Amid turmoil surrounding Scream 7, fans can now catch up with Ghostface on Paramount+. The streamer kicked off 2024 by bringing three more Ghostface films to its library – Scream (1996), Scream 2 (1997), and Scream 3 (2000) are now available to stream alongside Scream V (2022) and Scream VI (2023) – though noticeably missing is Scream 4.
Credited with rekindling interest in the horror genre and being a game-changer for the genre by acknowledging and embracing clichés, when Scream was released on Dec. 20, 1996, it was not expected to perform well. However, the movie, set in Woodsboro, California, where a masked and cloaked figure known as Ghostface begins a murder spree, became a surprise success. The film grossed approximately $173 million worldwide and currently holds an 81% critics score and 80% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, where a critics consensus reads, “Horror icon Wes Craven’s subversive deconstruction of the genre is sly, witty, and surprisingly effective as a slasher film itself, even if it’s a little too cheeky for some.”
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The film’s main cast of Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, and David Arquette returned a year later for Scream 2, also directed by Craven. The film, which holds an 82% critics score and 58% audience score, is set two years after the first movie and follows the Woodsboro massacre survivors at the fictional Windsor College in Ohio, where they are targeted by a copycat Ghostface killer. The movie also stars Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O’Connell, Elise Neal, Timothy Olyphant, Jada Pinkett, and Liev Schreiber.
Marking the penultimate installment in the franchise before Craven’s death in 2015, Scream 3 is the lowest-rated movie in the franchise in terms of both critics and audience score. The movie holds a 41% critic rating and 38% audience score, making it certified rotten in both metrics. The movie is set three years after Scream 2 and follows Sidney, who after going into isolation, is drawn to Hollywood after a new Ghostface begins killing the cast of Stab 3, the franchise’s in-movie franchise about the Ghostface killings. Along with Campbell, Cox, and Arquette, Scream 3 also stars Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matt Keeslar, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, Deon Richmond, and Patrick Warburton.
While Paramount+ is home to five of the franchise’s film installments, Scream 4 is not currently streaming on the platform. To watch that movie, you will either need to rent it or have a Max subscription. Paramount+ also isn’t home to MTV’s Scream TV series, which currently isn’t available to stream for free on any major platform. You can subscribe to Paramount+ here.
