 Scream has always been and will probably always be my favorite horror franchise, and it's one of those properties that I can ramble on and on about for years if you let me. So needless to say, I've been brimming with anticipation for the release of Scream 6, so much so that I've been rewatching the first 5 films a bit excessively. The last time I ranked Scream, I only ranked the first 4 films and the 3 television seasons. This time I will put less of an emphasis on the TV show since my thoughts haven't really changed much since the last video and I haven't rewatched them enough to really dive deep into those, but I will be touching on them and let's just get them right out of the way as out of the 8 iterations of Scream on the big and small screen, spoiler alert, those 3 seasons of the TV show are my least favorite. Coming in at number 8, we have Scream, the TV series season 3, also known as Scream Resurrection. Compared to my 2020 ranking, this is down one spot solely due to the fact that another, better Scream installment came out since then and managed to rank higher. This season gave us Kiki Palmer in the Scream franchise, but still managed to be a dumpster fire. The writing and a lot of the characters were painful, the backstories were uninteresting, and with the exception of maybe one or two memorable death scenes, this season of television has almost entirely left my memory. Someone at MTV decided to fire the showrunners of the first two seasons of the Scream TV series in favor of rebooting it, despite season 2 leaving a lot of loose threads that could have led to a climactic final season that could have sent those characters off on a better note. The cast in Scream Resurrection is surprisingly good though, but the dialogue is either too bland or too juvenile for any magic to really happen in terms of performances. Honestly it's rough, unmemorable, and the only installment in the franchise that I don't really recommend. I go way more in-depth about the troubled production of this season in my 2020 ranking of the franchise, so if you're interested in that, go back to the first 5 minutes of that ranking. But next up at number 7 I'm ranking Scream the TV series season 1. Also just down one spot compared to my last ranking due to the fact that Scream 5 happened. I was in high school when this came out and it's a teen drama aimed at high schoolers and it did what I wanted it to do at the time. In 2015 being a Scream fan meant that you had little to no hopes of a 5th film, especially with Wes Cravens at the time recent health troubles, so I was just happy to see any life in the franchise even if the product pales in comparison to the magic of the film series. Tragically Wes Craven would end up passing away during the airing of this first season, which makes his symbolic executive producer credit even more meaningful for the season. The characters introduced in season 1 are glued to the archetypes of the Scream franchise, but thanks to some talented performers, they definitely come into their own by the end of the season. The horror and the mystery of the season is decent, but I much prefer how they up their game in the second season, which brings us to number 6, Scream the TV series season 2. This one is down two spots than it was on my last list. It's still my favorite of the TV series, but I don't think of it as highly as I do any of the films nowadays. Like I said though, I haven't rewatched the TV series since my last ranking, which is something I will definitely do by the time I redo this video to account for Scream 6. Season 2 brings back the characters from season 1 and continues their development and story lines in a much more engaging manner. Where season 1 leaned into a cheesy and teen soap opera-esque tone often, season 2 raises the stakes and genuinely feels like it's taking more notes from the horror genre as a whole. It also has some new characters introduced that add a lot to the story, memorably the character of Zoe Vaughn. It also felt like it raised the stakes by killing off some characters that I wish would have made it out of season 2 alive back when I had hoped that I would see any of those characters again. If you're a sucker for a teen drama or a big enough Scream fan that you would want to complete the entirety of the franchise, I do recommend these first two seasons and it definitely doesn't try too hard to be like the films aside from sticking to its general premise. And I think it works in its favor that the plot and the characters operate in a separate universe than Sydney Prescott. It's got its own lore, it's got its own killers, but now let's get onto the reason that you're really here and that's my updated ranking of the films now that Scream 5 has had more than a year to marinate in my soul. This was a really tough decision this year, but my least favorite Scream film and the one that is taking my number 5 spot on this list is Scream 3. Scream 3 is equal to the position it was on my last ranking and it's still my least favorite Scream film, but I do think it's better than season 2 of the TV series, which wasn't the case in the last video. As you may know Scream 3 has a more comedic tone which sometimes borders the line of parody and this is largely due to the studio interference amid concerns over portraying violence after the Columbine shooting. While this context helps explain some of those goofier choices when compared to the more grounded films that came before and after this one, for me it doesn't really excuse the flaws that this movie has. It's also the first Scream film that was not written by Kevin Williamson, instead