Julien Neaves, Editor
While scrolling through posts on one of my horror Facebook pages (I’m in quite a few, so can’t remember which one) I saw mention of a Scream fan film. Slasher is my favourite horror subgenre and Scream is one of my favourite franchises, so naturally I was intrigued. This led me down a rabbit hole and I discovered there a whole bloody heap of fan films featuring Ghostface. And it makes sense there would be so many, as all you need to costume-wise to create your own Scream can be ordered online, and the central set-up of phone taunting into chasing and stabbing is relatively easy to replicate even on a budget.
One place I found a list with 17 of these fan films was the page Horror Fan Films. I watched all of them, which ranged in length from just over six minutes to almost two hours. Talk about a labour of love. And for today’s article I will be ranking seven of the best, as well as dropping some dishonourable mentions and honourable mentions. So, let’s suit and mask up, switch on our voice changer, clean our bloody blade with a flourish and rank seven of the best Scream fan films as well as some that just didn’t make the cut. Puns. I got ’em.
Dishonourable Mentions – Scream The Legacy and Scream: Ghost of the Past
I’ll start with a caveat. I understand these fan films are usually created with miniscule resources and I therefore do not judge them at the same level as your average Hollywood film. But even with microscopic budgets passion and talent can craft something worth watching. Unfortunately, I could find no reason to recommend either Scream The Legacy (not to be confused with Scream: Legacy) nor Scream: Ghost of the Past.
Both movies have very rough production value, even for a fan film. Scream The Legacy barely has a story and quickly devolves into a bunch of random, uninspired kills. The cast appeared to enjoy themselves, so I guess there’s that. Ghost of the Past has a group of characters attacked by a Ghostface killer in the worst looking mask of any of these films. I presume it is meant to evoke the surgical mask in the first two seasons of the Scream TV series (the story loosely connects to it), but it just looks like a bad art project. There is also a threadbare plot, poor audio and awful editing.
If you are planning a Scream fan film binge I would recommend leaving these two duds out.
#7 Scream – Fan Film
Plot: A woman receives threatening phone calls from the Ghostface killer.
Review: found this short by Joey Koenig and KP Productions to be simple and effective. Rebecca Gomberg is solid as the lead Lindsey and Samuel Moore delivers a cool Ghostface voice impression. And I enjoyed the twist as well. Good time.
#6 #Scream
Plot: A group of friends gather to shoot a “Stab” movie only to realise a real killer is among them.
Review: This is not the only Scream fan film to go for the “life imitates art” scenario but it is one of the better ones. Aaron Lambert and A.M. Thirteen Films deliver a punchy and bloody short film featuring one of the better Ghostface voices. And the killer reveal is one of the better ones on this list.
#5 The Scream
Plot: Marie is targeted by a Ghostface killer in her apartment building.
Review: At six minutes and 31 seconds The Scream is the shortest film on this list. But in those few minutes writer/director Ryan Leshock was able to truly ramp up the tension with tight editing and dramatic music. And actress Julia Burack really sells it as the terrified lead. Leshock also provided the Ghostface voice and goes for a more natural tone rather than an impression, and it’s okay but not great.
#4 Stab 2 (2022)
Plot: Those involved in a “Stab” reboot film and a controversial movie about the film’s production are targeted by a Ghostface killer.
Review: We go from the shortest film on this list to the longest with Stab 2 which clocks in at almost one hour and 50 minutes. One of a series of fan films by StabMovies.com, the feature length movie features a massive cast, complex plot, decent acting, some meta humour, and several kills including a couple inventive ones. The end reveal is not the strongest and there is at least one glaring plot hole in the story, but overall I enjoyed this one. And the Ghostface voice is pretty dang good.
#3 Scream Live
Plot: A woman babysitting the children of Sidney Prescott is targeted by a Ghostface killer.
Review: Scream Live (2023) is not all that innovative story-wise, though I liked that it was tied into the main franchise. But the short truly shines in the very high quality of the production. It looks very polished and hats off to writer/director Joshua Chislett and his team. I must also give praise to actress Brooklyn Dakota Olinyk as the babysitter in distress and Blake Early for his menacing Ghostface voice.
#2 Chris R Notarile’s Scream Fan Film
Plot: While relaxing at home, film actress Lindsey Bean, receives a menacing call from one of cinema’s most dreaded slashers.
Review: This is just so very well done. Great performance by Notarile’s wife Bean, playing herself. Very high production value which the director credits to cinematographer Dylan Sides of Controlled Chaos Films. Great build-up of tension that leads to a terrifying and memorable ending. And voice actor Michael Chaisson does such a spot on Ghostface at times you would swear it was the original voice actor Roger L. Jackson. He is that good. Truly enjoyed this one and kudos to Notarile and the cast and crew. Heck, I would be down for a direct sequel.
Honourable Mentions – Ghostface, It’s a Stab, Scream Returns and Slasherverse: Ep 4 Scream
These four entries all had something interesting about them but there was not enough there to make the Top 7.
Ghostface gets points for its gore and dialogue, though it was kinda weird to have the killer speak so much while onscreen. The acting, though, is not great (even by fan film standards) and the ending was weak.
It’s a Stab is not the fanciest production, but they clearly put a lot of work into the story and attempting to make the kills believable, which I appreciated.
Scream Returns is in both French and English, has a sweet-looking chrome Ghostface mask and is kind of an anthology that jumps from live action to a video game setting and back. I give them points for creativity but the whole thing is not cohesive and did not work for me.
And finally, Slashervese Ep 4: Scream gets points for having the killer narrate the story and for an effective killer reveal. It’s darkly humorous, but there’s not much meat on these bones.
#1 Scream: Legacy (2022)
Plot: Sidney’s daughter returns to Woodsboro 22 years after the events of Scream 3 and becomes the target of a new Ghostface killer hellbent on finding her mother.
Review: If you were to check out only one of the films on this list, then it would have to be Scream: Legacy from Zenhouse Studios. Written and directed by Zach Salazar, the movie feels so close to an actual Scream film that it is eerie. We have top tier production, great performances, a strong soundtrack, bloody kills and an intriguing killer. I was thoroughly entertained by this one and highly recommend it. There is a reason 3.2 million have watched this fan film and that is because it is so dang good. You can check it out on YouTube by clicking here.
That’s my ranking. You can find all these films on Horror Fan Films by clicking here. Know of any Scream fan films that I could include in a part two of this list? And you can also check out more horror content to scream about below:
Julien “Editor Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by the Cryptkeeper, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “13 flavours of awesome sauce”. Read more.