Scream - The greatest mystery slasher of all time.
No way. Friday the 13th was the greatest. Tourist Trap was another great one. The Prowler was damn good, too. You can hardly take Scream seriously, since the movie doesn't take itself seriously.
I'd put Ft13th at a strong number 2, but Scream just has a sharper script and more memorable characters. And I disagree about it not taking itself seriously. It takes itself very seriously (aside from the "Not you, Fred" joke), it's just that the characters don't take the situation seriously (there's a whole scene of Principal Himbry reaming two kids because they are making light of the whole situation), and that is as a direct result of having been raised on the films the movie itself is making reference to. Also, Craven is just a much better director than Cunningham - though I do think his skill is often overlooked when discussing Ft13 as a whole.
Scream 2 - Held up better than I expected. It doesn't have the pitch perfect pacing of the first (it's only about 5 minutes longer, but feels like it is 20 minutes longer), and the third act is a bit messy because of the late game rewrites, but overall it is a solid as hell sequel that builds upon the world of the first instead of deciding to go in a oddball direction, like so many other first sequels do.
Scream 3 - What a mess. There is some good here - Neve is great, as always and the opening is solid. Unfortunately it's just overstuffed, has all the subtlety of a brick, and twists itself in knots trying to be clever.
Scream 4 - The broad humor keeps this from being as good as it could be. The Keystone Cops don't work at all, and I still don't know how I feel about the Russian doll opening. Otherwise, it's solid as hell and Craven directs the shit out of it. Most underrated entry in the franchise.
