Scream recap: the story so far

No. 01 · 1996 · Film

Scream recap

A year after her mother Maureen was raped and murdered, Sidney Prescott is still grieving in Woodsboro, where Cotton Weary is in prison on her testimony. A masked killer calls teenager Casey Becker, quizzes her on horror films and murders her and her boyfriend. That night the killer attacks Sidney at home, and her boyfriend Billy Loomis climbs in through her window soon after, so she suspects him and he is briefly arrested. Tabloid reporter Gale Weathers, who believes Cotton was framed, chases the story with Deputy Dewey Riley, whose sister Tatum is Sidney's best friend. The school principal is killed, the town sets a curfew, and the teenagers throw a party at Stu Macher's house, where film buff Randy explains the rules of surviving a horror movie. Tatum is crushed in the garage door, Sidney sleeps with Billy, and Billy is stabbed in front of her.

How Scream ends

Billy faked his stabbing: he and Stu are the killers, and they murdered Maureen a year earlier because her affair with Billy's father broke up his family. They plan to frame Sidney's father, but Sidney turns the tables, killing Stu by dropping a television on his head. Gale shoots Billy, and when he lunges back up, Sidney shoots him in the head. Dewey and Randy survive, and Gale reports live from the scene at dawn.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 02 · 1997 · Film

Scream 2 recap

Two years later, Sidney is at Windsor College with a new boyfriend, Derek, and her friend Randy. Gale's book about the Woodsboro murders has been turned into a film, Stab, and a couple is murdered at its premiere. Gale arrives, as does Dewey, now walking with a limp, and Cotton Weary, freed and hungry for attention. The killer calls Sidney again, and a sorority sister is murdered. Randy is stabbed to death in a news van in broad daylight while talking to Ghostface on the phone. A local reporter named Debbie Salt keeps turning up around Gale, and film student Mickey talks a lot about sequels. On the way to a safe house, the police car carrying Sidney and her friend Hallie crashes, and while Sidney escapes, Hallie is killed. Derek is accused, tied up and left on the stage of the campus theatre.

How Scream 2 ends

Mickey is one killer: he wants to be caught and blame the movies at a famous trial. His partner is Debbie Salt, really Billy Loomis's mother, who wants revenge on Sidney. She shoots Mickey, but Cotton turns up and shoots her, and Sidney finishes her with a bullet to the head. Gale and Sidney shoot Mickey when he revives. Dewey survives, and Cotton gets the press attention he wanted.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 03 · 2000 · Film

Scream 3 recap

Three years later, Stab 3 is shooting in Hollywood, and a new Ghostface kills Cotton Weary and starts murdering the cast in the order their characters die in the script. Sidney is living in hiding in Northern California, working as a crisis counsellor, but the killer leaves old photos of her mother at each scene and her mother's voice haunts her. Gale arrives in Los Angeles and finds Dewey working as an adviser on the film and dating Jennifer Jolie, the actress playing Gale. Detective Mark Kincaid leads the case. The trail leads to Maureen's past: she spent two years in Hollywood as an actress called Rina Reynolds, and producer John Milton admits she was raped at one of his parties. A posthumous video from Randy warns that in a trilogy, anyone can die. Sidney comes to Los Angeles, and the surviving cast gather at Milton's mansion.

How Scream 3 ends

The killer is the director, Roman Bridger, Sidney's half-brother, born from Maureen's time in Hollywood and turned away when he found her. He shows he was the one who told Billy about Maureen's affair, starting everything. Sidney stabs him, and Dewey shoots him in the head. Dewey proposes to Gale, and Sidney, at peace, leaves her door open at home. The trilogy ends here.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 04 · 2011 · Film

Scream 4 recap

Fifteen years after the first killings, Sidney returns to Woodsboro on the last stop of a tour for her self-help book. Dewey is now sheriff and married to Gale, who is bored and stuck for her next book. On the day she arrives, two high school girls are murdered and evidence is planted in Sidney's rental car, so she has to stay in town. Ghostface targets her teenage cousin Jill Roberts and Jill's friends Kirby and Olivia, and film club members Charlie and Robbie explain that the new rules are about remakes. Olivia is killed across from Jill's bedroom, Sidney's aunt Kate is stabbed, and Gale is stabbed while sneaking into a film club screening. The students hold a Stab marathon party, where Robbie and others are killed, and Jill's ex-boyfriend Trevor is found tied up.

