Movie Review: Scream 3 (2000)

Synopsis: After surviving two separate attempts on her life, Sidney Prescott has chosen to relocate to a secluded property and assume a completely new identity. However, when another Ghostface killer begins to kill cast members on the set of Stab 3 (based on her life), she is eventually forced to rejoin her friends Dewey Riley and Gale Weathers in Hollywood.

Who's in it? The movie stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Patrick Dempsey, Jenny McCarthy and Scott Foley.

Review: While waiting to see the newest Scream movie in the theater this past weekend, I realized, while I could remember most of the installments from this franchise, I was drawing a blank about what happened in this particular sequel. Fortunately, it happened to be available on one of our movie channels, giving me an opportunity to re-watch it.

After seeing it again, I now realize why I couldn't remember it. It's actually a somewhat forgettable film.

I had a couple problems with this movie while watching it. One of the main ones was it was very predictable. It isn't too hard to put a finger on the most likely suspect for the murders and, frankly, the movie doesn't do that great of a job of throwing you off the scent by introducing legitimate red herrings. Sure, there were some attempts, but they were so blatant, it was pretty obvious those people weren't the killer.

Another thing I didn't like about this film was, unlike the other movies in the franchise, there was only one killer. I apologize for that spoiler but had to mention it because having a single killer ultimately results in quite a few movie scenes not quite adding up, especially the ones that show the killer striking either while on the phone with a victim or immediately after despite not having a phone in his hand. I almost feel as though the writers planned to have a second killer, decided against it at the last second, and just didn't bother to go back and correct the issues that decision caused.

I honestly wasn't crazy about the killer's master plan either. The motive sort of made sense, but killing off a bunch of actors playing Sidneys' (Campbell) friends (both alive and dead) seemed much less effective than simply going to Woodsboro and threatening people she actually knew, especially since she was perfectly content staying hidden until she thought her own life was in danger. Yes, I know the writers were trying to make a point (maybe even multiple points) by having this occur in Hollywood. I just think that point distracted from elements that would have made this a better slasher movie.

Final Opinion: After re-watching this movie, I can honestly say this one is easily the weakest installmne in the Scream franchise. I just hope, if they continue to make more Scream movies, they will stay away from the things that made this movie less than memorable.

My Grade: C