Your Ultimate Guide to the Scream Movies: Release Order, Chronological Order, and Where to Watch

Introduction

Do you like scary movies? Particularly the Scream movies? Or have you actually never seen any of them? The Scream franchise has been going strong over the past quarter of a century, with its newest iteration, Scream 6, hitting cinemas last year. With new stars like Jenna Ortega, new audiences are now looking to get into the saga.

Jenna Ortega in 2022's Scream

But in what order do you need to watch the Scream movies, do the films have a different timeline, did they come out chronologically, and just where can you watch them? Well, let us guide you. To reiterate, we will only be focusing on the Scream movies, so this list won't include the Scream TV series, which can be viewed on Netflix.

How many Scream movies are there? There are a total of six Scream movies in all. The franchise started in 1996 with Scream, and the current film is 2023's Scream 6.

Scream Movies in Release Order

The Scream franchise's movies were filmed and released in a mix, some were filmed in a short amount of time with each other, whereas others took over a decade to come out. Here's the order of how they were released:

Scream (1996) Scream 2 (1997) Scream 3 (2000) Scream 4 (2011) Scream 5 (2022) Scream 6 (2023)

Scream Movies in Chronological Order

Now, you can pretty much watch every movie from the Scream franchise in the order that it was released if you wish to watch the films chronologically. That is, you can watch it in this order:

Scream (1996) Scream 2 (1997) Scream 3 (2000) Scream 4 (2011) Scream 5 (2022) Scream 6 (2023)

Scream Movie Details

Scream (1996) Paramount Pictures Scream, the first film in the franchise, follows this official plot: 'As a masked killer with a penchant for horror trivia terrorizes a teen and her friends, a dogged reporter tries to find out who's behind the murders.'

scream drew barrymore

Scream 2 (1997) Paramount Pictures Scream 2's IMDb plot states that the film is set 'two years after the first series of murders, as Sidney acclimates to college life, someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.'

scream 2 sidney

Scream 3 (2000) Paramount Pictures Scream 3's Miramax plot is as thus, 'While Sidney Prescott lives in safely guarded seclusion, bodies begin dropping around the Hollywood set of Stab 3, the latest movie sequel based on the gruesome Greensboro killings. When the escalating terror finally brings her out of hiding, Sidney and other Greensboro survivors are once again drawn into an insidious game of horror movie mayhem.'

scream 3

Scream 4 (2011) Paramount Pictures Scream 4's official plot continues to follow Sidney Prescott, who, 'now a successful writer, returns to Woodsboro for her book tour, to face a new killing spree. Welcomed by her aunt and her cousin Jill, Sidney will discover that her faith will be forever locked to the past. No matter if you are a victim or a survivor.'

scream 4

Scream 5 (2022) Paramount Pictures Scream 5's IMDb plot is as thus: '25 years after a streak of brutal murders shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro, Calif., a new killer dons the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past.'

Scream 6 (2023) Paramount Pictures Scream 6's official plot goes as such: 'Four survivors of the Ghostface murders leave Woodsboro behind for a fresh start in New York City. However, they soon find themselves in a fight for their lives when a new killer embarks on a bloody rampage.'

Scream 6 header

Where to Watch the Scream Movies

The Scream movies are actually spread across streaming platforms. Below, we've listed each platform that you're able to view each of the six Scream movies:

Scream: Paramount+ Scream 2: Paramount+ Scream 3: Paramount+ Scream 4: Max Scream 5: Paramount+ Scream 6: Paramount+

All of the Scream movies are also available to rent via Amazon Prime Video, which you can sign up for here.