How Scream 4 ends

Jill and Charlie are the killers: Jill wants the fame of being the next Sidney. She kills Charlie and Trevor, stabs Sidney, and wounds herself to pose as the sole survivor. At the hospital she tries to finish Sidney off, but Dewey, Gale and Deputy Hicks arrive, and Sidney shoots Jill dead. Kirby's fate is left unclear until Scream VI.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 05 · 2015 · Series · optional

Scream: The TV Series recap

This MTV series is set in its own world, in the town of Lakewood. In season 1, a cyber-bullying video leads to the murder of a popular student and revives the story of Brandon James, a disfigured boy who went on a killing spree twenty years earlier. Emma Duval becomes the killer's main target, along with her best friend Audrey, horror fan Noah and new boyfriend Kieran, while true-crime podcaster Piper Shaw circles the case. Emma learns that her mother Maggie was involved with Brandon. The killer is Piper, Maggie's secret daughter by Brandon, and Emma and Audrey kill her; Audrey hides that she once helped Piper start her podcast. In season 2, Emma returns from treatment for trauma, Audrey is being blackmailed over her secret, and a new killer targets the group; Noah and Stavo investigate the murders, and Brooke and others are attacked. The killer is Kieran, Piper's partner from the start, and he is arrested. A two-part Halloween special follows the friends to Shallow Grove Island, where Kieran is killed in jail by someone in a Brandon James mask and a man posing as the island's heir is unmasked as a killer. Season 3, subtitled Resurrection, is a reboot with a new cast in Atlanta. Football star Deion Elliot, haunted by watching his twin Marcus attacked by a hook-handed killer on Halloween eight years earlier, is stalked by Ghostface along with a group of students who met in detention, Liv, Kym, Amir, Beth and Manny.

How Scream: The TV Series ends

In season 3, the killers are Deion's stepbrother Jamal, driven by resentment of his family, and Beth, a horror fan who planned it all; Beth is killed in the final showdown. It also comes out that the twins swapped costumes that night and the boy who died was Deion, so the survivor has been living as his brother. The friends who are left keep the secret and head to college, and he ignores one last anonymous call. The series ended there.

No. 06 · 2022 · Film

Scream recap

Twenty-five years after the first killings, Ghostface attacks teenager Tara Carpenter in Woodsboro, and she survives in hospital. Her estranged older sister Sam comes home with her boyfriend Richie and reveals why she left: she is Billy Loomis's daughter, and she sees visions of him. Tara's friends, including Amber, Wes, and twins Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin, Randy's niece and nephew, become suspects and targets. Sam turns to Dewey, now retired, divorced from Gale and living alone, and he warns Sidney and Gale, who both come back. Mindy explains the new rules of a requel: a sequel that returns to the original story and its legacy characters. Dewey is killed at the hospital. Everyone ends up at a party at Amber's house, the old Macher house, where Ghostface strikes again.

How Scream ends

Amber and Richie are the killers: toxic fans of the Stab movies who want to frame Sam and give the franchise new material. Sidney and Gale come to help, Gale shoots Amber and Sidney finishes her, and Sam stabs Richie to death, with Billy's voice urging her on. Tara, Mindy and Chad survive, and Sidney and Gale leave Woodsboro to the Carpenter sisters, who carry the series into Scream VI.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 07 · 2023 · Film

Scream VI recap

A year later, Sam and Tara have moved to New York, where Tara studies at Blackmore University with Mindy and Chad. A conspiracy theory online says Sam was the real killer in Woodsboro. A new Ghostface leaves masks from earlier killings at crime scenes, and Detective Wayne Bailey, whose daughter Quinn lives with the sisters, takes the case. Kirby Reed, now an FBI agent, shows up to help, and Gale, writing again, is attacked in her apartment and survives. The group finds a shrine in an abandoned cinema full of items from every Ghostface killing, including Billy Loomis's robe. Ghostface attacks on a crowded subway on Halloween, and Chad and Mindy are badly wounded. Sam uses the shrine to set a trap.

How Scream VI ends

The killers are Detective Bailey and his children Quinn and Ethan: Bailey is Richie's father, out for revenge on Sam. Sam wears Billy's mask to throw Bailey off. Kirby drops a television on Ethan, and Sam and Tara kill Quinn and Bailey. Chad, Mindy and Gale survive. Sam leaves Billy's mask behind and walks away with her sister and friends.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.

No. 08 · 2026 · Film

Scream 7 recap

In Woodsboro, a couple visits Stu Macher's old house after hearing rumours that Stu survived, and Ghostface kills them and burns it down. Sidney Prescott now lives in Pine Grove, Indiana, married to police chief Mark Evans, with a teenage daughter, Tatum. A Ghostface who calls himself Stu starts threatening Tatum and murders two of her friends. Ghostface attacks Sidney's home, and Gale, who has arrived with her assistants Mindy and Chad, runs him over; he turns out to be Karl Gibbs, an escaped mental patient. A hospital supervisor, Marco Davis, says the Stu caller sounds like a released patient. Mark is stabbed at home. Tatum discovers her boyfriend Ben has a laptop used to deepfake Stu's face, knocks him out and runs. The killers wound Mindy and Chad and kill Ben and others, and the Stu persona appears in the faces of past killers and even Dewey.

How Scream 7 ends

Marco is behind the Stu persona, built with his tech skills, and his partner is Jessica Bowden, Sidney's neighbour, who murdered her own husband and son inspired by Sidney's memoir and wants to make Tatum a new final girl. Sidney shoots Marco dead, and Sidney and Tatum together kill Jessica. Mark survives in hospital, and Gale and Mindy are with Sidney and Tatum at the end. A Scream 8 is in development.

Post-credits scenes

No. There is no post-credits scene.