Scream 3 Review

The opening set-piece of Scream 3 involves Cotton Weary, (Liev Schreiber), the official hero of Scream 2. He`s driving along an LA freeway when that pesky telephone caller starts up again. Yet another masked killer is at large, and Cotton and his girlfriend are the first victims. The cast and crew of the new Stab movie, based on the Woodsboro killings, find themselves under threat, and Sidney Prescott, (Neve Campbell), is forced to come out of hiding to confront yet another killer... The first two Scream films were written by Kevin Williamson and were pretty clever, but the forumla`s wearing thin with new writer Ehren Kruger (brother of Freddie?) Though there are the usual in-jokes, and a rather Brechtian notion in which fictional characters, like tv reporter Gale Weathers, (Courtney Cox), comment on the way fictional actress Jennifer Jolie, (Parker Posey), is playing Gale Weathers in Stab. You really need a primer to remind you who did what to whom in the earlier films, both of which featured pairs of killers - who will it be this time? Why is Lance Henriksen wasted in a nothing role? Do we care?Margaret`s comments: The trouble with the third part of a trilogy is that they have to provide answers, and this Scream 3 does, but there`s a slight feeling of letdown that the dementia is over. This is not as cunnily referential as Scream 2, it opts instead for referential and tongue-in-cheek cameos by such luminaries as Roger Corman, Carrie Fischer and Silent Bob and Jay. Scream 3 goes through the motions, providing the expected number of tense moments, but very much in formulaic fashion. Parker Posey is the standout cast member, playing the journalist Gale Weathers in the mock feature and playing against her as well. Apparently Wes Craven only took on the directing of this one so he could make the non-horror Music of the Heart. He does a competent but uninspired job.