Ranking Every ‘Scream’ Movie–Where Does Your Favorite Land?
As with any horror subgenre, certain movies remain permanently tied to the conventional slasher film.
With past examples including the likes of Halloween, The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, and A Nightmare on Elm Street, slasher films maintain their own eclectic history, remaining an integral part of horror history for the past 50+ years.
Whereas most slasher franchises only grow worse over time, however, the Scream series continues to hold onto its elite place in contemporary pop culture, remaining every bit as relevant today as it did in the late ‘90s and early 2000s. From the original Wes Craven classic to its most recent sequels, here is every entry in the Scream franchise, ranked in order from worst to best.
6. Scream 3 (2000)
The fact that Scream 3 is often described as the “worst” entry in the series should tell audiences all they need to know about the franchise’s shockingly high quality. Cleverly satirizing the tropes and stereotypes surrounding the ending of a trilogy, Scream 3 also skewers the traditional Hollywood studio system, veering more and more into self-referential satire than ever before. The results might not always match the franchise’s earliest installments, but on its own, Scream 3 remains a genuinely engaging slasher in and of itself.
5. Scream VI (2023)
The most recent entry in the Scream continuity, Scream VI also continues to explore Sam and Tara’s story following the events of 2022’s Scream. The first (and thus far only) sequel without Neve Campbell’s involvement, Scream VI does a masterful job casting Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega as memorable horror leads in their own right. Toss in returning appearances from Courtney Cox and Hayden Panettiere, and you have the makings to a fantastic slasher film every bit as good as its immediate predecessor.
4. Scream 4 (2011)
At the time of its release, most people were quick to characterize Scream 4 as a disappointing sequel best left forgotten. In the decade and a half since, viewers have taken on a far more appreciative view of this underrated 2011 slasher. Rebooting the Scream franchise after 11 long years of inactivity, Scream 4’s intelligent exploration of Internet culture and online stardom establishes it as a film well and truly ahead of its time, perfectly tying into the high-brow atmosphere of the earlier Scream movies.
3. Scream (2022)
Scream 4’s initially poor reviews may have prevented any further Scream films from entering the fray for the next decade, but 2022’s Scream reboot proved the finished results were well worth the wait. Continuing Sidney, Gale, and Dewey’s stories from the previous installment, Scream also eloquently introduces audiences to a wave of compelling new characters, including Melissa Barrera’s haunted Sam and Jenna Ortega’s tough-talking Tara. Breathing fresh life into the Scream franchise, it’s assuredly among the greatest slashers of the 2020s yet.
2. Scream 2 (1997)
In a genre known for lesser and lesser sequels, Scream 2 somehow rises above the limitations of a horror sequel, living up to the extreme heights set by its original precursor. In true Scream fashion, Scream 2’s headier atmosphere and meta-aware approach paves the way to an endlessly ambitious follow-up to Scream – one every bit as funny, scary, and delightfully entertaining as the first entry in the series.
1. Scream (1996)
If there was ever such a thing as a perfect horror film, 1996’s Scream has to be it. Between its sharp writing, vivid performances, meticulous direction, and chilling score, Scream is that rare slasher film where literally everything is as good as can be, existing hand-in-hand with other notable slashers like Halloween, Psycho, and A Nightmare on Elm Street (all films not-so-coincidentally referenced in Scream’s main storyline). A laugh-out-loud teen comedy on the one hand and a postmodern horror film on the other, Scream rips away the foremost cliches surrounding the slasher genre, rebuilding the then-formulaic horror vehicle from the ground up. Without it, who knows what the current state of slasher films might look like – never mind horror or modern mass culture itself.