Aaron Krueger infamously pens this one, which I think explains why this film feels like it's coming from a slightly different perspective. The humor comes a lot from over-the-top performances and on-the-nose dialogue where the first two films rely more on conflicting character dynamics and meta-horror references as sprinkles of comedic relief or irony. The film is meta by referencing itself, not the horror films of the past like Scream or Scream 2, and it relies the most out of any of the sequels on the existence of the fictional STAB franchise, taking place in Hollywood surrounding the production of STAB 3 which confusingly seems to be about the events that we know are covered in STAB 1. The gang is lured back together as their actor counterparts are being targeted by a new Ghostface. While I would have loved to see an alternate version of Scream 3 where the stars align perfectly for Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven to cap off the original trilogy the way that they intended together without any pressure from the studio or current events, I still love Scream 3 for all of its character and mind-boggling choices. For instance, I will never get over the scene where Ghostface is delivering lines of a script to the characters via a fax machine which everyone just has to know the next line of which ultimately results in a cartoonishly large gas explosion which sends the entire cast rolling down a hill for a comedically long amount of time. That's cinema. Then there's lazy things like the incomprehensible voice changer that can perfectly mimic anybody's voice, even Maureen Prescott who is dead, the introduction of Randy's sister just so she can deliver a VHS tape of Randy's posthumous rules for a trilogy and the fact that the film boils down to one killer whose entire backstory retcons the previous two films. And here lies my major problems with the film. It adds this whole Hollywood element to the story of Maureen Prescott, a character whose past was already clouded in so much darkness. My point is the franchise never did much to humanize Maureen or to characterize her outside of her assault and murder a year prior to the events of Scream 1. And here in Scream 3 we are finally getting more context to her as a character, but unfortunately that context is just more tragedy and assault. Looking back at this plotline though, it is one of the most meta things to ever happen in the Scream films, considering how closely the crimes of the fictional John Milton, a stat producer, align with the crimes of Harvey Weinstein who was an executive producer on every installment of the Scream franchise until 2015 when that open secret became exposed to the public eye. But this retcon of Maureen's backstory is not a black and white conversation. There are things that I think do work about this backstory and this killer, but just at the end of the day the entire plotline rubs me the wrong way. Frankly I wish they could have left Maureen's legacy alone after the first film. This meta commentary on how Hollywood executives have a long history of abusing their power could still exist in the film without Maureen getting dragged into it. Of course that would have to include a different killer or a different motive, but Roman and his motive were never strong for me in this film so I think that would also be an improvement to change the killer. I also think this perspective on Maureen's backstory being always told by the killers we learn the most about Maureen through Billy and Stu at the end of Scream 1 and then we learn the most about Maureen in Scream 3 from Roman. I don't think that's the best perspective to be telling the events that happened to Maureen and Sidney never really comes to terms with her mother as a victim. Moving on though, one of my favorite parts of this film is Parker Posey as Jennifer Jolie. She may be the most over the top character in the entire franchise, but Parker's performance just makes me laugh in almost every scene that she's in. In a cast full of unbelievable performances, Sidney's the one that seems to stay entirely grounded and she saves the film from fully slipping into parody at times. However both Sidney and Gale's character arcs that they went on from the start of Scream 1 to the end of Scream 2 feel like they're abandoned in Scream 3. Gale reverts back to her obnoxious reporter state at the start of this film even though by the end of Scream 2 she had clearly shown how her priorities had shifted beyond getting the juiciest story. Scream 3 pretty much just takes Gale's development from the first two films, copies and pastes it, and does it again. The film is far from perfect, but it is somehow just as fun to rewatch as the other films, although when I rewatch Scream 3 I am definitely going into it with a different intention than when I rewatch any of the other ones just because this one takes itself the least seriously. It does have some really good moments though, like Sarah's death in a room full of ghostface costumes complete with an Argento inspired kill through a glass window. With that said, that death scene is the only one that's really memorable aside from the gas explosion and even that scene with Sarah's death has its goofy and over-the-top moments. I also love Carrie Fisher's cameo. Now that I've talked to your ear off about problems I have with a film that I genuinely love, let's move on to my number four pick Scream 5. Or Scream 2022 whatever you want to call it. This was a really tough call for me honestly. I went back and forth with Scream 3 and Scream 5 taking each other's spots, but one thing's for certain and that's the