Ranking the ‘Scream’ Films and TV Series
By Jeremy Dick
1. Scream
You knew before going in that the original Scream film would be #1. I don’t know why I even bothered counting from the bottom up. Still, I don’t think you or anyone else would argue with this placement. Scream isn’t just the best entry of its own respective franchise, but one of the genre’s all-time greatest films.
We knew from the start that we had something different. When Drew Barrymore first appeared onscreen, most of us assumed she’d naturally be the film’s heroine, the “final girl” that would stop the killer in the final moments of the movie. When Ghostface hacked her to pieces shortly thereafter, we had no idea what to expect next.
Scream took the concept of slasher films and turned it on its head, even poking fun at the sub-genre’s particular formula in the movie itself. By pointing out the common cliches seen in slasher movies, Scream avoided falling into them as a result. It was all very entertaining for horror fans who had seen so many movies follow that same format.
It certainly helped that the movie was directed by one of the greatest horror filmmakers of all time, Wes Craven. His touch helped cement Scream as a horror classic, and it’s very unlikely any sequel or reboot will ever manage to top it.