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The Scream franchise is getting a reboot next year after what is a surprisingly long layoff. One of the biggest reasons why it's getting that reboot is because the Scream franchise in general is one of the most important in the horror genre of the last 30 years. While people talk about monsters like Jason and Freddy and Michael Myers being the most well-known villains in horror movies, it's quite easy to recognize the mask the killer(s) wore in all of the movies and the television show.
There's another reason why the Scream franchise is considered such an important franchise in the horror genre. The series managed to somehow take itself seriously as a slasher flick, while also not taking itself seriously. It was also an interesting mirror into the entire genre in general. The characters both knew they were in a horror movie-like scenario, while also talking about everything that makes the genre quite predictable. By going about its own villains and victims that way, it managed to capture audiences in a completely different way, while still introducing a mystery that people wanted to guess at and eventually solve while also offering up plenty of scares and slashing and blood. Of course, because the franchise managed to grow beyond its first film by quite a lot, it's time to figure out just what were the best and what were the worst in the Scream franchise.
5. Scream 3
it should be pointed out that none of the Scream movies were actually all that bad. So a ranking of the films and television shows has to have something in last place in order to kick off the list. This particular installment finds the "dead last" ranking on this list mainly because it was just a little too goofy and a little too self-aware. This particular installment's plot took audiences to a movie inside a movie, where the characters were making a Scream movie, though in-universe the films were called Stab.
This film wasn't the first time Stab was mentioned, but it was the first time viewers got to see actors shooting the flick. It turned out that Ghost Face decided it wanted to take out the people who were working on the movie as they tried to figure out exactly why they were being taken out one by one.
The meta of this Scream was decent but a little too on the nose. The actors were also mostly a little too vapid. While the flick was supposed to be poking fun at them too, the franchise is much better when it's a little more subtle about what it's poking fun at. Still, anyone who wants to do a watch-through of the entire series in preparation for the next movie coming out next year shouldn't skip this one, there is some canon that's worth finding out.
4. Scream 2
One of the things that made the first Scream so good is that it put the horror genre on its ear because it was so original. Scream 2 illustrated beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's hard to be original two times in a row. The sequel picked up a few months after the end of the first film and this time Sidney and the rest of the survivors of the first film were starting to put their lives back together. For Neve Campbell's character, that meant going off to college.
The only problem is that someone wanted another crack at killing the girl at the center of the franchise. Part of the problem was that the formula was indeed the same as the first film. However, it was still good to see the main characters of the first film make a return. At least the ones who actually survived the original. That's why this film stays out of the last spot on the list.
3. The Scream TV Show
About four years after the final Scream movie aired, MTV apparently decided that the plot behind the franchise was one that was perfect for a television series. In fact, the Scream television series was likely better than most of the movies, as long as viewers decide to ignore the second season.
The first season of the series had a fantastic cast of characters that allowed watchers to really get invested in who lived or died even more than the films because they were around longer and the show did a deeper dive into their backstories. This is only third on the list because there was, indeed, a second season and it was quite a bit worse than the first one. Unlike the now long-running series, it turns out the show was only good in a short burst.
2. Scream 4
Scream 4 was kind of a reboot, without being a reboot and it actually handled things very well. It feels like this movie was always meant to wrap things up forever, considering it basically brought everything full circle. Because Hollywood seemingly doesn't like to leave money on the table, the series is getting a reboot over a decade after this movie hit theaters.
Scream 4 did quite a bit that the first film did well, including introducing a fun group of teens and quite the misdirect at the end. That Neve Campbell returned one more time was also a nice touch, especially when it's revealed exactly why this chapter was tied to the first.
1. Scream
The granddaddy of them all, it would be a crime if the original Scream didn't make the top of this list. The film not only had a fun group of teens that the audiences could actually care about, it turned out that many of the actors in this film went on to bigger things and made quite the careers for themselves. At least most of them had a very successful run during the 1990s.
This is the movie that put the franchise in the league of other great slasher films like Halloween while also paying homage to those that came before it. Here's hoping the reboot is able to accomplish at least some of that.
