Sophia Michaels
There are six “Scream” movies, and what keeps this franchise so fresh all these years is that the meta humor and commentary has evolved with each one. When Ghostface (a villain whose identity changes every time) calls his victims, he always asks what their favorite horror movie is and gets into a long chat about how different movies work (and which disappoint).
In 1997’s “Scream 2” and 2000’s “Scream 3,” the conversations turn to the diminishing returns of sequels, and “Scream 4,” released in 2011, reflects on how horror has changed in the interim. In 2022’s “Scream 5,” Jenna Ortega’s Tara brags about only liking “elevated” horror, while Jasmin Savoy Brown’s Mindy dissects the tropes of a legacy reboot, or a requel. But in each film, the heroes use the tropes of horror films against Ghostface to survive the killer’s reign of terror.
Horror icon Wes Craven directed the first four films; the fifth and sixth, released after his death, are directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
