Cinemaroll > Horror

Scream 3

Scream 3 is the third installment of the Scream series. Here is my review for the movie.

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Scream 3 is the third installment of the Scream series. This one takes place on the set of Stab 3. There's another movie being done on what happened in Woodsboro. The movie is like a movie within a movie. The people who are playing the main characters in Stab 3 interact with the main characters. One by one, the people involved in the movie are being killed. The police seem to think that the killer is trying to kill off people based on how they die in one of the many scripts that were leaked on to the Internet. The police also seem to think that the killer is after Sydney. That's why the police want to keep an eye on Sydney. That means that anyone could have seen it and could be a killer. As in the first two Screams, the killer is after Sydney. She goes to Hollywood to escape the killer, since she's in hiding. Who is stalking her this time?

Thoughts

Before I get to what I liked and didn't like about the movie, I want to point out that I like the Scream series. This is one of my favorite horror movie trilogies. This is one of my favorite horror movie trilogies. With that said, I do think that Scream 3 is the weaker movie of the three if I had to choose. Sequels usually start becoming predictable after the second installment and this one was no exception. I think that it was a good movie, but it was not without it's problems. Now let's move on to what I liked and disliked.

What I liked about the movie

I liked how some of the characters from the first two movies appear in the movie. It was a good way to tie the movies together. I have read reviews from people who said that they didn't like the characters from the previous movies being in the sequels, but I didn't have a problem with it. This movie is flooded with so many new people that it needed the familiar faces from the other movies to remind us that this is a Scream movie.

I liked how the mystery element was still a factor. The movie kept you guessing who the killer was until the end. This was the same plot that was in the other tow movies. Since the cast was big, it could have been anyone who was after Sydney and the other people involved in the Stab 3 movie.

The killer has an inventive way of tricking the other characters. The killer has a device that allows them to mimic other peoples' voices. The characters weren't aware that they were talking to the killer. This enabled the killer to be able to kill them. It also provided red herrings, which are needed in a mystery. There is one red herring that doesn't make sense, which I will discuss in the things that I didn't like section of my article.

The acting was pretty good. The originals were really good. The newer additions were pretty good. I think the standout performances of the newer characters were Patrick Dempsey and Lance Henricksen.

The movie has a twist ending just as the other two do. This is a good and a bad thing. It's good because it's a surprise ending. I'll discuss the bad later.

What I didn't like

My main problem with this movie is the fact that Sydney isn't in the movie as much as she should be. The point of the movie is that the killer is after her, but she's barely in it. She disappears for a big chunk of the movie. I read that she was filming for her show Party of Five during the making of this movie. If this is true, the writers should have found a way to work around her schedule. In Scream and Scream 2, Sydney's character was in the bulk of the movies which makes her disappearance in this one noticeable. Was this a way for the audience to get to know the new characters better? I think if she had interacted with the characters more, then their deaths would have made more sense. That brings me to my next problem with the movie.

There are too many new characters in this movie. They are clearly in it just to die. They have no other purpose. Cotton's girlfriend, Jenny McCarthy, and Jennifer/Gale's bodyguard are a few examples of useless characters. I know the body count needed to be bigger, but Scream 2 didn't need this many people in the movie.

Earlier I mentioned that there was a red herring that didn't make sense. While Sydney is in hiding, the killer(s) make it appear as if her mother is after her. This brings her out of hiding. Anyone who has seen the first movie knows this is impossible because she's dead. For some reason, Sydney seemed to believe that her mother is after her. There was never a need for us to think that her mother was the killer since she's dead. It could have been a good twist if her mother wasn't really dead. The only purpose I see to Sydney's mother being mentioned a lot is that she ties the killer to Sydney.

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Comments (7)
#1 by C A Johnson, Apr 24, 2007
Hi Jonathan,

Thanks so much for the addy. I made sure to write it down this time. LOL! Thanks for the warning about having virus protection. I am supposed to have it through AOL, but I will make sure to be careful before I start surfing for traffic. I hope that you don't lose too much info now that you have a virus.
#2 by Lucy Lockett, Apr 26, 2007
I'm too old for spooky movies!I just can't do it anymore.
#3 by C A Johnson, Apr 27, 2007
LOL! Oh I see. The Scream trilogy isn't scary to me. I used to be scared of the classic horror pics when I was a kid though. :)
#4 by Michelle~Parker, May 5, 2007
I loved all 3 movies and was able to see the last two on cinema. Before Scream I didn't like horror movies they were to scarey for me. I got scream from the video store not knowing it was a horror movie. It took me 5 times to watch it and see the whole movie as I kept clasping my hands to my eyes. The scream movies made me appreciate some horror movies and get over them being to spooky for me to watch and now buy other horror movies. I own the scream movies on video but haven't been able to watch them for years as I no longer have a video player.
Good write up by the way. I don't usually read movie reviews as they either give to much away or they say they don't like it and makes me change my mind on whether to buy it. Seeming I have watched scream 3 I thought it was safe to read your write up. LOL.
#5 by C A Johnson, May 6, 2007
Thank you so much for reading my review Michelle. I really appreciate it. Thank you for the compliment. I love the Scream movies too. What I like about them is the fact that they have a mystery element to them. Now I expect all horror movies to keep you guessing like that. LOL!
#6 by Mike, Jun 8, 2007
SPOILERS discussed...

I agree whole-heartedly with your questions.

-Why do the killers want to talk to Syndey at the end? This is strange considering they also try to kill her earlier in the film. If they wanted to talk to her so bad about their motives, why were they trying to kill her earlier? My only thought would be that they aren't trying to kill her as much as they are just trying to scare her. This is why she is always able to get away so easily from an attack.

-Why isn't Sydney in this film as much as the first two? Well I have an answer to that. When she signed up for Scream 3 she specified in her contract that she would only be on set for 20 days so she wouldn't be typecast in the horror movies. Oops, I guess that didn't work out for her, did it?

-Why did the killer want to kill the cast while filming Stab 3? I have no idea considering how the killer complained that his movie was getting ruined by having it shut down. If this was an attempt to have his name be taken off the list of possible killers, it obviously wasn't handled correctly.

-Why was Syd so paranoid if she thought she killed the killers? This was the biggest question I had of this film. My only guess is that the killer had been calling/stalking her before what we saw.

-Why weren't the rules Randy gave helpful? I don't know. Maybe they just did this to build up suspense without actually having any of the scenarios done.

I have a question: why would Dewey agree to work on the set of a film that was inspired by a group of murders including his own sister? Does he have no morals?
#7 by C A Johnson, Jun 8, 2007
Thanks for reading my article Mike.

I'm glad that you agreed with my questions.

Thanks for trying to answer some of my questions. LOL! I guess Neve didn't want to be typecast after all. I haven't seen her in too many things since Scream 3 and Party of Five.

I agree with you that the way that the killer got rid of the cast wasn't handled right. He made it seem as if it was important to make the movie. I also wonder how he knew that he would be able to bring Sydney out of hiding.

You could be right. Maybe the killer was stalking her off screen. That would be the only reason that would make sense for why she felt she had to stay in hiding since she killed the killers in 2.

That's a great question! Dewey shouldn't have wanted to relive what happened to Tatum. He didn't even like the book that Gale wrote about it, but he would consult on a movie about the murders?
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