The Best Scream Franchise Deaths, Ranked

Best Scream Franchise Deaths

When you get right down to it, the Scream franchise is not best known for its gratuitous kill scenes. Yes, they are inventive, and some quite shocking, but they don’t represent the most graphic of death scenes. Some of the best Scream kills have come early in the franchise, though one of the more brutal (and heartbreaking) deaths came in the 2022 reboot.

Here are eight of the best Scream franchise deaths.

8. Maureen Evans (Jada Pinkett Smith) - Scream 2

The Scream franchise is well-known for its opening scene deaths and 1997’s Scream 2 did not fail. Wes Craven returned to the directors’ chair with Kevin Williamson again writing the script that saw Jada Pinkett Smith opening the film as Maureen Evans, a young lady who is at a sneak preview of Stab, a film based on the Woodsboro murders.

After her boyfriend, Phil, heads to the bathroom (and gets killed by Ghostface), the killer returns to Phil’s seat next to Maureen where he proceeds to stab her repeatedly. It goes unnoticed until Maureen stumbles her way to the stage, where the audience thinks it’s a stunt. That is, until Maureen collapses on the stage and dies.

7. Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) - Scream 3

Another great Scream opening takes place in Scream 3, which finds Cotton Weary, the original suspect in the murder of Sydney Prescott’s mother, as the host of a successful talk show. Cotton receives a call while on his show from Ghostface, who wants to know the whereabouts of Sydney. When Cotton does not comply with the request, Ghostface breaks into Cotton’s home and kills his girlfriend. Cotton arrives at his home only to see her dead, then gets killed himself.

6. Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) – Scream

The Scream franchise really sold itself on the whodunnit approach, mixing in great humor, and wonderful kills. One of the better ones came in the original 1996 film as a high school party ensues. Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) is hosting the party and heads to her garage to get more beer.

Inside the garage, though, is Ghostface. At first, she believes it is a joke until the killer slices her arm with a knife. Tatum attempts to escape through the garage door’s dog flap, but she is too big and gets stuck. Ghostface then presses the button to open the garage door, crushing Tatum in the process.

5. Olivia Morris (Marielle Jaffe) - Scream 4

Olivia’s death in Scream 4, while viscerally gruesome, came as an unexpected twist. Ghostface makes a phone call to Jill and Kirby, making the audience believe that the killer was in the house with them. Instead, he was actually across the street with Olivia, and she paid dearly.

When he appears, Ghostface slashes and stabs Olivia, sending blood across the room. The scene, though, isn’t complete until Sydney arrives to save Olivia, only to see her laying in her blood with her guts strewn across her bed.

4. Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) - Scream 2

There are two deaths in the Scream franchise that are more gut-wrenching and heart-breaking than any other. The death of Randy Meeks would be the first. Randy, who provided much of the brevity in the original Scream, does so in the sequel until he meets up with Ghostface. Much of Randy’s demise was off-screen, but the impact felt when we finally saw his bloody, lifeless body quickly told us no one is safe.

3. Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) – Scream

In the first Scream film, it was revealed that Ghostface was not just one person, but two working in tandem. Stu Macher, one of the friends of Sydney Prescott’s group, ends up being part of the Ghostface duo, and his comeuppance was fitting. As the battle between him and Sidney reaches its climax, Stu finds himself the victim of a large old-fashioned television being pushed over onto him, crushing his head. A fitting way to go.

2. Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) – Scream

The shocking death that started the entire franchise. It was all fun and games for Casey Becker while she was answering questions from a mysterious phone call. They all had to do with horror films, and she was pretty spot on. The cat-and-mouse game continues in earnest when she misses a question, forcing Ghostface out of hiding to attack.

He does, relentlessly, finally chasing her down, stabbing her multiple times. But he isn’t done. Instead of leaving Casey where she died, he takes her body and hangs it up on a tree where her parents can find her with her guts hanging out.

1. Deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette) – Scream (2022)

Just like Randy Meeks, this Scream death hits the hardest. Deputy Dewey was the heart and soul of the Scream franchise, much more so than both Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox). Dewey survived each film by being stabbed numerous times, nearly dying each time. But he kept coming back, until the 2022 reboot.

In this one, Dewey finally comes face-to-face with Ghostface in the hospital and it appears he is ready to end things with a bullet in Ghostface’s head. But the killer surprises him by stabbing him in the stomach, then proceeds to bring another knife into Dewey’s back. Then, the killer drags both knives up Dewey’s back and chest, ending the life of the Scream franchise’s fan favorite.