Scream 3 Review
In 1996, Wes Craven’s Scream managed to bring the slasher genre back from the brink. People loved the way it satirized scary movies, people’s fascination with them, and the tropes and cliches of movies in general. It managed to do so again in 1997 with Scream 2, which guaranteed that Scream 3 would be made. Which is ironic, since for all its satirization of long-running horror movie franchises, it was starting to become just that, even if it was meant to be the end of the original story. But then, two things happened that almost ruined everything: Kevin Williamson moved on to other projects, and Columbine made people question violence in films.
The Columbine massacre made a lot of people ask if films and video games were making people commit violent acts. It’s a question that comes up every time a horrific event like this happens, and we still dont have a definitive answer for it. However, it was enough to make Scream 3 arguably the weakest entry in the franchise. Instead of focusing on trying to outdo the violence, the last of these three films places more emphasis on satire, making it feel less scary and more silly. Not to mention how the meta-levels threatened to reach critical mass before imploding into a black hole. But I said I would review the first three films and that’s what I’m going to do! This is Scream 3.
Y U No Die, Ghostface?
Like the first two films, Scream 3 opens up with the return of yet another Ghostface as they claim their first victims. While the first movie shocked people by bringing in Drew Barrymore just so they could kill her character off, Scream 3 takes it one step further. It starts off with the murder of recurring character Cotton Weary and his girlfriend at the hands of Ghostface. That was pretty shocking in and of itself, as the last film had ended with Cotton getting his happy ending. He had not only been exonerated of murder, but he had also saved Sidney and Gale from Mrs. Loomis. Now he had his own talk show and had even filmed a cameo in the next Stab movie. Yet he managed to die because the film was now playing by the rules of a trilogy finale.
It isn’t until later in the film, but it’s revealed that before he died, Randy had predicted that another Ghostface might pop up down the line. So he had the foresight to record a tape telling his friends the rules for the final film in a horror trilogy. The most important being learning something that retcons previous events, and that anyone can die. In other words, all bets are off and they are all at risk. Randy once again proves prophetic, as this new Ghostface proceeds to start killing people on the set of Stab 3. After Scream 2, Gale once again turned events into a book that became a movie. And now that movie was getting a sequel that was now entirely fictional.
The Most Meta Sequel Ever
So, just to recap, we’re now talking about a movie about making a movie based on “real life”, that will likely end up inspiring yet another movie. And thanks to Columbine being fresh in the zeitgeist of the time, they had to tone down the violence. Thus, you can understand why some people might have considered Scream 3 to be a weak entry, especially now that it’s been revived. It was less of a horror movie than its predecessors while also turning up the satire and meta to dangerous levels. But it’s gotten much better reviews in recent years due to certain events that the movie ended up touching on long before they came to light, which we will get to.
Just like before, the return of Ghostface leads to the remaining survivors (besides Mr. Prescott) reuniting, this time in Hollywood. And somehow, they’re even worse off than before. Gale got to publish another book and looked like her career was going to take another leap forward. Yet at by the time of the film, she’s hit a bit of a wall. She’s not even allowed to work on the set of Stab 3, only getting involved when the police ask her to be. Much to her frustration, she finds that Dewey got to get on board as an advisor. And despite seemingly learning her lesson about putting people first, she still ended up breaking up with him for her career, something he’s bitter about.
It gets worse. She finds out he’s living in a trailer on the property of the woman hired to play her in the film; and her fictional counterpart dies.
Deconstructing the Final Girl
The person who is arguably at their worst, though, is none other than Sidney Prescott. Scream 3 continues to deconstruct how traumatic it would be to be a real-life final girl through Sidney, and it’s not pretty. The combined trauma she’s gone through over the films has driven her to living in hiding. She’s living off the grid in a house armed with alarms, with only her dog and dad for company. She’s effectively shut herself off from the rest of the world, too afraid of another Ghostface.
It may not have come up until years later, but it should be noted that the 2018 revival of Halloween takes a similar route with another famous final girl, Laurie Strode. In that timeline, she spent the rest of her life preparing for the possibility that Michael might get out, and when it does happen, she’s ready. But it comes at the cost of alienating her from her daughter and family. She’s proven right in the end, but it’s still not a healthy way to cope. And in the end, it doesn’t work, as Ghostface ends up finding her and dragging her back into everything.