newest entry didn't crack my top three Scream films and if I'm being honest it didn't really come close. I love the Scream films clearly and I do love Scream 5 but it did a few things that I just really didn't vibe with. We were lucky enough that Wes Craven got to direct four of these bad boys and I'm definitely not one of those fans who think that only Wes can do a Scream film. The director's radio silence of 2019's Ready or Not do a lot of really fun things in this film. The opening scene was a great way to acknowledge the legacy of the first film but to do something different with it. Tara survives and breaks the mold despite the opening scene being one of the series' goriest it doesn't actually result in a death. I think this scene also starts to establish the film's ghost faces as sloppy and inexperienced, something that carries on in the rest of the film. Something I also love about Scream 5 is the hints of the killer's identities throughout the film that you can only catch rewatching. They're almost as masterful as the ones in the original film with Billy and Stew and I actually like pretty much all of the new cast of characters. Particularly Sam, Tara, Mindy and Chad but also our fallen soldiers like Liv and Wes and even our killers Amber and Richie have some really good moments in the film. In fact for me the strongest parts of Scream 5 are the scenes with the new cast members. The way that the film ropes the legacy characters though into the mix and lures them back to Woodsboro doesn't really make much sense to me. The exception being Dewey as I can see him needing some purpose in his life after the developments in his career and his love life. Thus helping out this new school of ghost face targets made a little bit of sense to me also because he's the only one that still lives in Woodsboro. Sure Gail coming to town to cover it for her new show while also wanting to check on Dewey is plausible but to me it's a little lazy. They showed us parts of her morning show and it doesn't really seem like the type that would cover grisly serial murders on the opposite coast of the country but what do I know? The most baffling reason a character returns to Woodsboro in this film is Sydney's as I still don't really understand why Dewey's death caused her to drop everything to go console Gail in person. I love their relationship don't get me wrong and surviving seven killers hell bent on putting you in the grave certainly bonded those three characters. But I mean if I were Sydney I would give Gail a phone call send some flowers and save the reconciliation for the memorial service after they catch ghost face. In the actual movie she just kind of appears directly after Dewey's death the movie is unclear about how much time passes between his death and Sydney's arrival but in the edit of the film the two events are pretty much back to back so it feels like Sydney booked it the second she heard the news and I just don't know why she would put herself in the path of the killers like that. At the end of the movie Richie and Amber make it seem like getting the legacy characters back together was always a part of their plan to make a better story for stab eight but every single legacy character puts themselves in harm's way pretty much in no way because of anything Richie or Amber did. Sure you can you can say Richie kind of pushed Sam towards maybe visiting Dewey but Gail came to town presumably because of her show's producers or at least because of her own personal want to cover this story and Sydney similarly comes to town because she wanted to comfort Gail and she also just decided that she had to be the one to kill these new Ghost Faces even though they had done nothing to target her yet. There's a similar weak reason for Sydney to return to Woodsboro in Scream 3 but at least at that point in the film Ghost Face was targeting her individually. And in this film Ghost Face doesn't ever really mention Sydney or any want to target Sydney until she basically is there in The Flesh. If Gail or Sydney were thinking a bit more rationally I wonder what Amber and Richie would have done to persuade them to return to Woodsboro but to me they definitely didn't earn it in the movie. And this next thing I've kind of come around to it now but coming out of my first time watching the movie I did not like the fact that they reuse the stew mokker house and especially that scene where Gail and Sydney are standing outside of what to me is clearly a recreation of a house of the house inside of a soundstage. Their dialogue in that moment and the fact that I can I feel like I can tell it's a soundstage it feels a bit like an SNL parody of what if there was a Scream 5. The interior of the house is spot on though I wouldn't be able to tell the difference between that and the real thing. And then Gail gets shot in that scene and it's like seriously you're about to go in there and potentially die for these random kids you don't know and you've already got a bullet in you. I found it hard to suspend my disbelief in moments like that but what happens inside the house after that scene is really effective for me. Forget why Sydney and Gail are here they're here now and shit does go down. The killer reveals aren't the most mind-blowing but they're played really effectively and I think their motive is a good read on the fan base who just always has something to say obviously myself included. Jack Quaid and Mikey Madison were the perfect people to cast as Scream killers and like I said their performances are even greater when you rewatch the film and pick up on little glances and moments where they deliver