Halloween is this week, and due to an overactive imagination, I cannot watch horror movies. One scary movie and suddenly I begin to see things out of the corner of my eye while I am trying to sleep at night. Despite this, one scary movie I’ve watched, and loved, is the classic Scream. Directed by the legendary Wes Craven, the first movie came out in 1996, and 15 years later, it was the first scary movie I ever watched. As of 2011, there are four movies in the Scream series. I can give you advice on which ones are a must watch, and which ones you can stand to miss.

Scream (1996): The first installment in the series introduced Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), a high school student whose mother had been murdered years before. When fellow students end up brutally stabbed and murdered, her town of Woodsboro becomes the target of a mysterious figure in a ghost face mask. Without giving away any spoilers, the opening scene, in which a ‘90s era Drew Barrymore gets terrorized by said ghost face is a classic scene for any horror movie buff. One of the best of the series; this one cannot be missed.

Scream 2 (1997): The major success of the first one caused Scream 2 to come out just a year later. Now following Sidney Prescott in college, a ghost face copycat begins killing her friends, leading Sidney down another murderous path she thought she was done with. This one is the by far the bloodiest, and in my opinion even scarier than the first.

Scream 3 (2000): The third film in the series took a step back from our protagonist Sidney and instead focused on two other survivors of the previous films, Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette). A fictional movie called Stab about the previous murders is being filmed in Woodsboro, and another ghost face copycat is murdering the cast and crew. It is up to Sidney, Gale and Dewey to uncover why this film is being targeted, and by whom. Easily the worst film in the series, the lack of Sidney Prescott seemed odd and out of place. However, the film has more humor than seen before and even garnered a few laughs. Still, Scream should have quit while it was ahead.

Scream 4 (2011): The most recent, and possibly last, in the series was actually good fun, but probably benefited from low expectations. This movie saw Sidney now all grown up and with a bestselling novel about her adventures with Ghost Face. When she returns to her hometown of Woodsboro, people around her begin getting killed and Sidney has to once again defeat Ghost Face. Heard this premise before? So has everyone. I could even feel Sidney become tired with these antics. No longer the fresh horror movie that made everyone rush to see it in the ‘90s, Scream just started feeling dated. Nonetheless, the final reveal of the true villain had a chilling scene that made me shiver, even if it might have been with disgust.

There you have it, my personal guide to my favorite horror movie series. The entire series is rated R however, so be prepared for adult language, mature themes and gallons of blood.