Fashioning herself as the quintessential scream queen of the 1990s, nearly every horror film that Neve Campbell starred in were surefire hits in the '90s and early-'00s. Most remembered for her extensive run as the heroine Sidney Prescott in the first five films in the Scream franchise, Campbell's filmography has been dotted with other breakout horror performances that allowed her to show off her range as an actor. Even if she never stars in another horror film again, Neve Campbell was an inextricable part of '90s pop culture and left an indelible mark on the horror of that nostalgic decade.

After a few credits on television shows in her native Canada, Campbell made her feature film debut in the 1993 horror movie The Dark. She soon returned to television though when she landed a starring role in Party of Five in 1994. Though the quality of '90s horror movies is dubious, Campbell's breakout role in the film The Craft (1996) helped give the decade its own distinct horror tone, after struggling to find an identity as the '70s and '80s did. 1996 proved to be a banner year for Campbell as she also starred in the irreverent neo-slasher Scream, which lit a fire under her fledgling career.

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The Dark (1993)

A police officer sits with a man on the ground while two people look on from The Dark

Although Neve Campbell would eventually rise to the top of the A-list for a brief time in the late-'90s, her film debut in the creature feature, The Dark, was an inauspicious start if there ever was one. The film told the story of a giant rat that lived underground and fed on the bodies of a local cemetery. While hardly an underrated creature feature, the movie's zany premise was offset by strong performances by veteran character actors, like Brion James. Campbell played the small role of Officer Jesse Donovan, and it was clear from her performance that she was still cutting her teeth in the acting business.

The Craft (1996)

The Witches from The Craft lean against a painted wall

The second of four films that Campbell starred in during 1996, the cult-classic witch movie, The Craft, showed just how far the young actor had come in her short career, and helped to revive the lagging horror genre. The film followed a group of teen girls who begin experimenting with witchcraft and use it for all the wrong reasons to a predictably negative result. The movie was a surprise box office success for Columbia Pictures (via Box Office Mojo) and was part of an explosion of horror in 1996 that jump-started the genre in the second half of the decade (and helped distance Campbell from her squeaky-clean reputation from Party of Five).

One of the reasons that The Craft was successful was that it helped the 1990s establish a tone in horror films. The first half of the decade struggled to assert itself after the bombastic horror movies of the '80s, and many of the releases of the '90s either felt like rip-offs or cash-ins. The youthful energy of The Craft, and its young cast of stars, spoke to the horror audience of the '90s and effortlessly blended coming-of-age with traditional horror concepts. Though the release of Scream would still prove the dominance of the slasher film in the '90s, The Craft blazed its own trail which attracted the modern audience.

Scream (1996)

Gale, Randy, and Sydney looking scared in Scream

By the start of the 1990s, the slasher genre had seemingly run its course thanks to a massive glut of forgettable movies that inundated the '80s horror market. However, the release of Scream (1996) showed that with a clever plot, a slasher film could still be viable. With horror history in mind, the film followed a town full of teenagers who are plagued by a mysterious killer with a devious love of horror flicks. The cast of the film was packed with '90s mainstays and Neve Campbell wasn't the only star-on-the-rise who saw a bump thanks to their appearance in Scream.

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Campbell was given an even larger role as Sidney Prescott, and she effortlessly stepped into the part of the "final girl" that assured her place in horror history. Scream was loosely based on a true story and that connection to real life made the by-the-numbers slasher elements all the scarier. Director Wes Craven had already made his mark on horror with the release of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), and Scream was packed with satire that only a master of horror could pull off. Ironically, Scream's irreverent scoffing at extended horror sequels would come to fruition when the series began producing sequels of its own.

Scream 2 (1997)

Sidney looks on in Scream 2

Taking place roughly two years after the events of the first film, Scream 2 (1997) was a by-the-number sequel, but still managed to feature some of the clever satire of the first film. Sidney Prescott was once again the focus of the film, and she was tormented by a copycat killer who attempted to recreate the events of the infamous Woodsboro massacre. Several original cast members returned, but it was Neve Campbell's turn as Sidney that carried the film. Even if it wasn't as original as its predecessor, Wes Craven's direction and Campbell's performance were enough to make it a serviceable sequel.

Scream 3 (2000)

Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott looking startled in Scream 3

One thing that saved Scream 3 (2000) from being a completely cynical cash-grab was that director Wes Craven was back at the helm, and many of the franchise's signature cast members returned. The film followed Sidney Prescott, who traveled to Hollywood to stop another copycat Ghostface killer from slaying the cast of the film, Stab 3. Scream 3 drew comparisons to Halloween H20 (1998) and though it is far from a beloved classic, it wasn't a complete waste either. The world building was top-notch, and details, like the movie-within-a-movie, Stab, was true to Scream's original vision as a satire of the bloated slasher franchises of the past.

Scream 4 (2011)

Neve Campbell holds a large knife in Scream 4

The original Scream trilogy was released over a few short years, but the long-awaited third sequel took much longer to come to fruition. However, it was well worth the wait. Set during the 15th anniversary of the Woodsboro massacre, the film followed Sidney Prescott as she returned to the scenes of the original crimes to stop a new Ghostface from recreating the horror. As with the previous sequels, the returns of Craven and the cast members gave Scream 4 (2011) a continuity that many other horror franchises don't have, and a third sequel felt entirely justified considering how it served to develop the characters.

Scream 4 took aim at remakes and offered fans a natural progression to the ideas originally presented in Scream. Where the first was satirizing the overabundance of horror sequels and the proliferation of clichés, Scream 4 modernized its critique by attacking Hollywood's love of remakes. Furthermore, characters like Sidney and Dewey were shown to have grown and matured because of their experiences, and that is a testament to the performances of Campbell and her co-stars. Also, Scream 4 was an ingenious way to keep the franchise alive as it introduced the idea of having younger character take over from the original cast.

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Scream (2022)

Sidney looks for Ghostface in Scream 2022

Wes Craven's unfortunate passing robbed the Scream franchise of its faithful leader, but the unenthusiastically named fifth film, Scream (2022), still managed to honor the director's legacy while delivering a great horror film in the process. Set decades after the original murders, the film follows a group of horror buffs who are attacked by a new ghostface menace. With a slew of actors returning for Scream (2022), the movie felt like the natural continuation of the previous sequel and a continuation of the franchise's themes as well. Although the original made commentary about the celebrity of violent criminals, it was a much more prevalent theme in 2022's Scream.

Unfortunately for Scream fans, the fifth installment of the series was likely Neve Campbell's last with the franchise as it was announced she would not be returning for the sixth (via Deadline). The falling out between Campbell and the studio was reportedly over a pay dispute, and it signified the end of a 25-year era of horror history. The sixth film has forged on without her, but Scream VI will likely suffer from her absence. Whether Neve Campbell ever makes another horror movie in her career is unknown, but her extensive work in the Scream franchise and beyond has forever earned her a place among the greatest "final girls" in film history.

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