15 Of The Most Brutal 'Scream' Kills Over All Six Films
First and foremost, this list features kills from all six movies, so major spoiler alert ahead.
It's been over a month since Scream VI was released, and I still can't stop thinking about it... Or about that brutal death for poor Anika. So let's count down some of the most vicious, gory, and heart-breaking deaths from the full film franchise. (There are also brutal kills in the Scream series, but we'll save that for another time.)
This isn't a ranking of the Ghostface killers, though they are mentioned if relevant to describing the full horrifying scenario of the murder. There are over 60 kills in the film franchise, and I chose 32 that I found truly disturbing for one reason or another. You can read the full list on Ranker.com. Below, you'll see a bit of a remixed version of me ranking my top 15 choices for most cold-hearted kills.
15. Tyson Fox (played by Deon Richmond)
Tyson was an actor playing Ricky Wafford, a character inspired by Randy Meeks, in the movie Stab 3. He was a good comic relief, and a good guy, as he dies trying to protect the others. He dies in the third act blood bath at Milton's (Lance Henriksen) mansion. Roman (as Ghostface) stabs him in the stomach, and then literally pulls the rug out from under him when he tries to run away.
Ghostface then grabs him, throws him into a glass cabinet, and tosses him off of a balcony. His battered, bloody body is left on the ground, like a very un-welcome mat for Sidney when she arrives later.
14. Christine Hamilton (played by Kelly Rutherford)
Christine Hamilton's death is rough for many reasons, the first one being that she thinks her boyfriend, Cotton Weary, is trying to kill her. There's also the fact that Cotton might have some dark desires he's put Christine through, as when she first hears Ghostface moving around in the house, she says, "Okay, Cotton. You know I don't like your Stab games." I'm sorry, "Stab games?"
Since, thanks to the voice changer, she thinks Cotton is the one trying to attack her, she hits him in the head with a golf club. She then has the harsh realization that it wasn't her boyfriend, when she's staring at him on the ground in front of her, and she gets stabbed from behind.
13. Steve Orth (played by Kevin Patrick Walls)
We really don't get to know much about Steve, aside from the fact that he is Casey Becker's boyfriend, and he plays football. But there's no denying the brutality of his death. He's duct taped, and tied to a chair in his girlfriend's backyard.
He has to watch as Ghostface wagers his life on a game of horror movie trivia. When she misses a question, he is gutted, and you know he died thinking about the fact that his girlfriend is about to be murdered, and there's nothing he can to do stop it.
12. Phil Stevens (played by Omar Epps)
Phil's death makes the list because it's just so gross and undignified. I truly have this irrational fear that I am going to be killed in a public restroom, because of horror movies, and anxiety, because like, how awful would that be? Your last living moments on Earth, and they're spent in a smelly bathroom... your body left to be discovered by some stranger.
Phil thinks he's hearing some kind of kinky hookup in the movie theater bathroom, and leans his head against the stall wall to hear it better. That's when Ghostface stabs him, through the stall, and in the head. I could be wrong, but I don't think it would be an immediate death, so then he bleeds out alone on a dirty bathroom floor.
11. Cici Cooper (played by Sarah Michelle Gellar)
Cici was stuck inside her sorority, playing "sober sister" for the other girls who were out partying, and what does she get in return? A brutal death. First, she's taunted by Ghostface on the phone, and then when she is completely alone, that's when she's attacked. She gets thrown through a glass door, stabbed in the back multiple times, and then tossed off of a balcony to her death. It's almost as heartbreaking the death of Helen Shivers in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
10. Rebecca Walters (played by Allison Brie)
Look, Rebecca is a terrible person. She's nosy, rude, and only cares about money. That being said, Ghostface went a bit into berserker mode in killing her. She was leaving the hospital, as she had just been fired as Sidney's publicist. She's alone in a creepy parking garage, a very real and ever present danger. On top of that, she's being taunted by Ghostface on the phone with honestly bad ass lines, like, "You are the message."
