Ranking Scream Films 1-4 || The Tea

Ranking Scream films 1-4

Hey Angels and Biscuits!

As many horror film fans know, there is a new edition to the Scream franchise family. Scream 2022. BUT there are four previous films in this family. I have been a fan since I was a small child and stayed up late at my grandfather’s house to watch it. It was my first horror film and has forever had a special place in my movie-loving heart.  

With the new film coming it was cause to re-watch and rank the original four. After reviewing the new film, I will include an updated ranking. Let’s get right into it! There will be spoilers for each of the films so if you haven’t watched, go do that. Unless you’re like me and don't mind spoilers. Each film will get a rating out of 10.

At the #4 Spot: Scream 2 

Overall this movie impresses me the least. While I love the killers of the film, particularly Mickey, the overall plot just fell flat. The opening scene doesn’t hit very hard or very dramatic in my opinion because of it being in a crowded theater. It lacked suspense and after the first film you should be stepping up your game not lowering it. The whole film had less high stakes vibes. 

The dynamic of the killers was lacking. Billy and Stu brought a lot of crazy charm with their interactions and Mrs. Loomis and Mickey just didn't have that. Their relationship was also very…boring. Mickey was the fall guy Mrs. Loomis hired, there was no real chemistry between them.  

It also felt like scenes and kills from the first film were trying to be replicated too hard or too much. Now I understand they were having fun making fun of sequel tropes but there is a line and I think this movie crossed it. They even tried repeat the suspicious boyfriend plot that they did in the first film, I was not much a fan of this choice.  

Now, a few upsides.   

Mickey, played by Timothy Olyphant, was masterfully done. He came into this wanting to get caught. He is a good insanity plea at its finest. Being the fall guy, however, meant he was always meant to die. And Mickey may have been an obvious choice for the killer but that was ok. He played that role well.

Sticking to characters for a bit, Randy was probably my other favorite of this movie. He’s funny, smart, weird, he just works as a character in a horror flick. Also, Sydney gets to punch Gale again and that always brings me joy.

The killer reveal scene was good. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and was probably the highest stakes moments of the entire film. It also starts to put some pieces together where Billy may have gotten some of his murderous impulses from. Mrs. Loomis as the villain could have a whole character study done on her.

Rating 6.5/10 Biscuits

At the #3 Spot: Scream 3:

Ha-ha, yes, I know. I put the third movie in third place.

This one did not fare much better in ranking but we will get into why later. Starting off with the opening sequence, which is part of Scream’s charm, this film fared better than 2. They followed only a few characters rather than a whole crowd. It keeps it more dramatic and exciting, I feel, when it’s just a couple characters and the ghostface killer.

They did much better at using the tropes of the horror genre this film. Randy’s video had a big clue to the killer and was pretty clever on his part. Not to mention references to other films or books peppered in. There was a Hannibal Lecter reference, which I always love. John Milton was a surprise, though I wonder how many people got that one. John Milton was a 17th century poet most remembered for having written the only epic poem written originally in the English language, Paradise Lost. Not to mention Carrie Fisher had a cameo. Plus, Patrick Warburton!  

Another upside to this film was they delved more into Sydney’s trauma from the past two films. It added much needed depth to the story.

Cotton was a drawback for me this film. He came across way to slimy, and I'm all for a good slimy character, I just don't feel like Cotton was executed properly.

The killer, yes killer not killers, was back to being charming and fun on the phone. The fact there was only one killer was a huge let down. Now what they did with Roman was fine but they really went over the top with his dramatic reveals at the end. It was cool how they tied Roman to Billy Loomis and setting him up to kill Sydney’s mom, because revenge or if he can’t have a mom neither can Sydney. Basically, saying he was the mastermind behind it all.  I think the premise of an unwanted half-sibling to Sydney was ok at best. And while Roman was smart and clever, I think they were just too over the top with tropes with his character.

NOT TO MENTION THERE IS ONLY ONE KILLER. This was the biggest let down of the film. I love the two-killer dynamic. I would have given this a 7/10 but because they only had one killer I took away a half point. I still enjoyed the overall plot more than film 2 so it will hold the number three spot. This film would have been a good series ender had they wanted that.

Rating 6.5/10 Biscuits

At the #2 Spot: Scream 4

Opening, oh boy. For this one, while it follows the formula I like it lost points for having too many fake intros with their in-movie parody of itself, Stab. The very first fake opening kill was amazing. I loved it. And then we come to find out that it was fake. And so is the next one. The real intro is good, ghostface has that fun dialogue I expect him to have. The kills are decent.

Four takes us back to Woodsboro and embracing their in-movie Stab parody a little too much, for my taste. Throughout the whole series I've not enjoyed that part of the story. I understand they've made it part of Sydney’s life, and it’s not unrealistic to have a horror film based off of something that really happened but I think they could have toned it down just a tad with HOW MUCH they really used it.

