Scream Movies Ranked: Every Film From Best to Worst

I ranked the Scream movies by how well each one scares, how well it plays with the rules of the slasher, and how well it sits in the series. This is opinion, labelled as such. Facts such as budgets and grosses come from Box Office Mojo and The Numbers, and I use them as context only. Nothing below names a killer, so you can read it before you watch any of the seven films. If you are still deciding where to start, the scream movies in order page lays out both the release order and the chronological order, and the Scream movies hub covers the series as a whole.

The best Scream movie is Scream (1996), directed by Wes Craven. The opening is the benchmark: Casey Becker is home alone in Woodsboro, California, when a phone call about scary films turns into a deadly game. A stranger on the line, a boyfriend in trouble and a masked figure outside make a set piece that the rest of the series keeps chasing. The film earned $173 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, on a $15 million budget, according to The Numbers. It also lives up to its own rules, and the scares land because the characters talk about horror conventions and then cannot escape them. I rank it first for the plain reason that every sequel borrows its structure.

1. Scream (1996). Craven keeps the camera close, the town small and Ghostface close enough to be frightening. Sidney Prescott, whose mother was murdered a year earlier, makes the grief feel real under the jokes.

2. Scream 2. Scream 2 (1997), directed by Wes Craven, opens in a movie theater showing Stab, the film based on the Woodsboro murders. It then moves to Windsor College in Ohio, where Sidney is a student. At 120 minutes it is longer than the original, and it spends that time well, with a cast that includes Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf and Sarah Michelle Gellar. It made $172 million worldwide on a $24 million budget. In my opinion, the theater opening is the second best scare in the series.

3. Scream VI. Scream VI (2023), directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, moves the story to New York City. Sam and Tara Carpenter live with the twins Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin, and the killings spread across the city rather than staying in empty Woodsboro houses. Gale Weathers returns as a bestselling author and Kirby Reed as an FBI agent. It earned $167 million worldwide on a $35 million budget, and it took the franchise opening record from Scream 3, according to Deadline.

4. Scream (2022). Scream (2022), also by Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, brings back Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox and David Arquette alongside a new group led by Sam Carpenter and Tara Carpenter. The attack on Tara at the start is as tense as anything in the modern run. It earned $138 million worldwide on a $24 million budget. It ranks below Scream VI because it leans harder on the original, and the story of the 1996 film is never far from the frame.

5. Scream 4. Scream 4 (2011), directed by Wes Craven, brings Sidney back to Woodsboro fifteen years later on a book tour, and the killings start the same week. Evidence turns up in her rental car, and her cousin Jill and Jill's friends start getting threatening phone calls. It earned $97 million worldwide on a $40 million budget, the lowest of the seven. Perhaps that figure is why it gets dismissed, but I think it is sharper and funnier than its reputation.

6. Scream 7. Scream 7 (2026), directed by Kevin Williamson, follows Sidney Evans, who has built a quiet family life far from Woodsboro. Her daughter Tatum becomes the target of a new Ghostface. It is the highest earner in the series, with $214 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, and it was the first Scream film released in IMAX, according to Paramount. The return of Neve Campbell is the draw, and she gives the film its best scenes. Neve Campbell had left Scream VI over pay, per Good Morning America, so having her back matters. For me, the plot is thinner than the cast deserves.

7. Scream 3. Scream 3 (2000), directed by Wes Craven, moves the series to Hollywood, where a studio is making Stab 3 and a new Ghostface starts murdering the cast. Screen Daily credits Kruger with the script after Kevin Williamson left, and The Hollywood Reporter links the shift away from the earlier tone to the aftermath of Columbine. It cost $40 million and earned $162 million worldwide. It also held the franchise opening record until Scream VI. I rank it last because a film built around the making of Stab 3 in Hollywood cannot be as scary as one set in a small town.

The scariest Scream movie is Scream (1996), and Scream 2 is the runner up. The 1996 opening works because it is slow: a phone call, a rising threat and a home with every door a possible entrance. Scream 2 does the same job in a crowded theater, where Maureen and Phil are murdered during an early screening of Stab. Scream (2022) and Scream VI are more violent, but I find them less frightening because they cut faster. Scariest lists tend to favor one pace, and mine favors patience.

Scream 3 is worse than Scream 7 in this ranking, so Scream 3 is last and Scream 7 is sixth. Scream 7 has a clear emotional center in Sidney and her daughter, and it returns to Woodsboro, where the series works best. Scream 3 has a few good lines and a Hollywood joke or two, but the story drifts and the stakes feel smaller than the budget. That being said, Scream 7 is not far ahead, and a reader who prefers cameos and star power could flip them.

Critic and audience scores shift over time, so no single number settles which film is the lowest rated. The one I find hardest to defend is Scream 3, and the one that was met with the weakest turnout in theaters was Scream 4, whose $97 million worldwide gross is the smallest in the series. A weak gross and a weak reputation are different things. If you ask fans which film they dislike most, the answer shifts with the person, and I will not claim a single most hated film.

Scream 8 is in development at Spyglass, with no release date or director announced as of November 2026. When it arrives, I will place it here. Until then, see the Scream 8 page for what is reported, and use the Scream box office page if you want to compare the grosses I mention above. For cast context, the Scream cast page lists who appears in each film.