The Ultimate Ranking of the "Scream" Franchise
Sunday, January 16, 2022 at 4:00PM By: Christopher James
What is the best Scream movie? Who is the best Ghostface? What movie has the best opening? Read to find out!
The Scream franchise isn’t just a top-notch series of slasher films. It’s a chronicle of the changing tropes within the horror genre. Over 26 years, the five Scream films have expertly scared the pants off audiences, while also commenting on sequel, trilogy and reboot culture. The fifth film, confusingly or pointedly just titled Scream, opens this week in theaters. Glenn Dunks already gave us his full review. Like him, I’m also a huge fan of the series and excitedly binged the franchise again this week with friends.
With every new film, I fell more and more in love with the saga of scrupulous reporter Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox), the dopey yet charming Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and the ultimate “final girl” at the center of it all, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell). In the background of all the movies is the "Stab" franchise-within-a-franchise, a slasher series that's always about the previous film and continues to mythologize Sidney Prescott and the rest of the Woodsboro gang. All of the films, do a great job introducing new characters, new kills and new tricks for the shifty, gumby-esque Ghostface.
So what’s the ranking of the five Scream movies? SPOILERS ahead for the first four films (we’ll refrain from spoilers for the 2022 film, but if you want to go in super cold, don’t read yet!).
Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Scream, Wes Craven 