Horror Franchises
Every Scream Movie, Scariest to Least Scary
Ranked by Fear score
The scariest: Scream VI (2023) and Scream (2022) tie at 6.0 on our Fear axis.
Scream started in 1996 with Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson's self-aware slasher. The series has continued through sequels and a 2022 relaunch, with Ghostface behind the mask in each film. This page ranks the films we have scored by Fear.
Fear is one of five scores Watch Darkly's curators give a film, each from 0 to 10. It measures how frightening a film is to watch and is scored separately from gore and intensity, so a bloody entry can still rank low here. Films we have not scored yet are listed after the ranking. How we score
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Ranked from scariest to least scary
- Curator Score 7.0
01Scream VI 2023
- Fear
- 6.0
- Gore
- 7.0
- Atmosphere
- 8.0
- Intensity
- 5.5
Following the latest Ghostface killings, the four survivors leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter.
- Curator Score 6.6
02Scream 2022
- Fear
- 6.0
- Gore
- 7.0
- Atmosphere
- 6.8
- Intensity
- 5.0
Twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, a new killer has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town’s deadly past.
- Curator Score 7.6
03Scream 1996
- Fear
- 5.7
- Gore
- 6.0
- Atmosphere
- 6.7
- Intensity
- 6.0
A year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
- Curator Score 6.6
04Scream 4 2011
- Fear
- 4.0
- Gore
- 5.0
- Atmosphere
- 5.0
- Intensity
- 5.0
Fifteen years after the original Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott returns home to promote her new book about surviving trauma, only for a new Ghostface killer to emerge, targeting a new group of teens.
- Curator Score 6.3
05Scream 3 2000
- Fear
- 4.0
- Gore
- 5.0
- Atmosphere
- 5.0
- Intensity
- 5.0
As bodies begin dropping around the Hollywood set of STAB 3, the third film based on the gruesome Woodsboro killings, Sidney and other survivors are once again terrorized by another Ghostface killer.
- Curator Score 6.2
06Scream 2 1997
- Fear
- 4.0
- Gore
- 5.0
- Atmosphere
- 5.0
- Intensity
- 5.0
Two years after the Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott acclimates to college life while someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.
- Curator Score 5.2
07Scream 7 2026
- Fear
- 2.5
- Gore
- 5.0
- Atmosphere
- 2.5
- Intensity
- 4.4
When a new Ghostface killer emerges in the quiet town where Sidney Prescott has built a new life, her darkest fears are realized as her daughter becomes the next target. Determined to protect her family, Sidney must face the horrors of her past to put an end to the bloodshed once and for all.
The Scream movies in order
In release order.
Common questions about the Scream movies
- What is the scariest Scream movie?
- Scream VI (2023) and Scream (2022) tie at 6.0 on our Fear axis.
- What is the least scary Scream movie?
- Scream 7 (2026), at 2.5 on our Fear axis.
- Which Scream movie is the goriest?
- Scream VI (2023) and Scream (2022) tie at 7.0 on our Gore axis.
- What is the best Scream movie?
- By Curator Score, Scream (1996) has the highest at 7.6 out of 10. The Curator Score is our overall verdict on a film and is separate from Fear.
- What order should I watch the Scream movies in?
- In release order: Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), Scream 3 (2000), Scream 4 (2011), Scream (2022), Scream VI (2023), Scream 7 (2026).