And that is where we get into the real meat of this film and why it’s gotten a much better rep these days: how it deals with Hollywood.
Scream 3 was Prophetic
Harvey Weinstein, co-founder of Miramax and convicted menace to society. In 2017, dozens of women started coming forward saying that Weinstein took advantage of them in some fashion. This, in turn, kick-started the #MeToo movement and has seen big names in showbiz like P Diddy, Dan Schneider, and Justin Roiland fall from grace. People aren’t tolerating this stuff anymore!
How does this connect back to Scream 3? Two reasons: firstly, Weinstein was a producer for this film. Secondly, some people think that Scream 3 might have been trying to warn us about Hollywood’s dark side.
Throughout the film, many of the in-universe actors make comments about some of the things they’ve had to do to get ahead in showbiz. Carrie Fisher played a fictional look alike of herself who almost got the role of Leia, but lost for not sleeping with George Lucas. That never happened in real life, but she did have an affair with Harrison Ford, so there is some credence. However, it isn’t until the third act where we really get a glimpse of the darkness of Hollywood.
As Gale and Dewey come to find out, Sidney’s mom briefly worked as an actress in Hollywood in her younger years working under John Milton, the producer of the Stab movies. He and several others took advantage of young women like her, which messed her up real bad. That led her to having affairs with other men as a means of getting back control of her life, which led to Billy Loomis and Stu becoming Ghostface, which started everything. But that’s not the end of it. She had a child from that, and when that child grew up and tried to meet her, she rejected him. She couldn’t handle having a living reminder of a kid she didn’t want. That, in turn, made that kid crash out and gather proof of her affairs and then leak it to Billy. Which, in turn, retroactively makes him responsible for everything in the movies. What’s even crazier, though, is that this time, the killer is the director of Stab 3, Roman Bridger.
The Final Act Twist
This is how you know that Scream 3 was meant to be the final installment in the Scream films. It reveals something that retcons all the events of the first two movies. It reveals something big that we didn’t know about a character that, while dead, helped set everything in motion. And most importantly, it has that big twist by revealing that all of this death has been the result of Sidney’s half-brother crashing out. And since Sidney got famous off of it, he wants that for himself, along with everything else he thinks he’s owed. And yes, what Maureen did to him was cruel, but also a very human reaction. She didn’t want to accept the consequences of what happened to her, and this is the end result.
This, perhaps, might be part of the main thesis behind the Scream trilogy. It’s something that each Ghostface has had in common: lack of accountability. They may not be able to control what happened to them, but they could control how they reacted. Billy, Mrs. Loomis, and Roman all reacted in a way that got them and many others killed. In contrast, Sidney and her allies try to face what happens to them and change for the better. Which is why they are ultimately able to make out of this alive once more.
As a quick aside, it should be noted that this is the only movie in the franchise with only one Ghostface.
The End…or is it? Yes, for ten years.
So, in the end, Sidney manages to finally overcome her past and everyone is able to move on with their lives. It’s a little cliché knowing that Sidney, Gale, and Dewey all made it out in one piece, but there’s nothing wrong with a cliche. At the very least, the film acknowledges that it was meant to be the end of the story. And until 2011, it was. It’s a good thing, too, because at this point, it feels like the films are aware that they’re starting to fall into the same formula that they liked to satirize. Had the movies continued unabated, they would’ve ended up being as bad as the other classics started to get.
made it out in one piece, but there’s nothing wrong with a cliche. At the very least, the film acknowledges that it was meant to be the end of the story. And until 2011, it was. It’s a good thing, too, because at this point, it feels like the films are aware that they’re starting to fall into the same formula that they liked to satirize. Had the movies continued unabated, they would’ve ended up being as bad as the other classics started to get.
So, is Scream 3 a bad movie? No, it’s not; it can be a decent film t
So, is Scream 3 a bad movie? No, it’s not; it can be a decent film to watch. Is it the worst Scream movie? I think it might be. But considering how most of the films are pretty solid, I still think that that isn’t a bad thing. I enjoyed it, and I enjoy the commentary it has on pop culture, and I watch the films every October now.
Now, what’s your favorite scary movie?
