Scream 3 (2000)


Scream and Scream 2 brought slashers back after a long absence, taking a cue from Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives and adding self-referential humor into the mix.  I didn't love the first one and, though I've reassessed it a bit, I still can't say it's one of my favorite horror films.  Both movies have complicated denouements and think they are more clever than they actually are, which seems to be a hallmark of Kevin Williamson's scripts.  Still, the second one was better, and it was obvious there was going to be a third.  It just didn't show up right away. 

After enduring a second round of stalking from college friend Mickey and Nancy Loomis, the mother of the original killer.  They are both killed but, in fear of more copycats, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) goes into hiding just outside of Los Angeles.  Stab 3, the third movie in a trilogy based on the Woodsboro Murders, is underway, with Dewey (David Arquette) providing technical advice while dating actress Jennifer (Parker Posey), who plays Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox) in the film within a film.  

That film is under scrutiny when Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), now a popular talk show host who is to have a cameo in Stab 3, is murdered by another Ghostface killer.  Soon the rest of the movie cast is being stalked and killed by someone looking for Sidney, who comes out of hiding to help Dewey and Gail, who once again shows up looking for a story.  Also in the mix is a detective named Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) who seems to have quite the obsession with Sidney as well.  

Scream 3 came out not too long after the Columbine massacre and, true to form, everyone wanted to blame everything except bad parenting and a community turning a blind eye to a situation that could have been dealt with long before it happened.  Instead, music, video games and movies were blamed.  As a result, Wes Craven faced quite a bit of censorship on Scream 3, to the point where onscreen kills were not allowed.  It was enough to almost drive him from making further horror films. 

Kevin Williamson was not available and so Ehren Kruger took over as writer.  Not having seen the first two movies he pretty much got the characters wrong, causing Wes Craven to have to constantly rewrite.  This meant that pretty much no one knew what their characters were.  Neve Campbell herself was barely on set due to other commitments, leaving much of the movie to be carried by Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Parker Posey.  Also, what was supposed to be a repeat of the last movie having two killers was whittled down to one.  The result is that the ending, again convoluted, doesn't make a lot of sense because the killer has to have the powers of teleportation to do some of what he did.  Since Ghostface is not Death from the Final Destination flicks it just confuses the audience further.

This was intended as the last Scream film, with Randy (Jamie Kennedy) making a brief appearance in a posthumous video explaining how horror trilogies work.  As such it is a misfire.  It comes across as much of a mess as it was making it and, being three years after the last movie, feels like an afterthought.  Craven was not happy with it and neither were the fans and, six movies in, this one still feels like the odd one out.  In fact, it's the reason I never revisited the series once Craven came back to it.  It may not be awful, but it certainly does not live up to its predecessors.

Scream 3 (2000)
Time: 116 minutes
Starring: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley
Director: Wes Craven

 

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