All 7 Scream Movies Officially Ranked By Original Ghostface Skeet Ulrich

Published Oct 11, 2026, 8:17 AM EDT

Abigail is an editor for ScreenRant, currently writing and editing movie news. You may also have seen her thoughts on animated television, musical theater, and fantasy literature in Paste Magazine, Fantasy Hive, or The Oxford Blue. She has also written SR lists and op-eds covering movies, TV, and books as well. She is an English major through and through, having graduated with a B.A. from UC Santa Barbara and an MPhil from Oxford University.

One of Scream's original stars reveals his personal ranking of the game-changing horror movies.

Kicking off the franchise in 1996, Scream redefined the slasher-horror with its metatextual approach and unprecedented twist, with final girl Sidney's (Neve Campbell) boyfriend Billy (Skeet Ulrich) AND his friend Stu (Matthew Lillard) revealed to both be the killer, working in collaboration to bring Ghostface to life. Unfortunately, not all the Scream movies were so fantastically planned.

Recently, in an interview with Us Magazine, Ulrich ranked all the movies. Reflecting many rankings of the Scream movies, he judged the first two to be the best, with the surprisingly well-received revival of the fifth and sixth installments trailing just behind, and the variously bad sequels after that. He deemed the seventh and most recent movie to be the worst of the series.

Ulrich's full ranking, and some of his justifications, are as follows:

1. Scream (1996) - "Obviously the top one is [...] the original."
2. Scream 2 (1997) - "I love Timothy Olyphant."
3. Scream OR Scream 5 (2022) - "I love Melissa Barrera, so five and six."
4. Scream VI (2023)
5. Scream 4 (2011)
6. Scream 3 (2000)
7. Scream 7 (2026)

Ulrich reprised his role as a vision of Billy (who dies in the original) in both Scream 5 and 6, a significant part in the new heroine Sam Carpenter's (Melissa Barrera) story. Ulrich's fellow OG Ghostface, Lillard, came back in Scream 7, portraying Stu in another twist, as Stu also died in the first final confrontation back in 1996. Despite Scream 7 bombing critically, Scream 8 is reportedly in the works.

In his interview, Ulrich also addressed Barerra's departure and thus the abandonment of her arc, which appears to be why Scream 7 is his least favorite and hugely affects whether he would ever return: "Without [...] Sam Loomis there's no Billy Loomis [...] who was in her head. I think they had their chance at it and didn't quite get to complete the three-film arc that they talked to me about."

Barerra's absence (and Jenna Ortega's) is a highly controversial topic for the Scream franchise that hung over its most recent release, though Scream 7 was still a box office success. Scream 7 was originally intended to complete the trilogy about Sam and her sister Tara (Ortega), but Barerra was fired by Spyglass Media Group following comments she made in support of Palestine in November 2023.

Ortega subsequently left the franchise, while Barerra has since stated that she would only return if Spyglass were no longer involved. Scream 7 was revised to focus more on Sidney and her family, with Courtney Cox and David Arquette also returning. The movie grossed $208 million at the worldwide box office against a budget of $45 million, and currently has a 30% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Ulrich most recently starred in Street Smart and Five Nights at Freddy's 2, though his name remains tied to Scream. With the franchise mired in controversy and bad reviews, it does not seem like a good idea for him to return to it now. Scream would have to change hands again and bring back Barerra to get Ulrich, and maybe produce something that ranks higher on the list.

Scream is available to stream on Hulu. Scream 5 and 6 are available to stream on Netflix.