lines a little too pointedly. If you watch my ranking of 2022 horror films I harp about how much I don't like the choice of bringing back the apparition of Billy Loomis and I still do not like that element of the film at all but frankly I said enough about it in that video so I'm not going to talk about it anymore. The last couple of things I wanted to mention that I love about Scream 5 is the choice to bring back Heather Matarazzo as Randy's sister Martha who had that small role in Scream 3. On that same note I love all of the little Easter eggs that Radio Silence snuck in including the hint towards Kirby's survival which is even greater knowing that she's got a decent role in Scream 6. I'm still torn about the decision to kill off Dewey. I do think it adds gravity to the film and raises the stakes in the moment but it also just doesn't feel earned. Dewey's never been the brightest lightbulb in the lightbulb basket but the decisions he makes leading up to his death are just so dumb that I don't believe what's happening before my eyes. I love Dewey. I wish he would have stuck around a bit longer and I think the way he went out was sad but I do think one of the original three had to bite the dust in one of these new films and I hate to say it but I'd rather it be Dewey than Gale or Sydney. That being said I can't take any more loss so Radio Silence keep your hands off Gale and Sydney in Scream 6 and 7 but let's now move on to my top three Scream films. Coming in at number three it's Scream 4. When I say Scream 5 didn't come close to my top three I mean it. I think it's mostly just because for the rest of the films on this list I have mostly positive things to say about them whereas if someone asked me to talk about Scream 3 or Scream 5 I instantly want to go to the things that bug me about them but of course art is subjective so don't forget to tell me how your opinions differ from mine. Drop your rankings in the comments below I'd love to see how they compare. Scream 4 is equal to the position that it was when I did this video in 2020 having been made 11 years after Scream 3 Scream 4's turns the dial all the way back up on the gore and the horror and in my opinion it's the scariest Scream film since the original. A lot of the kills have a similar messy quality that the kills in Scream 5 have which I think provides a nice through line for those two films when watching the series chronologically. This also checks out with the two films killers being relatively more inexperienced than the killers in Screams 1, 2, and 3. This film's events unfold after Sydney visits Woodsboro on her book tour to promote her memoir where Ghostface plants evidence in Sydney's trunk from the first murder in the latest free that he's conducting that occurred the night before. Now being considered a suspect, Sydney's stuck in Woodsboro with the likes of locals Dewey Riley Gilweathers, her aunt Kate, and her niece Jill and her friends make up the new batch of victims and suspects in this one and this film has one of my all-time favorite killers Jill and also has one of my least favorite killers Charlie. Honestly of this new cast of characters the only likeable ones are Jill and Kirby but for me the weaker new characters don't hinder the film too much because it has a much better balance of the legacy characters stories and the new characters. It's got its fair share of awkward moments of 2010 era teen characters with live streaming capabilities outside of the realm of reality at the time but it makes up for it by hitting the notes it needed to hit. Scream 4 has really memorable death scenes and engaging who done it with effective reveals and it has what I would say is the series second best third act second only to that of the first film. This is largely due to the effectiveness of Emma Roberts performance as Jill and the fake out ending which leaves Sydney presumably dead with Jill's plan going her way only for her literal 15 minutes of fame to be stripped away when Dewey reveals that Sydney survived which gives us another satisfying takedown of a ghostface killer at the hands of Sydney and Gail. I think it's interesting how we've now had a scream film in four different decades and each film really serves as a unique time capsule for each one. Scream 1 and 2 being produced in the 90s they're characterized by the now iconically 90s fashion and their use of landlines and instant messaging as plot devices. Scream 3 although it happened right at the start of the 2000s encapsulates that era's fashion pretty well and also gives a perspective on how horror became a bit more censored in the years directly following the Columbine massacre. For Scream 4 it's the silly webcams all over the place and the high school scenes with annoying high schoolers plucked right out of 2011 and perhaps it's too soon to tell how Scream 5 will be remembered but it's take on fan culture and fans critiquing properties that they love to the extent that the studios pour money into remaking things that fans ended up hating. All right we're coming close to the end here and it's your last chance to place your bets on what kind of scream fan I am because coming in at number two is Scream 2. That's right I'm nothing if not predictable at the same position as the last ranking Scream 2 is one of my favorite films of all time and it has a handful of my favorite moments of the entire series. The big three Sydney, Gale, and Dewey are stronger here than ever before. All of their development from the first film and by the end of this film is really effective and their scenes together are magical. The cop car scene has to be one