This film I felt the characters were better written than the previous two. The cinema club was a nice touch, and Robbie live streaming is fun, and was a precursor to vlogging/and live streaming. Something we do all the time now was not the most popular then. I also feel like the video tech gave us a throwback to movie one when Gale planted a camera in the house party and she watched from her van with a video delay. This time it was Gale planting camera’s all over a Stab watch party in a barn and she could watch live. I loved seeing Gale be clever and channeling her reporter roots.

The kills were back to having some creativity, looking at Olivia and Rebecca for example. Also, Dewy is the sheriff now and that made me very happy. He’s had such great character development over the films. He started as a young rookie who wasn’t taken very seriously to a sheriff whose survived multiple attacks.  

This film, once again, replicated a lot from the first film. But did a better job of it than two. Even the killers were more modeled after movie one. I am a bit done with the killers being related to Sydney, her cousin Jill this time. And Jill’s motive is rather…dull. She just wanted to be famous, was sick of hearing people talk about Sydney. It’s just your run of the mill jealousy mixed with psychopathy.

 But for such a young antagonist, she was smart. Like Billy, she used someone who she could use. She had a really good plan. Jill just never counted on Sydney surviving. This was also the only time a killer ever made past the last fight scene or rather reveal scene.

Rating 7.5/10 Biscuits

At the #1 Spot: Scream  

Anyone that knows me is likely not surprised by this. I LOVE this film so much. And I am finding that most first films in a horror franchise are good but not great. I feel this film is great and its sequels are good.  

It has one of the most iconic and suspenseful opening sequences. The killer is fun, clever, charming even on the phone. I love when he sneaks in a murder line and backtracks to sounding nice. For example: 

Ghostface: “You still haven’t told me your name?”

Casey: “Why do you want to know my name?”

Ghostface: “Because I want to know who I’m looking at.”

Casey: “What did you say”

Ghostface: “I want to know who I'm talking to.”

Casey: “That’s not what you said.”

Ghostface: “What do you think I said?” 

He was so charming and fun interacting with Casey. He got her to chat, made him feel a little friendly and unintimidating before slowly edging in the evil. They have a whole conversation before ghostface starts his games, or well the conversation is the fun start to his games. The personality of the killer is something we get right away in the film.  I cannot express how well done this opening scene is. 

While Sydney is the main target, many random people die. The kills are done with a hunting knife, which stays consistent through the franchise, but we get some creativity. Typically, in presentation. Casey was hung from the tree, Tatum in the garage door, and the school principal being hung up on the goal post in the football field.  

We have interesting characters. Sydney is smart and it’s not surprising she’s a survivor.

Randy starts the tradition of using parody in the franchise, being the horror movie buff. He frequently brings up rules of horror. My favorite horror reference might be the director joke made by Tatum saying Sydney is turning into a Wes Carpenter flick. A play of mixing up Wes Craven and John Carpenter. Plus, Wes Craven made a cameo himself in that movie dressing up like Freddy Krueger.

Dewy isn’t given the best light in this movie but he’s a young cop and has time to grow as a character and he does. And we have the og ruthless Gale Weathers.

The film has decent suspense and action. They don’t go too long without a kill. I believe this is who the principal ended up dead because they had a chunk of time without a kill. They also do a decent job of making Billy Loomis incredibly suspicious and also how could he be the killer he had an alibi. Watching this movie for the first time, assuming you don’t know about the two killer’s trope of Scream, it’s such a good twist. You go in thinking Billy is most suspicious but how could he be the killer?

Now, the killers. Billy and Stu. As iconic as Bonnie and Clyde. Stu was one hundred percent used and manipulated by Billy. And I doubt Billy ever intended for him to live. Stu took his direction from Billy, he was Stu’s best friend. I've seen a few theories out there that Stu may have even been in love with Billy and that’s a fair assessment for his character. The argument could be made for that in much more detailed character study. Billy fills out the more psychopath villain trope and just feels evil. Stu, I left feeling bad for when Billy betrays him and stabs him too deep. I mean I was still rooting for Sydney but Billy really did Stu dirty. Like, he was a weaker personality that Billy took advantage of in my opinion. But those two very different personalities made for such an interesting killer dynamic. Throughout the movie we don’t always know who was doing the talking and who the killing but they were phenomenal. They keep the film feeling like it is high stakes/high intensity.  

Maybe Scream 2022 can give the original a run for its money but that’s going to be hard. There’s just so much this movie does right and has going for it. It’s been the exception to the film’s get better over time rule. It has nostalgia, which I’ll admit may bias me. And at the end of the day it had memorable characters.

Rating 8.5/10 Biscuits

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