line between too much and just right.
Check out our full Scream 2 review
3. Scream 4
Homecoming
Scream 4 feels destined to be an outlier. The original movie was so successful that it spawned two immediate sequels. Scream (2022) was a surprise hit that relaunched it into a continuing series. And then there’s part 4. Living in this pocket of time 11 years after the original trilogy, and 11 years before however many the new series spawns. And thank God it it’s there.
Sidney returns to Woodsboro for the first time since the original murders…and you’ll never believe this but Ghostface is back. Again. Our surviving heroes must work together, again, to solve the whodunnit and put an end to the killing spree. Again. If that sounds like it’s talking the movie down, it shouldn’t. Unlike Part 3…Scream 4 knows exactly what it is. Released at a time when every horror franchise under the sun was receiving a glossy Hollywood remake…Scream 4 has acquired a perfect target. Several perfect targets, actually. The rise of the millennial has given Craven and Williamson a new audience to skewer (both figuratively and literally) and new technology like live streaming has given them a new way to work in a (then) modern retelling of the Scream story.
Scream 4 turns the reboot motif into a killer motive. It mercilessly targets a fame obsessed culture. It also has the confidence to present beloved franchise characters not as we remember them but as they would be at this stage of their lives. It also future proofs the franchise from inevitable full on reboot. Craven and Williamson get a say, perhaps decades before it happens if ever, in the value they put into anyone who tries.
Check out our full Scream 4 review
2. Scream (2022)
Requel Rules
The toughest call in these rankings was between Part 4 and Scream (2022). Honestly it feels like Scream (2022) is cheating. It’s a knowing, confident love letter to the original masterpiece. It gets the nod for second place because it could have gone so wrong so easily and it never does. Installing an entire new creative team and a new cast of main characters (this is the first in the series that isn’t actually about Sidney Prescott) Scream (2022) takes on the new fad in genre film…the requel.
Samantha Carpenter returns to her old home in Woodsboro after her estranged sister is attacked by Ghostface. With the help of legacy characters from the previous movie she has to solve the mystery of the newest attacks while dealing with her secret connection to the original murders.
Positioning the film as a knowing requel, or legacy sequel, gives it a brilliant sandbox to play in as they comment on the best target at their disposal…itself. If Scream 4 was about reboots…Scream (2022) is about Scream. The rules laid out are the rules of the original film. Not the rules given in the movie…the actual rules you learn from the movie. It targets toxic fandom and using the Stab franchise to the greatest effect in the series. Featuring a series best performance from David Arquette and a Sidney Prescott who has seen it all and is all out of fucks…Scream (2022) does justice to the movie it is unabashedly named after. And it even takes the time to explain why they chose that name.
Check out our full Scream (2022) review
1. Scream
Perfecting A Subgenre
Any other movie but Scream listed atop a ranking of Scream movies is missing an important point. Scream invented the language that the movies that follow it are using. It’s as important as it is impressive.
One year after the murder of her mother, Sidney Prescott becomes the target of a masked killer whose rampage is tied to her past.
Scream has a lot of tricks in its bag. It’s lulling you with the rules of the past while setting up something wholly original. Its pitch perfect cast of characters grew up watching the types of movies they now find themselves trying to survive…and keep a running commentary on all the twists and turns. This movie features a wild third act that is largely scored by the music from Halloween as the movie plays on a tv in the background. Cell phones allowing people to call you from anywhere may be a common thing now but it was terrifying in 1996. Featuring one of the best final acts in horror film history, Scream reveals its greatest trick…a post killer reveal that somehow manages to elevate the movie even further. The thing about whodunnits is that they almost always feel like a let down…the ride to the reveal is the more worthy part. The denouement is usually nothing more than perfunctory clean up. The Scream series itself has more ups than downs in this department…but none of them can touch the original.
The best way to close out the Scream rankings is to give a little space to the way it all began. The tone for the entire franchise is set with a thirteen minute long opening scene that rivals anything put on film in the genre. Drew Barrymore is slowly toyed with by an unknown caller until it escalates into all out terror. It sets the viewer up to understand exactly what they’re in for. Characters that know and discuss pop culture, specifically horror…dialog that is both funny and blunt…a killer that is ahead of the curve and inevitable violent ends. After 13 minutes you knew you were in for something great.
Check out our full Scream review
Buy Scream 1-3 on Blu-Ray from Amazon.com
