JayMikeFred 06: Scream
This is post #2 of the Jay-Mike-Fred: A Horror Compendium franchise examination posts, complete with guest reviewer, Nate (my son)!
This post will focus on Scream! This will include the original trilogy, the fourth semi-standalone film, and the two newer “torch-passing” films. The TV series is not included. Check out all horror films in ranking order on the Rankings page.
Scream (1996) - This is the classic that reinvigorated the horror genre through a combination of meta insight and sarcastic humor. It also misdirected us all by having two killers making us question everything we thought we had mentally solved leading up to the finale. We also added a new Final Girl to the pantheon and she just may be my favorite… Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell).
Nate’s Take: The best one! Phenomenal! This really jacked up my horror movie expectations.
Scream 2 (1997) - Continuing the story, the survivors leave Woodsboro, CA, and head to college in Ohio to start the next chapter of their lives. A new Ghostface has a different idea, though. The popularity of the first movie clearly influenced a lot of the casting of this new film with the addition of Timothy Olyphant, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Jerry O’Connell, Heather Graham, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Josh Jackson, Laurie Metcalf, Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi, Nancy O’Dell, Tori Spelling, and Luke Wilson in bit parts.
Nate’s Take: Not as great as the first but I still enjoyed it. Loved the Ghostface reveals!
Scream 3 (2000) - The survivors find themselves in Hollywood adjacent to the set of the latest Stab movie, a slasher series based on the killings in Woodsboro that we saw for the first time in the cold open of Scream 2. On the set, cast and crew are dropping like flies as Ghostface hunts down seemingly everyone.
Nate’s Take: I didn’t think this one had quite the same thrill as the first two. But I still loved the Ghostface reveal.
Scream 4 (2011) - Eleven years after the end of what was only intended to be a trilogy, we return to Woodsboro where Sydney is on a press tour in support of her memoir. But, guess what, so is Ghostface. Or another Ghostface, I should say. More new stars are added to the returning original cast and this cold open is one of the twistiest ever.
Nate’s Take: They really should’ve stopped after the original trilogy.
Scream, aka Scream V (2022) - Another eleven years jump and we see Scream tries to go the Star Wars and Indiana Jones route by doing a torch passing to a new crew of victims and slowly killing off the veteran characters. Plus we have the reintroduction of a veteran cast member, gone since the first film, in their signature role, but with a twist. The new cast is good, the killing of veterans is sad but kinda necessary, and the killers are decent.
Nate’s Take: Not a bad return. Not particularly great but I did like the “hallucinations.”
Scream VI (2023) - The weakest and most plot-hole-ridden film of the series finds themselves fifth movie survivors moving on to college in NYC. But Ghostface isn’t far behind and the reveal is… weird and forced and unnnecessary and unfathomably bad. Also bad is this is the first film to not star Neve Campbell in her signature role as Sidney Prescott due to failed salary negotiations. The film pays dearly for her absence.
Nate’s Take: This is the only one where I didn’t like the reveal. Too unbelievable.
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