20 Best Kills In The Scream Franchise - Ranked

5. Maureen Evans - Scream 2

Nobody would've been surprised if Scream 2's opening sequence paled in comparison to the first's, but Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson cooked up a mini-masterpiece in its own right here.

The unforgettable scene follows two Windsor College students, Maureen Evans (Jada Pinkett) and Phil Stevens (Omar Epps), as they attend a raucous preview screening of the first Stab movie.

Phil is stabbed to death in the bathroom, before the killer sits down next to Maureen in a Ghostface costume. It doesn't take Maureen too long to realise she's not sitting next to Phil, though, after which she's repeatedly stabbed by the killer. The kicker, of course, is that the rabid audience simply thinks it's a staged part of the fun, and it's only once Maureen climbs onto the cinema stage and screams for help that they realise what's happened, just as she collapses dead.

Everything about this scene just works, and not a single subsequent sequel has gotten close to the same brilliance right out of the gate.