Perhaps Jill was extra brutal in killing Rebecca because she was jealous that she aided in getting all of the attention on perpetual victim Sidney. She messes with her car, and breaks the handle on the door to the garage stairs, so Rebecca is completely trapped. As she fails to open the door, Ghostface stabs her in the stomach. Then, to really drive her message home, Ghostface tosses Rebecca off the roof of the garage. She lands on top of a news van right in the middle of Dewey's press conference, where he was trying to tell the people of Woodsboro that everything was under control.
9. Laura Crane (played by Samara Weaving)
Laura Crane makes the list because her murder is just so dehumanizing, and the definition of toxic masculinity. She's kindly waiting on her date, being perfectly pleasant despite the fact that he is lost and late. She steps outside to check the color of the restaurant for him. She tries to help direct him, walking across the street and even into an alley. He uses her trust and good nature against her, eventually mocking her on the phone for walking into a dark alley alone when she teaches about slasher movies.
Richie's friend Jason Carver, an unofficial Ghostface, wears the costume to stab and kill his Blackmore University professor for giving him a C. After stabbing her over and over again, he takes off the costume and walks away, leaving her body in the alley. Later, in a phone call that he thinks is from his roommate, Jason describes killing Laura, saying that the more he stabbed her with a knife, the less of a human being she became, until she was just meat. True serial killer shit.
8. Derek Feldman (played by Jerry O'Connell)
In terms of gore, Derek has one of the more tame deaths. He dies fairly quickly from a gunshot wound. However, emotionally, his murder is heart-wrenching. First of all, he's only strung up on this school play set piece because his frat brothers kidnapped him for sharing his letters with Sidney (which is actually allowed, and is called "lavaliering" - it just needs to be approved in a chapter meeting, and there is a bit of ceremony involved).
It worked out perfectly for Mickey, though, as he revealed himself to Sidney as Ghostface, and claimed Derek had been his partner-in-crime. Derek was a genuine cinnamon roll, and really loved Sidney, but unfortunately pauses after hearing that, you know, because her last boyfriend actually did try to kill her. That pause is all Mickey needs to shoot Derek, killing him almost instantly. He has just enough time to tell her that he would never hurt her, twisting the knife even deeper.
Sidney clearly feels guilty for his death, and can even be seen still wearing his letters in the third Scream film. He also died thinking that Sidney would likely die next, which can't have been an easy way to go.
7. Olivia Morris (played by Marielle Jaffe)
Olivia Morris isn't necessarily the biggest character in Scream 4, but she warrants a space on this list because Charlie (as Ghostface) really went insane when he was killing her. Ironically, Olivia goes home instead of hanging out with Jill and Kirby at Jill's house, because she didn't want to be around Sidney, or as she called her, the "angel of death." That works to Ghostface's advantage, as he hides in her closet, waiting to pounce on her unexpectedly, now that she's all alone.
He's on the phone with Kirby, taunting her, because he says he's hiding in the closet. Then he reveals that it wasn't their closet he was talking about. He surprises Olivia by stabbing her in the left shoulder after running out of the closet. Then he stabs her left hand, her back, and repeatedly in the stomach. It's a complete overkill, with GF then smashing her head through her own bedroom window as her friends watched from across the street.
6. Randy Meeks (played by Jamie Kennedy)
Randy was the affable, if not slightly annoying, movie buff who managed to squeak by in the first film thanks to being a virgin. (Rules are rules.) In the second film, his mouth seals his fate, after he calls Billy a "rat-looking, homo-repressed mama's boy." Seeing as the Ghostface he was talking to was Billy's mother, Nancy Loomis.
She "got a little knife happy," pulling Randy into a news van, throwing him against the windshield, slitting his throat, stabbing him in the chest four times, and then leaving his bloody corpse there for Gale, Dewey, and Joel to find.
5. Tatum Riley (played by Rose McGowan)
Poor Tatum. She's the cool best friend everyone wants, who makes funny comments and has always got your back. She dies after going into the garage to bring more beer into the party. Billy (as Ghostface) follows her in there, locking the door so he has her trapped. She thinks it's a game at first, and jokingly says, "No, please don't kill me, Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel."
