Scream 3

Scream 3 title

Tag Line : Obey the rules of the trilogy...or die.

Scream 3 Arguably the best in the series, the third and (supposedly) final outing for Sidney, Gale and Dewey concerns the antics of yet another copy-cat killer in a ghost face mask who's been busy turning the script of the forthcoming movie "Stab 3 : Return to Woodsboro" into reality, and has started murdering the cast of the feature, along with their real-life counterparts. Much to the dismay of poor sod Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), who becomes the first victim.

Deputy Dewey (David Arquette) happens to be working on the set at the time as a script advisor, and immediately falls out with the detective in charge Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey). Then to compound matters further they're then joined by nosey journalist Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) who's sniffing round after another story.

Of course it's Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) that the killer is really after, but what is the killers interest in her this time round, and why does he keep sending her pictures of her late mother, Maureen, every time he commits a murder?

After leaving her secluded cabin in the mountains and joining Dewey, Gale and the Stab 3 cast on the movie set, the hunt for the killer is on. But as the bodies pile up and more pictures of Sidney's mother start appearing, it looks like the killer might have personal grudges against both the film and young Sidney.

The fact that the cast are being murdered in script order does nothing to help them when they discover that there are apparently 3 different scripts in circulation, to keep the ending a secret. So who could be next is anybody's guess.

Lance Henriksen also stars in the film, playing the movie producer and Jamie Kennedy makes a guest appearance as horror nerd Randy Meeks (probably to appease the disgruntled fans who were annoyed at what happened to him in part 2) and look out for Carrie Fisher who makes a surprise appearance near the end.

Directed again by Wes Craven, but written this time by Ehren Kruger (cool name that) the film packs more of the ghoulish thrills and chills that fans of the series will love, as ghost face jumps out and carves his way through virtually the whole cast. Overall I really dug this film, and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. My only complaint would be that there's too much of Dewey and Gale goofing about, and not enough of the ever lovely Neve Campbell, but overall this is a really cool slasher pic.

Overall Marks : 8/10.

Other Information.

Alternate tag lines, "The millennium starts screaming." "The Millennium Starts With Scream." "The New Millennium Begins in Panic." "In order for Sidney Prescot to survive the future she must look to the past." "Rules of a trilogy: Chapter one sets the rules. Chapter two bends the rules. But in the finale...forget the rules." "Someone has taken their love of trilogies one step too far." "The most terrifying scream is always the last." "Welcome to the final act." "The best Scream is always the last one. Just hope the last one isn't your own." "There's just some secrets you can't reveal 'till the very end." "Scream 3: The scare of the millennium!".
The films budget was $40million.
Lance Henriksen who plays Stab 3 producer John Milton, is probably best known for his TV role as the FBI detective Frank Black in the X-Files spin-off "Millenium", although sci-fi fans may also know him from his roles in the James Cameron pics "Terminator" and "Aliens". Interestingly enough, Lance Henriksen's character has a skeletal robot in his office that bears a striking resemblance to the T-800 endo skeleton from The Terminator.
The empty cinematographer's chair on the "Stab 3" set has the name Peter Deming. This was actually the name of the Scream 3's cinematographer.
Throughout the movie the actors and actresses complain about the rewrites and the 3 different scripts for Stab 3. These complaints actually originated with the cast of Scream 3, because of frequent rewrites and 3 different endings.
A scene between Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Tyson (Deon Richmond) was cut out of the film for pacing. It reportedly involved the two talking about the similarities between an "I Know What You Did Last Summer"-ish flick Tyson was describing out of the pages of the Hollywood Reporter to Stab III. The scene wasn't very good and Craven reportedly is happy it was excised from the final print.
The trailers for this movie showed a scene in which Tyson explains that "black people always get killed in scary movies, they never are the killer" but for some reason, this was removed for its theatrical release.