# Scream 3 (2000)

### reviewed by
Edward Johnson-Ott

I'm assuming that anyone who has read this far is familiar with the series, so I'll keep the plot description to a minimum. Set mostly in Hollywood, "Scream 3" continues the movie-within-a-movie conceit, as production of "Stab 3" comes screeching to a halt when a killer, dressed in the familiar ghost mask and black cowl, appears on the scene. In short order, all of our old favorite characters, along with a host of new ones, are scrambling to stay alive and unmask Ghost Face once and for all.

The character dynamics have significantly changed along the way. Where central target Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) was once the focal point of the action, she now plays second banana to Deputy Dewey Riley and cutthroat TV tabloid reporter Gale Weathers, played by the recently married David Arquette and Courteney Cox Arquette. Although "Scream 2" ended with Dewey and Gale as honey-bunnies, this storyline has the couple estranged again, thereby allowing the Tom and Roseanne of the 21st century to bicker a lot before their relationship heats up again.

While Dewey and Gale play junior detective on the "Stab 3" set, Sidney is holed up far, far away in a high-security mountain cabin, counseling abused women via a series of high-security phone lines. When she learns of Ghost Face's Tinseltown Tour 2000, she leaves her sanctuary and reluctantly heads for Los Angeles (incidentally, reluctantly is the only way anyone should ever head for Los Angeles).

Fine. The veterans are in place, newcomers are running around all over the set and the killer is slashing away. So what are we dealing with here? Kevin Williamson, who became white hot thanks to his dandy script for the original "Scream," was too busy to write the finale (he reportedly was trying to salvage his wretched TV series, the aptly named "Wasteland"), leaving flavor-of-the-month Ehren Kruger ("Arlington Road," "Reindeer Games") to fill in, with mixed results.

One of the high points is his pairing of Gale Weathers with Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey), the actress playing Gale in "Stab 3." The combination of a hyperactive, manipulative reporter and a ditzy starlet determined to copy her every move is inspired, and Posey is a riot. The only thing that hampers their scenes is the alarming physical appearance of Courteney Cox Arquette. With her increasingly gaunt features (please, somebody feed this woman!) and godawful Cleopatra-with-hacked-bangs hairdo, she looks scarier than Ghost Face.

While going lighter on the pop culture references than Williamson, Kruger does get in some good ones. In addition to the pointed one-liners, check the closing credits for the character names of the "Stab 3" players, which can be taken as a nod, or a swipe, at a gaggle of popular young actors.

Director Wes Craven has some fine moments as well. His composition work is exceptional, particularly in a haunting shot where Sidney emerges from a studio hallway and the camera slowly pulls away as she finds herself on a movie set recreating a street scene straight out of her personal nightmares. Throughout the film, Craven uses lights and darks masterfully, and his positioning of music to heighten tension is far more effective than in most films of the genre.

Had he only paid as much attention to the script. In climatic scenes, Sidney, Dewey and Gale abandon the very survival rules their characters supposedly learned in the first two films. Even more damaging to "Scream 3" is the simple passage of time. Since the series burst on the scene in 1996, other artists have upped the humor-meets-horror ante. On any given week, shows like the outstanding "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" mix chills and giggles as adroitly as anything in "Scream," while creating characters with considerably more substance. Regardless, though "Scream 3" represents a franchise running on fumes, there's still enough gas in this old buggy for a moderately entertaining final ride.

    © 2000 Ed Johnson-Ott

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