Movie Review - Scream 3

Scream 3 (2000)

Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, and Liev Schreiber

Directed by Wes Craven
***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

The least loved of the original Scream trilogy, the third and final installment of the series (until the fourth film was released over a decade later) earns that "Worst Film in the Series" honor.  However, Scream 3 wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered it being, finding myself being rather impressed with the overarching connection to the previous two films, but disappointed in the fact that the film is really nothing more than a typical slasher film with better acting.

In this third flick we move from Woodsboro (the setting of the first two films) to Hollywood where a third film -- Stab 3 -- is being produced mirroring the life of Sidney Prescott.  Of course, there's a copycat killer on the loose again and this lunatic is wreaking havoc on the movie set and those involved in the production.  What ensues is simply a progression of people getting stabbed in the back again and again and again and again.  And unfortunately, that's where Scream 3 doesn't work.  The kills are uninventive, repetitive, and we have so little connection to these obnoxious Hollywood types biting the dust that we don't really give a damn that they're being offed.  

What does work, however, is the continuation of Sidney's storyline, delving into the reasons her mother was looked upon as such a tramp in the first film and building the Scream mythology in a decent manner.  It also helps that Courtney Cox and David Arquette take a more prominent role than Neve Campbell's consistently bland Sidney.  Their Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley provide comic relief while, at the same time, giving the viewer characters to root for in the midst of the fairly disappointing characters that are thrown into the mix in this third flick.

Despite all the qualms about this one, I was still entertained and, at times, on the edge of my seat.  Sometimes you can't ask for more than that.  Now I'll just have to sit back another month or two until the fourth installment makes its way to dvd (even though I'm fairly upset that I've had a significant portion of the flick spoiled for me thanks to a television interview I stumbled upon two months after that film had been released).  

The RyMickey Rating:  C