of my favorite sequences from start to finish from Ghostface showing up out of nowhere at a stop light to the rebar going through the cop all the way to both Sydney and Halle having to climb over an unconscious Ghostface at a painfully slow pace. It does get a bit eye-rolly by the end of that scene when Sydney decides to take off his mask after all even though she had several chances to do it before then and she leaves Halle vulnerable to her inevitable demise. Speaking of Halle I would have loved it if Halle made it out alive to be honest I've always enjoyed her character and thought her role should have been larger. I now know that she was originally one of the killers and they had to change that when one of the scripts leaked online and frankly I wish that they paid the leaks no mind and went forward because one I would love to see how that would have played out and two one of the only things that weighs this movie down for me is Mickey turning out to be one of the killers. Mickey is such an inconsequential character for the first act then he's literally not in the movie for the second act and then boom it's time for his killer reveal. Timothy Olyphant gives a good enough performance as the killer though that you almost forget how underwhelming his reveal is. There's also something to be said about Debbie Salt's reveal as actually being Mrs. Loomis. It's definitely something that is hard to predict on your first watch but Laurie Metcalf's performance sells that to me completely so I accept that as reality. The third act itself also isn't my favorite the theater setting doesn't allow for as much of an intimate feeling that the rest of the series has in its third acts and Sydney and Mrs. Loomis's showdown leaves a lot to be desired. That being said Cotton Weary's interference at the end staying true to his questionable morals and basically giving Sydney the option to do his Diane Sawyer interview or he kill her I guess. For me Scream 2 is perfect until its third act where it nails a strong enough landing but not a knockout like the first film but my favorite part of Scream 2 and potentially of the entire franchise is the sequence with Gail and Dewey in the film school. From their reconciliation to the best chase scene of the series to what Gail believes is Dewey's death in that moment the way that scene is directed and choreographed is just perfection. Also Gail and Sydney have their best hair styles of the franchise in this film the campus setting is stunning and provides for so much added atmosphere the new characters like Halle, Cece, Mrs. Loomis, and Joel are all very memorable albeit they are a step back from the icons that were introduced in the first film. With all that being said let's just bring it home with my number one pick and my favorite Scream film Scream. Surprising absolutely nobody Scream ranks at the same position it did three years ago. Scream is like lightning in a bottle a snappy script a masterful director impeccable casting and its release sparked a revitalization within the slasher subgenre. Let's start at the very beginning Scream's opening scene has not been and will never be topped Drew Barrymore's costume the popcorn the slowly increasing feeling of being watched in a house full of windows the heightening intensity of both Drew Barrymore and Roger L. Jackson's performance as the voice of Ghostface its horror history the references to win a stranger calls in Halloween the very films that Craven subverts and comments on throughout the entirety of this film it's another one of those scenes that is just perfect in terms of script choreography direction performance editing almost as memorable as the film's opening scene is Scream's final act entirely taking place at the Mokker house like the opening scene no Scream film has come close to meeting the intensity and the shock of this final act but in between the opening and the close we get to coexist with some of my favorite characters in any horror film Sydney Prescott is hands down my favorite final girl Gale Weathers was iconic from her first scene and Dewey and Tatum Riley provide the heart of the film for both Sydney and Gale Randy, Billy and Stu of course are also just as memorable and this cast chemistry with each other is off the charts what can I say about Scream that hasn't already been said the answer is nothing as just like I'm sure is the case for most of you Scream is the film that got me hooked on the horror genre so this film and the franchise as a whole mean a lot to me I was too young to see any of the first four films in theaters but even though you know my mixed feelings on it getting a chance to see Scream 5 opening night with my friends was something I never thought would happen when I was watching the original series on secondhand DVDs growing up and similarly I've got no expectations going into Scream 6 but I am extremely excited to go see it in theaters and just to have that experience no matter which way it falls and honestly that type of excitement is super rare for me so this video is solely meant as a love letter to these films and to those who appreciate the series on that same level well there you have it that is my ranking of the entire Scream franchise before the newest installment is welcome to the family when Scream 6 stabs its way into theaters on March 10th are you seeing Scream 6 opening weekend did you get your tickets yet let me know all of your Scream thoughts in the comments below give this video a like if you survived till the end I definitely did not intend for it to last this long but thank you guys so much for watching and I will see you next time