It's not often that I think it's a good thing for Trilogy Creep to occur, but this was not an ideal ending.
After surviving her second Ghostface spree, Sidney Prescott is sheltering alone under heavy security, and working as an operator for a women's crisis call service. Gale Weathers is visiting the set of Stab 3, the third of the successful franchise based on the real murders, and where more murders are starting to occur. It looks as if somebody is trying to replicate the killing spree of the film script, but there's a lot linking them to Sidney's mother...
It's good to see the core trio back together, and Dewey and Gale's weird messy romance is engaging. Sidney isn't in the film as much (she's absent for most of the front half of the film, where Gale and Dewey carry the investigation), but Sid makes her screentime count as she proves herself ever hardened and more capable in survival.
Scream 3 is not as graphic or scary as the previous film, and has some more pronounced comedy. I understand the cultural context of the film being post-Columbine, but it doesn't make it as good in 2023. The film's comedy isn't all bad. A lot of the good is provided by the always-welcome Parker Posey, playing the actress who plays the fictionalized Gale in Stab 3 (it's amusing, confusing metafiction), but there are some jokes that are just too obtrusive and weird.
There are some good action setpieces, particularly with a chase through a Woodsboro film set and the whole third act, but the mystery also felt a little confusing and not super satisfying. Obvious suspects are hinted, but despite them being obvious, a certain suspect would have struck me as a way more interesting answer to the killer's identity than what we got. The plot and Sid's mom's connection make sense and serve a worthy commentary about predation in the film industry, but despite Mrs. Prescott being key and a connection being present, the villain manages to feel completely detached from Sidney personally.
As far as meta commentary, it's bad. The film tries to frame itself as a commentary on horror trilogies, but there aren't really clear-cut patterns in third horror films, so the movie grasps at straws with what to do as a third film. I did really like one note—the idea of the killer gaining invulnerability, and how they made it work in this series.
The film also uses a universal voice-changer device to let Ghostface steal people's voices and trick them, and it's very sci-fi and implausible for the time. It could totally work in the current revival series in the age of AI voice mimicry, but not for 2000. And Courteney Cox's hairstylist needed to be arrested. Her hair is awful the whole film, distracting the whole film, and oh my god why didn't they just put her in a wig.
The film is here. It's not great, but it's not awful.
Film Was there a rule about horror trilogies having weak endings?
It's not often that I think it's a good thing for Trilogy Creep to occur, but this was not an ideal ending.
After surviving her second Ghostface spree, Sidney Prescott is sheltering alone under heavy security, and working as an operator for a women's crisis call service. Gale Weathers is visiting the set of Stab 3, the third of the successful franchise based on the real murders, and where more murders are starting to occur. It looks as if somebody is trying to replicate the killing spree of the film script, but there's a lot linking them to Sidney's mother...
It's good to see the core trio back together, and Dewey and Gale's weird messy romance is engaging. Sidney isn't in the film as much (she's absent for most of the front half of the film, where Gale and Dewey carry the investigation), but Sid makes her screentime count as she proves herself ever hardened and more capable in survival.
Scream 3 is not as graphic or scary as the previous film, and has some more pronounced comedy. I understand the cultural context of the film being post-Columbine, but it doesn't make it as good in 2023. The film's comedy isn't all bad. A lot of the good is provided by the always-welcome Parker Posey, playing the actress who plays the fictionalized Gale in Stab 3 (it's amusing, confusing metafiction), but there are some jokes that are just too obtrusive and weird.
There are some good action setpieces, particularly with a chase through a Woodsboro film set and the whole third act, but the mystery also felt a little confusing and not super satisfying. Obvious suspects are hinted, but despite them being obvious, a certain suspect would have struck me as a way more interesting answer to the killer's identity than what we got. The plot and Sid's mom's connection make sense and serve a worthy commentary about predation in the film industry, but despite Mrs. Prescott being key and a connection being present, the villain manages to feel completely detached from Sidney personally.
As far as meta commentary, it's bad. The film tries to frame itself as a commentary on horror trilogies, but there aren't really clear-cut patterns in third horror films, so the movie grasps at straws with what to do as a third film. I did really like one note—the idea of the killer gaining invulnerability, and how they made it work in this series.
The film also uses a universal voice-changer device to let Ghostface steal people's voices and trick them, and it's very sci-fi and implausible for the time. It could totally work in the current revival series in the age of AI voice mimicry, but not for 2000. And Courteney Cox's hairstylist needed to be arrested. Her hair is awful the whole film, distracting the whole film, and oh my god why didn't they just put her in a wig.
The film is here. It's not great, but it's not awful.