WHAT’S IT ABOUT

The last instalment in the ‘Scream’ trilogy is set in Hollywood, where ‘Stab 3’ is being shot, with Gale Weathers and Dwight Riley on set as advisors to Jennifer Jolie. Unfortunately, a killer decides to off the cast in the order of the screenplay and only ‘Sid’ Prescott, now in hiding until the killer tracks her down, can solve the riddle.

MOVIESinMO REVIEW

Let me be honest with you from the start. When Scream came out in 1996, it changed everything. Wes Craven walked into that theater and basically told the whole horror genre, “You been doing this wrong.” The first film was sharp. It was smart. It talked directly to the audience and said, “We see you, and we know you see us.” The second film, Scream 2, kept most of that energy and delivered something solid. So when Scream 3 arrived in February of 2000, directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, expectations were high. Very high. Those expectations did not get met. Scream 3 follows Sidney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, who now lives alone in the mountains, completely off the grid. She works from home counseling victims of abuse, and she has pulled herself far away from the world. Then Ghostface shows up again, and the murders start pulling Sidney back toward Hollywood, where a movie called Stab 3 is being filmed. Dewey Riley, played by David Arquette, works as a technical consultant on the set. Reporter Gale Weathers, played by Courteney Cox, rushes to cover the story. The cast of Stab 3 starts dying one by one, and everybody has to figure out who the killer is before the body count gets too high. That setup actually sounds interesting when you say it out loud. A horror movie set on the production of a horror movie? That is layered. That is clever on paper. But the film never truly uses that idea the way it should. The meta-commentary that made the first two films feel alive gets thin here. It almost feels like the movie is trying to wink at you, but it keeps missing your eye. The biggest problem with Scream 3 is that it does not feel dangerous. The first Scream made you feel like anyone could die. That tension kept you gripping your armrest. In this third film, you mostly know who is going to make it through, and that comfort kills the horror. The kills happen, but they do not land with any real weight. You watch them and move on quickly, almost like the film itself moves on quickly, like it does not want to spend time with the fear it is supposed to be building. The new characters introduced in this film are largely forgettable. There is a large cast of Stab 3 actors who enter the story, but most of them feel like they exist only to be removed from it. You do not connect with them. You do not worry about them. When they are gone, the film moves forward without missing them. A horror film lives and dies by how much the audience cares, and Scream 3 does not make you care deeply enough. Now, I will say this — Neve Campbell does her job well. Sidney Prescott is one of the strongest final girls in the history of the genre, and Campbell carries real emotional weight every time she appears on screen. When Sidney finally stands up and fights back, you feel it. That character deserves better writing around her, though. The film gives Sidney some powerful moments, but it also keeps her removed from the story for too long in the first act. Courteney Cox and David Arquette bring warmth to their roles, and their chemistry feels natural and lived in. The film is actually more comfortable when these three are together on screen. That comfort is both a strength and a weakness, because comfort is not exactly what horror needs. The mystery surrounding the killer’s identity tries hard in the final act. There is a reveal that aims to expand the entire Scream mythology and connect it back to Sidney’s mother, Maureen Prescott. The ambition there is real. But the execution moves too fast, explains too much through dialogue, and does not earn the emotional response it is clearly reaching for. You sit there thinking, “Okay, I hear you,” but you do not feel it in your chest the way a good twist should hit. Wes Craven is a director who understands tension. He built his whole career on it. But Scream 3 feels like a film that got reshaped by outside forces — by the pressure to deliver something safe after two successful films, by a studio wanting to protect its franchise. The energy feels managed rather than free. The original Scream was bold because it felt free. Here is what Scream 3 does right: it looks clean, the pacing moves steadily, and it never completely bores you. It is a watchable film. If you are home on a Friday night and it appears on your screen, you will not turn it off. But “watchable” is a different thing from “good,” and it is a very different thing from what this series showed us it could be. The horror genre has always had a complicated relationship with Black audiences. We show up, we watch, we invest — and too often the films do not give us back that same investment. Scream 3 does not particularly speak to or against any one audience. It is too busy being comfortable to really speak to anyone deeply. It is a film that respects its audience just enough, but not fully enough. The Scream series earned its place in cinema history. This third chapter, unfortunately, earns its place near the bottom of that history.

OUR RATING – A SCARED OF ITSELF 6

MEDIA

• Genre – Horror

Street date

• Digital – March 29, 2011
• 4K – October 3, 2023
• BluRay – March 29, 2011
• DVD – July 4, 2000
• Video – 1080p
• Screen size 2.35:1
• Sound – English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
• Subtitles – English SDH, Spanish, French

Extras

• Audio Commentary: Featuring Wes Craven, Marianne Maddalena, and Patrick Lussier.
• Deleted Scenes: Approximately 14 minutes of footage, some with commentary by Wes Craven.
• Alternate Ending: A 10-minute alternative conclusion.
• Outtakes/Blooper Reel: 7 minutes of bloopers.
• Behind-the-Scenes Montage: A 6-minute look at the production.
• Music Video: Creed’s “What If”.
• Trailers & TV Spots: Includes both domestic and international trailers.