She unfortunately does not make the sequel - although her nickname for the killer does! Tatum tries to escape through the cat flap in the garage door, but gets stuck. When Billy turns on the garage door, she immediately feels the pressure of the cat door digging into her ribs. When it reaches the top, the mechanism snaps her neck, killing her. I guess if you're going to kill off a beloved character, at least give them an unforgettable death.
4. Maureen Evans (played by Jada Pinkett Smith)
Maureen Evans has one of the most awful deaths. First, she only realizes something is wrong as she snuggles up to her boyfriend and feels and sees blood. She barely has time to process that shock, before she gets stabbed in the stomach. She's screaming, but unfortunately, so is almost everyone else, seeing as they are at a promotional free screening of the new movie, Stab.
She tries to get up and run away, calling for help, but because she is being chased by Ghostface, everyone just thinks it's a promotional stunt. She makes it to the front of the theater, and collapses right in front of the screen, after being stabbed another seven times. No one realizes she's really being attacked until she literally drops dead, and her attacker has fled the theater.
To make this even creepier, I attended a Cinespia screening at Hollywood Forever Cemetery of Scream 1 & 2, and overheard not one, not two, but three different people pointing out the opening sequence of Scream 2, and how it would be oh so meta if there were a real killer on the loose at the screening. Thankfully, nothing of that sort happened.
3. Casey Becker (played iconically by Drew Barrymore)
Drew could have played Sidney - but instead, she chose to shock audiences, picking the role that would have her killed in the opening sequence. Poor Casey was just trying to enjoy a movie night in with some popcorn. Instead, she has to watch her boyfriend die, while being tormented by a stranger on the phone. She's quizzed on her horror movie trivia, and her wrong answer leads to Steve being gutted in her backyard.
Then, Ghostface comes for her, stabbing her as she tries to run away. At one point, her parents arrive home, and it seems like maybe she could be saved. But they only arrived in time to hear her pained, dying breaths through the phone as she was drug out to be strung up on a tree. She is gutted, and her parents are the ones who have to find her mutilated body. Talk about brutal.
2. Dewey Riley (played by David Arquette)
Dewey has such a high spot on this list because I love Dewey. He has such a big heart, and could always bring a little levity. It was a good callback to have him step out of the elevator because, like zombies, you always want to shoot a Ghostface in the head to make sure they're really dead. But, the second he stepped out of that elevator, I think we all knew he wasn't coming back alive.
The fact that distraction by a call from Gale is what leads to Dewey's death makes it all the worse. Amber (as Ghostface) stabs him in his chest, and his back, pulling the knife to essentially gut him. It felt kind of inevitable, but that doesn't make it any less devastating.
1. Anika Kayoko (played by Devyn Nekoda)
Thrilled that they added a lovely queer partner for Mindy, but damn, did they do her dirty. First she gets stabbed in the stomach, and Ghostface does that awful thing, where they pull up the knife to cause the utmost damage. She's bleeding out when she, Sam, and Mindy barricade themselves into a bedroom that is thankfully directly across from Sam's neighbor-boyfriend, Danny.
The only solution Danny can think of is throwing across a ladder, like that scene in Nerve (2016). As a device, this works very well, because watching this scene had me stressed tf out. Sam crosses the ladder first, while Mindy holds the door closed, and Anika rests on the bed. She makes Mindy go next, promising to follow her. When she finally gets on the ladder, Anika has already lost so much blood. She's crying. Mindy's crying, and she's saying that she doesn't want to die. It is heart-wrenching.
Unfortunately, at this point, Ghostface is able to push his way into the bedroom, sees her trying to escape through the window, and begins to shake the ladder. Anika cannot hold on any longer, and falls to her death, slamming her head on a dumpster on the way down. The scene ends with a close-up of her poor, beat-up face.
The full version of this list is published on Ranker.com.
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