Television series

Scream: The TV Series

Name: Scream: The TV Series
Genre: Horror, Mystery
Released: 2015
Cast: Willa Fitzgerald, Bex Taylor-Klaus, John Karna, Tracy Middendorf, Carlson Young

A slasher series that understands the Scream formula: whodunit mystery wrapped around teen melodrama, with a killer who stalks and murders across an entire season. It's less clever than the films but more invested in character and sustained tension. For fans who want their horror serialized, their suspects numerous, and their stakes personal.

TVMaze rating

3.5

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like teen slashers that wink at their own rules, where the whodunit runs on gossip, group chats and who-knows-what-about-whom more than on gore, and a Scream-style meta knowingness is part of the fun.

Skip it if you want the franchise's films in miniature, since this is a soapy, sprawling mystery with a large teen cast, and its pace sags whenever the romances take over from the chase.

What it asks of you: Around twenty-eight hour-long episodes across three seasons, so it wants a long commitment, and it rewards patience with the reveals and the mounting, plot-heavy tangles more than with fright.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Pretty Little Liars2010

Same DNA: a masked killer, shifting suspects, interconnected friend groups, and mysteries that sprawl across seasons. It nails the paranoia and the soap opera dynamics that make Scream work on television.

But The show runs seven seasons and sometimes spins its wheels. If you want tight pacing, this demands patience and tolerance for melodrama that occasionally overwhelms plot.

Riverdale2017

Another teen mystery-thriller that leans into darkness and violence. It has that same blend of murder investigation, social hierarchy, and the sense that anyone could be guilty or dead by next episode.

But Riverdale diverges wildly into supernatural territory and loses its moorings. If grounded slasher mystery is what you want, it eventually becomes something else entirely.

The Summer I Turned Pretty2022

Summer setting, ensemble cast, romantic tension braided through a narrative where things get genuinely dangerous. It shares Scream's ability to make teen relationships feel high-stakes and urgent.

But It's fundamentally a romance, not a thriller. The mystery takes a backseat to love triangles and family drama. Wrong show if you're here for kills and suspicion.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Scream: The TV Series

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tragedy Girls2017

Both understand that modern slashers are also about image, reputation, and how teens weaponize information. Scream: The TV Series uses cyber-bullying as its catalyst; Tragedy Girls makes that the entire engine.

Two high school girls accidentally become entangled with an actual killer and decide to use it to boost their social media following. It's Scream's irreverent DNA—self-aware, funny, violent—compressed into a film that understands the joke.

But Dark comedy that treats murder as content. If you want genuine scares and sincere stakes, the tonal whiplash will throw you. Also obscure enough that streaming availability can be patchy.

A Good Girl's Guide to Murder2024

Smart mystery-thriller with a protagonist who investigates a closed murder case. Atmospheric, twisty, and built on the same foundation: who can you trust, and what really happened that night?

But It's more cerebral procedural than slasher. If you want stylized violence and jump scares, this is investigation-focused and quieter.

Cruel Summer2021

A mystery that unfolds across multiple timelines with a killer, dark secrets, and a cast of teens and adults with something to hide. The paranoia and the sense of mounting dread align perfectly with Scream's strengths.

But It's heavy on trauma and exploitation. The subject matter—abduction, abuse—is darker and more serious in tone than Scream's playfulness allows.

Dare Me2019

Murder mystery wrapped in a high school setting with intense female friendships and a killer who may be closer than anyone suspects. Slick cinematography and a real sense of menace throughout.

But Cancelled after one season on a cliffhanger. If unresolved endings frustrate you, this will sting. Also darker and more brutal than you might expect.

Killing Eve2018

A psychological thriller where the hunter and hunted are locked in mutual fascination. Stylish, darkly funny, and built on the question: how well do you actually know someone? The cat-and-mouse tension is exquisite.

But The focus is on two adult antagonists, not a teen ensemble. The later seasons decline in quality. If you want group dynamics and whodunit mystery, this is different.

Yellowjackets2021

A mystery that haunts its own cast: survivors of a plane crash who may have done something unspeakable. Complex, atmospheric, and genuinely unpredictable about who will live or die.

But Moves between timelines and can feel convoluted. It also pivots toward the supernatural, and some plot threads feel abandoned. Not as focused as Scream's straightforward whodunit.

Ghostland2018

Both deploy the mask as a symbol of hidden identity. In Ghostland, the masks are literal and psychological; in Scream, the killer's face is the entire mystery. Both ask: what if the real horror is internal?

Three actresses in a mansion haunted by their own past—a home invasion that may or may not have actually happened. Disorienting, beautifully shot, and built on the same unreliability of perception that makes Scream work as mystery.

But Deliberately confusing and deeply bleak. It's experimental horror, not a puzzle you solve. Some viewers find it infuriating rather than intriguing. Also visceral in ways that don't play as entertainment.

The Vanished2020

Both understand that the killer—or the mystery itself—becomes a mirror. In Scream, it reflects who the teens are; in The Vanished, it reflects how easily we turn on each other when we're afraid. The real horror is what we do to ourselves.

A couple's daughter disappears, and paranoia consumes everyone—the parents, the town, suspects who may be innocent. It's structured like a whodunit but operates as a character study about suspicion destroying community. Scream with the kill count stripped away.

But Slow, mournful, and offers no satisfaction. There is no cathartic reveal or justice. If you want entertainment, this is an examination of grief that refuses to comfort you.