Scream 3 (2000)

Ghostface pays Sidney and her friends a third visit while they visit the set of "Stab 3", the third movie based upon the Woodsboro murders.

Director:

Wes Craven

Writers:

Kevin Williamson (characters), Ehren Kruger

Stars:

Liev Schreiber, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox

5 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Liev Schreiber	...	Cotton Weary
Beth Toussaint	...	Female Caller (voice)
Roger Jackson	...	The Voice (voice) (as Roger L. Jackson)
Kelly Rutherford	...	Christine Hamilton
Neve Campbell	...	Sidney Prescott
Courteney Cox	...	Gale Weathers (as Courteney Cox Arquette)
Julie Janney	...	Moderator
Richmond Arquette	...	Student
Patrick Dempsey	...	Detective Mark Kincaid
Lynn McRee	...	Maureen Roberts Prescott
Nancy O'Dell	...	Female Reporter
Ken Taylor	...	Male Reporter
Scott Foley	...	Roman Bridger
Roger Corman	...	Studio Executive
Lance Henriksen	...	John Milton

Storyline

A new film is currently in production, and a killer is on the loose. The murders draw a reporter, ex-cop, and young woman to the set of the movie inspired by their life. They soon find out that they are dealing with a trilogy, and in a trilogy...anything can happen.

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Plot Keywords:

murder | ex cop | scream | mask | reporter | 

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Taglines:

The Third and Final chapter in the trilogy that made you laugh, and made you Scream.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong horror violence and language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site Official site [de]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 February 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ghostface

Filming Locations:

1336 Harper Avenue, West Hollywood, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£2,449,937 (UK) (28 April 2000)

Gross:

ESP 912,378,401 (Spain) (29 June 2001)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Dimension Films, Konrad Pictures, Craven-Maddalena Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

116 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Neve Campbell was concurrently shooting Drowning Mona and Party of Five during the production of Scream 3. Because her "Drowning Mona" character had long, streaked hair, Campbell had to wear a wig to play Sidney Prescott, which required two hours application time each morning.

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Goofs

Roman Bridger's sideburns shorten and lengthen in the final scenes.

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Quotes

Gale: Deja voodoo.

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Connections

References Bates Motel (1987)

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Soundtracks

"Suffocate"
Written by James Black, Scott Anderson, Sean Anderson and Arnold Lanni
Performed by Finger Eleven
Courtesy of Wind-Up Records

User Reviews

Not as effective as the original "Scream," but still produces enough scares and thrills. *** out of ****

SCREAM 3 / (2000) ***

Starring: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox Arquette, Parker Posey, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matthew Keeslar, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, Deon Richmond, Patrick Warburton, Liev Schreiber, and Carrie Fisher Directed by Wes Craven. Written by Ehren Kruger, based on characters by Kevin Williamson. Running time: 116 minutes. Rated R (for strong horror violence and language).

By Blake French:

"Scream 3" is not as satisfying as the original horror masterpiece "Scream," but what can we expect from the final chapter in a slasher trilogy? The first film was a superior horror thriller--one of the most loved slasher movies of the past decade. That was a picture with some hard standards to live up to. However, Wes Craven, director of the trio, accomplished another success with the sequel of "Scream." Usually this kind of movie would fade into the Hollywood recycle bin by now. But "Scream 3" still produces chills, thrills, and lots of surprises--even though we have been receiving the same kind of story for the past four years. This film is marginally passable, although the most flawed film of its series, that fairs as recommendable, but not substantial in quality.

The film's opening once again provides the audience with a pre-credit murder sequence that is almost the highlight of the entire production. The "Scream 3" writers take advantage of one of the movie's old and important characters to arrange this very effective, and scary, sequence.

The setting is several years after the second film. The small college town of Woodsboro is where we are placed. Neve Campbell again stars as Sidney Prescott, a tormented young woman who was the target of the killing sprees in the past. She has attempted to move on with her life with her father, and has an anonymous hotline operation that offers assistance to those in need. Also, television reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox Arquette) has experienced a big career jump, now working for a network called Total Entertainment. While the wrongly accused murder suspect of Sidney's mother, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), has his own trashy TV talk show.

The central presence that connects the events here is the production of "Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro," a movie the characters are creating that follows a horror trilogy based on the terrors experienced by Sydney. The masked murderer may or may not be found on the set. Besides police Detective Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey), and the arrogant bodyguard Stone (Patrick Warburton), concluding the list of suspects, there is Dewey Riley (David Arquette), a former cop who is now an advisor for "Stab 3," Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), the film's director, John Milton (Lance Henriksen) the film's producer, as well as acting counterparts Sarah Darling (Jenny McCarthy), Tom Prinze (Matthew Keeslar), Angelina (Emily Mortimer), Gabe Tucker (Deon Richmond), and Gales's reciprocal (Parker Posey).

Certain plot points lead our suspicion to believe one of several characters is the killer. We are fooled again, however. But does the killer's identity really matter here? As long as we receive a speech on why he or she is responsible, we would be satisfied and any of the character's could have been the killer. None of the characters have any shape or construction. We care only about the order that the victims will be picked off at, not about who hides behind the ghost mask. The identity is actually pointless when the slasher is finally revealed.

Once again, a key success in "Scream 3" is the scary sequences that build up momentum and thus work well, usually where the slasher kills his victims. What makes these scenes so effective is how we know that characters are three dimensional; they put up a firm fight for their lives, unlike victims in most slasher films. However, the plot seems to revolve around the murders, instead of the murders branching off from the story. "Stab 3" seems to be a central presence to connect the film's somewhat desperate through line.

Some of the plot points are fun and revealing. We see a videotape of a past character describing the possibilities of the movie's final outcome. This event programs our imaginations to suspect the unexpected. The plot does desperately attempt to fill in missing pieces of the previous screams, however, showing some signs of contrived foreshadowing. Each scene moves the story forward, though, replenishing the plot with freshness and ability around every abrupt corner.

"Scream 3" is a close call, and is given somewhat of a mixed review, but I still am giving the movie a marginal recommendation. It contains more startles, more surprises, and more effective scary material than most slasher movies. Although I believe it was a wise move to make this film the final installment of its series.

Brought to you by Dimension Films.