Scream Movies In Order: How To Watch The Horror Franchise Chronologically

The Scream movies in order, as well as the TV series, draw a linear path that results in a terrifying story told pretty much in order. It’s almost easy to forget the impact 1996’s Scream had on both the slasher genre and horror in general in the decades since its debut. While the early ’90s produced some great horror movies, it was something of a fallow period for the genre, but the success of Scream helped revitalize it. Its savage violence, witty meta-awareness, and likable cast saw it become a sensation, and its success spawned many sequels.

Like any long-running series, some entries in the Scream movie franchise are better than others, but they all got creative with the rules and tropes of the genre and never lost their meta quality. In keeping with the trend of turning hit horror franchises into TV series, Scream received its own show in 2015 and was controversial for its decision to drop the iconic Ghostface mask, in addition to having no direct links to the films. Even after a quarter-century, the Scream movies show no signs of going anywhere and continue to spook each successive generation of horror fans.

How To Watch The Scream Movies In Order

There Have Been Six Scream Movies To Date

Scream (1996)

Ghostface: Billy Loomis & Stu Macher

Released in the middle of the 1990s, director Wes Craven delivered Scream, which truly established the tone of ’90s horror. The first of the Scream movies in order follows a teenage girl named Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) who is terrorized by a horror movie-obsessed killer. With a cast of stars and a seasoned director at the helm, Scream simultaneously spoofed the overdone slasher genre with meta-commentary, and delivered a truly spooky experience. Perhaps the scariest of the Scream movies, the 1996 original was just disturbingly possible enough to add another layer to its cinematic terror.

The first movie also helped to set the stage for some of the rules of the genre as well as the necessary backstory. While each Scream movie has had new Ghostface killers, Scream did establish a mythology of sorts that ties back to Sidney Prescott’s mother and an affair she had outside of her marriage which ignited the murders and played a role in several of the subsequent sequels. Of course, the film also introduced the legacy characters of Sidney, Gale Weathers, and Dewey Riley who would become mainstays.

Scream 2 (1997)

Ghostface: Debbie Loomis & Mickey Altieri

Wasting no time in capitalizing on the overwhelming success of Scream, Scream 2 was a typical horror sequel in many ways, with its own meta quality. When murders occur at a preview screening of Stab, the movie based on the events of the first Scream film, Sidney is stalked by a copycat killer. Scream 2 cleverly fleshed out the universe of the film and had a lot to say about the glorification of violence. As a first sequel, Scream 2 never overstayed its welcome and didn’t have to resort to rehashing scares to be an effective movie.

The movie links up to the original in several interesting ways, including the revelation early on that the new killers are targeting people who have the same names as the victims in the original movies, attempting to repeat the crimes of the first movie. There is also the revelation that one of the killers is Billy Loomis’ mother (played by Laurie Metcalf), seeking revenge on Sidney for the death of her son. The sequel also made it clear that no one is safe as Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), a fan-favorite character and survivor of the first movie, is killed.

Scream 3 (2000)

Ghostface: Roman Bridger

The Scream movies in order had their peaks and valleys, and Scream 3 was the franchise’s first major setback. With the production of Stab 3 underway, another copycat killer comes out of the woodwork to stalk and kill Sidney Prescott, who has gone into hiding. Though the film was a box office smash (via Box Office Mojo), the movie’s meta-narrative gave way to many of the tropes that the original film had parodied in the first place.

Scream 3 is another movie that links back to the original with the revelation that the killer, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), is the secret half-brother of Sidney and was responsible for orchestrating the murders of the first film. This over-the-top twist is part of the reason the third movie has such a poor reputation among fans. The film was largely left without an identity, and it didn’t do enough to justify its own existence. As a result, many consider Scream 3 to be the worst of the franchise.

Scream 4 (2011)

Ghostface: Jill Roberts & Charlie Walker

After a decade away, the Scream franchise roared back to life with 2011’s Scream 4 and was the last to feature the late Craven as director. Years after the events of the first film, Sidney Prescott returns to Woodsboro only to find herself confronted by yet another copycat Ghostface killer. While the original Scream spoofed slashers, and Scream 2 their sequels, Scream 4 took aim at the abundance of remakes in the 2000s with an effective skewering.

Adding a mostly new cast of characters, Scream 4 surprised by delivering a compelling mystery horror story that also poked fun at the new generation of social media-obsessed teens. Scream 4 was billed as the start of a new era in the franchise, with a new Final Girl from the younger generation looking poised to take over for Sidney. However, the movie cleverly played on those reboot tropes by making the new hero, Jill (Emma Roberts), the villain.

