The Best Gruesome Deaths in the Scream Movies
When picturing blood-soaked gore-filled franchises, The Scream franchise may not be at the top of that list. Franchises like Saw, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Friday the 13th and A Nightmare on Elm Street would almost certainly be at the top. While all the kills in the Scream franchise are creative, many of the characters die by simply getting stabbed or slashed. However, many defy just getting stabbed and instead get gutted, impaled, have TV’s thrown on top of them, or by good old explosions. So, sharpen your horror movie knowledge as we rank the most brutal kills in the Scream franchise.
10. Randy Meeks – Stabbed – Scream 2 (1997)

As a whole, Randy’s death in Scream 2 may not be the most viscerally brutal kill in the franchise, but seeing the bloody remains of a fan-favorite character makes it so much worse. Randy’s death was off-screen, meaning we couldn’t see the brutal kill in its entirety. However, when it is revealed that one of the Ghostface killers is Mrs. Loomis, Billy’s mom, she quickly reveals that she may have gone a little “knife-happy” when Randy began insulting her son.
9.Tom Prinze – House Explosion – Scream 3 (2000)

It’s no secret that Scream 3 is a rollercoaster of silly, tongue-in-cheek meta-commentary and slasher movie mayhem. It was over-the-top and ambitious, but thankfully, it never tried to take itself too seriously. Nowhere is this more apparent than Tom Prinze’s death. This buffoon of a character could have easily avoided his death, however, had he not been so interested in reading what the fax machine said. But because of his idiocy, Tom couldn’t smell gas and used a lighter to read the note in the dark; the house blew up, causing Tom to burn in the fiery inferno.
8. Wes Hicks – Stabbed in the Neck – Scream (2022)

Wes Hicks’ death prides itself on the tension and suspense it builds during the scene with its many fake-out jump scares. At many points in the scene, we think Ghostface will jump out from behind a refrigerator door, a bathroom door, and the front door. However, Ghostface appears behind Wes after stabbing his mom Sheriff Hicks to death. Ghostface attacks Wes, eventually stabbing him through the side of the neck uncomfortably slowly.
7. Anika – Fell Off to Her Death – Scream VI (2023)

Scream VI is filled with brutal kills and is, without a doubt, the goriest Scream movie in the franchise. Anika’s death, however, may just well be the most brutal and intense death in the entire flick. After getting attacked by Ghostface, Samantha Carpenter, Mindy Meeks-Martin, and Anika Kayoko attempt to escape by climbing over to Danny’s (Samantha’s love interest) apartment via a ladder that hung between the two adjacent apartments. From there, all three climb over the ladder one at a time, with Anika being last. However, with Ghostface previously stabbing Anika in the gut, Anika bleeds out, causing her to crawl slowly, allowing Ghostface to stand at the end of the ladder. Ghostface then proceeds to shake the ladder causing Anika to fall to her death, smashing her head onto a large garbage bin before slamming into the concrete below.
6. Stu Macher – TV – Scream (1996)

Another Ghostface killer who gets their brutal comeuppance is no doubt one of the best characters in the franchise, Stu Macher. Stu was a serial killer for one reason, and one reason only, peer pressure. Not a great reason for slaughtering your friends, is it Stu? But due to Matthew Lillard’s performance, Stu is an unforgettable character. So, an unforgettable character warrants an unforgettable death. Stu fell victim to one of the most iconic deaths in the franchise, with Sidney pushing a heavy, old-fashioned TV onto his head, crushing his skull, and electrifying him.
5. Amber Freeman – Stabbed, Shot, Beaten and Lit on Fire – Scream (2022)

Talk about overkill. As one of the two Ghostface killers in 2022s Scream alongside Richie Kirsch, Amber Freeman was another die-hard fan of the Stab franchise who wanted to make a movie of her own. And that she did. Her death is certainly over-the-top, with Sidney and Gail beating her over the head with bottles and then a kettle, before stabbing her and shooting her into a lit stove, causing Amber to light up like a match and burn to her death. But in true Scream fashion Amber comes back for one final scare, before being shot in the head once and for all.
4. Dewey Riley – Stabbed and Gutted – Scream (2022)

Queue the Broken Arrow theme. Seeing the beloved Dewey Riley meet his end was tragic enough, but seeing him go out as brutally as this, heightened all our emotions. In every film in the franchise, Dewey has been stabbed numerous times and has somehow always survived. But this time was much different. Being the hero he is, Dewey walks up to Ghostface to put one final bullet into their head; however, Ghostface quickly gets up and stabs him in the stomach before forcing another knife into his back and dragging them both up his back and chest, causing blood to spurt onto the floor. Dewey may be gone, but he is certainly not forgotten.
3. Tatum Riley – Garage – Scream (1996)

1996s Scream offered many brutal kills. One of which was the unforgettable kill of Tatum Riley, Dewey’s sister, who sadly met her end in an undeniably creative kill. When standing toe-to-toe with the Ghostface killer in an inescapable garage, Tatum taunts the killer thinking it’s not the real Ghostface. But after Ghostface slashes her arm, Tatum soon realizes that this Ghostface is the real deal. With no way out, Tatum tries to climb through the dog flap in the garage door, but being too large for the flap, Tatum gets stuck. This sparks a lightbulb idea by Ghostface’s, as he presses the button to open the garage door, sending Tatum high up into the air before getting crushed by the gears.
2. Olivia Morris – Stabbed, Gutted and Thrown Through Window – Scream 4 (2011)

Ghostface has delivered plenty of gruesome kills, as evident with this list, but easily the most viscerally gory has to be Olivia Morris’ death in Scream 4. The scene heightens the tension, as a phone call with the killer makes us think that Ghostface is in Kirby’s house with Jill and Kirby. However, we and the characters were wrong as poor Olivia Morris, who lives across the road from Kirby, is instead visited by the bloodthirsty Ghostface. He proceeds to stab and slash her stomach, sending blood all across her bedroom room, before throwing her head through the window, so Jill and Kirby can watch her lifeless body.
The scene doesn’t stop there, however, as Sidney bursts through the door in an attempt to save Olivia but is instead witness to a bedroom painted red with Olivia’s blood and her guts sprawled across her bed.

1. Casey Becker – Stabbed and Gutted – Scream (1996)
This iconic opening scene laid the groundwork for the franchise and toyed with audiences’ expectations of the genre in brilliant fashion. Let’s face it; no one could have predicted that Casey Becker would be Ghostface’s second kill, behind her boyfriend Steve moments before. She is even on the poster. But low and behold, and intense cat-and-mouse chase ensues, and Ghostface stabs Casey a bunch of times before strangling her, subduing her ability to scream to her parents, who are only steps away.
Ghostface then proceeds to attack Casey once again, stabbing many more times before eventually killing her. However, Ghostface is a showman, and instead of leaving her corpse on the floor, he drags her body to a tree and hangs Casey from it. Displaying a grizzly image of Casey’s guts hanging from her stomach, for her parents to find her grizzly remains.
