The arrival of a new Scream movie this weekend — the sixth in the franchise — means more quips, more jump scares and of course another iteration of the thing the Scream franchise has become most known for: the iconic opening scene. Since the series debuted in 1996, the Scream series has been starting its films off with a bang, or rather a slash, as the knife-wielding Ghostface terrorizes and then ultimately kills their first victim and sets the story into motion.
Last year, the franchise was brought back to life with a fresh, young cast of sardonic teens using their encyclopedic knowledge of horror films to try and guess who was behind the Ghostface mask. The reboot was so well-received from audiences that we’ve got Scream VI releasing this weekend with another reportedly on the way in early 2024.
To get you ready for the latest installment, we’ve ranked the five terrifying opening scenes and even hooked you up with links to watch all five scenes (WARNING: these scenes all contain violent content).
Where will the newest installment rank? We’ll find out this weekend.
Scream 3
A fairly pedestrian opening scene for a movie that is mostly completely bonkers. Scream 3 is arguably the goofiest installment of the franchise but its opening scene establishes that the threat is still very real for our characters by killing off a key recurring member of the cast, Liev Schreiber’s Cotton Weary. After this brutal opening scene, the movie takes a hard left turn into comedy, satirizing both the horror genre as a whole and the Scream franchise specifically.
Click here to watch the scene (Warning: This clip is NSFW and contains violence)
Scream (2022)
The fifth installment in the Scream series brought the franchise back from the dead, and the opening scene (and its star) played a huge role in that resurrection. For a moment, it appears to the viewer that, as the title seems to suggest, we are here for a full reboot of the franchise, that we’re in for that tedious mix of fan service and rehashing old tropes. As the scene plays out, it becomes clear that this film and its characters are all too aware of what has come before. While anyone who has seen the trailers for the new film knows that Ortega doesn’t die, this fake out established that in this new era, the Scream franchise can still zig when we expect a zag.
Click here to watch the scene (Warning: This clip is NSFW and contains violence)
Scream 2
While it was later brilliantly skewered in the Scary Movie franchise, the opening scene of Scream 2 was truly one of the most inventive and mind-bending scenes in modern horror cinema when it was released. The movie begins with two characters in a setting that was extremely familiar to most of the viewers: they were at a movie theater watching Scream. Well, technically they’re watching “Stab”, the name of the Scream franchise in the Scream universe. The scene brilliantly warps the lines between fiction and reality and immediately left every member of the audience squirming in their theater seat.
Click here to watch the scene (Warning: This clip is NSFW and contains violence)
Scream 4
I’ll cop to this being a fairly controversial pick but it’s one of the best examples of what this franchise does best. At its core, Scream is all about simultaneously involving you in its story while also reminding that you are watching a horror movie. Sometimes that involves pump-faking the audience. Sometimes it involves double-faking. You’re never quite sure what’s actually happening until it’s too late. Scream 4 upped the ante in many ways for the franchise and is tailormade for the supremely self-aware audience.
Click here to watch the scene (Warning: This clip is NSFW and contains violence)
Scream
As iconic a scene as any we’ve ever seen in horror cinema. As important as Neve Campbell and Courtney Cox are to the franchise, it’s Drew Barrymore’s performance in this opening scene that launched Scream as one of the most iconic horror franchises of all time and part of why it’s been re-used and remade so many times within the franchise is because Barrymore’s performance is so effective, the scene holds a permanent place in all our memories.
Click here to watch the scene (Warning: This clip is NSFW and contains violence)
