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There are two well-known film trilogies: The Godfather and the original Star Wars series. In both of these examples, the first installments were fluke, out-of-left-field success stories that actually got better with the second film before grinding to a halt with a lesser-acclaimed third and final picture. By the way, there are no spoilers here, so don't be afraid to keep reading.
Forget all of that when it comes to Scream. The only reason I bring it up is irony - the Scream series called The Godfather, Part II the only sequel that was better than the original. Also, there was that scene where the video store clerk and the convenience store employee decide that The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the Star Wars films … wait; that was Clerks. It's tough to keep this stuff straight, especially when Jay, Silent Bob and Princess Leia all have cameos in Scream 3.
While Scream 3 lacks the obvious bite of creator Kevin Williamson's acidic pen, it's still better than the second film. What is sacrificed in terms of witty banter and keen pop culture references is made up for, pound-for-pound, in genuine fright. The film should keep most of the audience on the edge of their seats, with hands intermittently clutching chests, covering eyes and, if you're the type to try to figure out the ending, scratching heads. Scream 3 offers enough red herrings to gag Hitchcock. Hey, even Hitch gets a mention in the film, with one particularly dimwitted character refusing to take a shower because she's `seen Vertigo.'
The story for Scream 3 is set up around the production of Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, the third film in a series that has starred Tori Spelling, Heather Graham, Luke Wilson and David Schwimmer (although he's never seen; just referred to). The whole idea of the movie within the movie was pretty cool the first time but seemed in danger of being ground into the dirt here (and what happened to Stab 2, anyway?). But it's actually handled pretty well, thanks to some good casting and scene settings. Imagine the poor sap that wanders into the Sunrise Studios dark prop room, where there's dozens of those creepy masks, flowing black robes and pointy knives.
After the well-done opening murder scene, we begin to see the performers in Stab 3 bumped off in the order their characters die in the script. At the same time, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, Three to Tango) starts to have visions of her dead mother Maureen, which ties in nicely with the murders because the killer is leaving old photographs of Mrs. Prescott at each of the slaughter scenes.
Sidney, now a crisis counselor, has moved away from Woodsboro to distance herself from the murders (and movies about the murders). Other holdovers from the first two films include talk-show host Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber, The Hurricane), cutthroat journalist Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox-Arquette, Friends) and Deputy Dwight "Dewey" Riley (David Arquette, Never Been Kissed), who is a creative consultant for Stab 3. Oh, and there's also Roger L. Jackson, who has provided that scary phone voice for all three pictures.
Dewey, Gale and Sidney are reunited on the Stab 3 set after two murders shut down the production. Before long, the killer is slashing at all of them like OJ after a particularly bad round of golf. They notice similarities between reality and the Scream 3 script, but nobody knows how the fictitious film ends because three finales were written to keep the real one off the Internet. Everything comes to a head in a mansion owned by Stab producer John Milton (Lance Henriksen, Millennium), where our three heroes run around like Scooby, Shaggy and Velma.
The best parts of Scream 3 are when the characters meet the people who are playing them in Stab 3, especially Gale and Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey, The House of Yes), who does a dead-on impersonation of the aggressive reporter. Both skinny brunettes are perfect two-dimensional bookends for Deputy Dewey, the object of both women's desire. The denouement is a little improbable, but it's a pretty effective ending for what is supposed to be the last film in the series. When Williamson abandoned the script for Scream 3 to make bad television shows (Wasteland), Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road) was brought on board, which would explain the better-than-average conclusion.
1:58 – R for graphic violence, adult language and adult situations
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