Scream (2022)

Ghostface: Richie Kirsch & Amber Freeman

Before 2022’s Scream, watching the Scream movies in order was easy because of the sequential numbering, but the fifth installment decided to drop the practice. Acting as a reboot of sorts, the Ghostface killer returns to terrorize a new group of teens in Woodsboro, 25 years after the first movie. Though most of the Scream 2022 cast was new, many of the franchise’s familiar faces returned for a nice bridging of generations. While Scream 2022 was mostly a by-the-numbers mystery slasher, it was popular enough to revitalize the franchise after another decade-long absence.

Following Scream 4, this movie truly did hand over the franchise to the younger generation. However, the film was still closely connected to the events of the first entry with several of the new characters being relatives of victims from the original. There is also the reveal that the new Final Girl, Sam Carpenter, is actually the daughter of Scream‘s original killer, Billy Loomis. The fifth movie also introduced a new meta element with the killers being inspired by the legacy of the Stab movies.

Scream VI (2023)

Ghostface: Detective Bailey, Quinn Bailey, Ethan Bailey & Jason Carvey

Striking while the iron was still hot, Scream VI returned to the sequential numbering of the franchise’s past and finally did something clever with the decades-old series. After surviving the Ghostface attacks in Woodsboro, the group of teens move to New York City but soon find themselves Ghostface’s victims once again. Scale is important with slasher films, but the choice to expand Scream VI‘s location to encompass the Big Apple was a brilliant choice.

The movie continued to explore the complexity of Sam being the offspring of serial killer Billy Loomis while also further commenting on the popularity of the franchise by having characters who are enthusiasts of the entire history of the Ghostface killings. This includes Easter eggs such as speculation about whether original co-killer Stu Macher is still alive. The anonymity of the big city was in stark contrast to the small-town terror of previous films, and despite Neve Campbell not starring in Scream 6, it showed the franchise still had legs.

How To Watch The Scream TV Show In Order

The TV Series Ran For 3 Seasons

Just like how watching the Scream movies in order was somewhat confusing, the Scream TV also didn’t follow conventional numbering throughout. Scream the TV series is separate from the movies and follows an entirely different set of teens who are stalked by a mysterious masked killer. The show gained the ire of long-time fans because it eschewed the classic Ghostface mask in favor of a new haunting visage, and it had little to do with the established franchise.

Nevertheless, it managed to tell a compelling ongoing slasher narrative and stood on its own merits even if it lacked the meta quality of its namesake. The third season, Scream: Resurrection, was a total reboot of the TV series that wisely brought back the original Scream Ghostface mask and reset the story in a new location with new characters as well. That said, reception to the final season was mixed, and it was delayed due to MTV’s move away from scripted programming.

The three-year gap between seasons 2 and 3 completely killed the show’s momentum, and it wasn’t helped by the fact that it eventually aired on VH1, and not its original network. Though the TV show crashed, the Scream movie series is still alive and well on the big screen.

The Future Of The Scream Franchise

With the popularity of the franchise still making it a box office draw, the Scream franchise will be continuing into the future. This is confirmed with the place for the upcoming Scream 7. However, the original plans of continuing with the storylines of Scream (2022) and Scream 6 have been abandoned with the controversial news that new franchise leads Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega will not be returning.

The studio chose to controversially fire Melissa Barerra, which changes a lot going forward. Sam and her story arc regarding her father was a key point of the fifth and sixth entries but now have to likely be dropped. On top of that, Jenna Ortega, Barerra’s on-screen sister, also departed the franchise in support of her co-star. The Carpenter siblings were the focal point of the films, so Scream 7 is slated to be a much different film.

However, unlike Scream 6, Neve Campbell will be back as Sidney Prescott, taking on the lead of the franchise once again. Scream 6 revealed that Sidney was in hiding with her husband, Scream 3‘s Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey), and their kids. It is possible that the new movie will explore Sidney as a mother and wife as she is targeted by Ghostface once again. With Kevin Williamson, the writer of the original Scream movie, signing on as director, it is likely the movie will have strong connections to the original.

Scream

Created by Kevin Williamson and originally helmed by Wes Craven, the Scream franchise takes a meta approach to the slasher horror franchise, centering on teenagers well-versed in the genre who find themselves hunted and killed by figures donning the Ghostface mask. The first four movies revolved around Neve Campbell’s Sydney Prescott as she frequently found herself the target of different Ghostface killers, while the fifth and sixth installments introduced new protagonists, sisters Tara and Sam, with their own dark past connected to the original Ghostface killer.

Cast

Neve Campbell , David Arquette , Courteney Cox , Skeet Ulrich , Jamie Kennedy , Liev Schreiber , Heather Matarazzo , Hayden Panettiere , Marley Shelton , Melissa Barrera , Jenna Ortega , Jack Quaid , Mason Gooding , Jasmin Savoy Brown , Roger Jackson

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