How do you rank the killers of the Scream franchise? It’s a tough task. Are they better killers for working alone or for coordinating with a partner? Do they get more points for the viciousness and creativity of each kill? Certainly, you have to consider the kill count. And, of course, there is the motive. When the killer finally removes their mask, who has the best rationale behind their murder spree?
For the uninitiated, the franchise began in 1996 with Scream, written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven (who would direct the first four films in the franchise until his death in 2015). Neve Campbell stars as final girl Sidney Prescott, who is terrorized when a killer in a Halloween costume starts stalking and killing her and her friends on the anniversary of her mother’s murder. Courteney Cox stars as Gale Weathers, the tabloid journalist who comes to Woodsboro to make her name on the story, and David Arquette stars as Deputy Dewey Riley. These three become the legacy characters, appearing in the first five installments of the franchise.
Leading up to the sixth film–the first without Campbell or Arquette–we went through the Scream franchise and analyzed each murder, each killer reveal, and the motives for each villain. We have ranked them from the “worst” killer to the “best.” The ranking of these killers has nothing to do with how we would rank each individual Scream film, but rather what we think of each person donning the Ghostface mask.
