# Scream 3 (2000)

### reviewed by
Susan Granger

http://www.speakers-podium.com/susangranger.

    Susan Granger's review of "SCREAM 3" (Dimension Films/Miramax)

Back in 1996, Wes Craven's Scream single-handedly revived the teen slasher genre, launched the career of screenwriter Kevin Williamson and spotlighted young TV actors like Neve Campbell, Liev Schreiber, Rose McGowan, Skeet Ulrich, Sarah Michelle Geller and Rebecca Gayheart. As it evolved into two sequels, it even spawned an off-screen romance - Courteney Cox met David Arquette while making Scream, got engaged after Scream 2, and they are now married for Scream 3. This final version of the trilogy, written by Ehren Kruger (Arlington Road), finds tortured Sidney (Neve Campbell) hiding out in the California hills, even as intrepid TV reporter Gail Weathers (Courteney Cox Arquette) tries to track her down. Meanwhile, there's a movie-within-a-movie, as the real-life survivors of the Woodsboro massacre become technical advisors on Stab 3, a low-budget horror-movie-in-the-making. That's how dorky ex-cop Dewey Riley (David Arquette) finds himself dating Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey), the actress who is playing Gail. Sound confusing? Just wait. There's an obsessive detective (Patrick Dempsey), a flaky director (Scott Foley), and a producer-with-a-past (Lance Hendrickson) - all of whom become suspects in multiple murders. It's deja vu all over again. Problem is: it's difficult to sustain the excitement over three years so, by now, the concept feels a bit flat, formulaic, even stale. And the scariest part is glimpsing Star Wars' Carrie Fisher, whom age has not been kind to since playing Princess Leia. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, Scream 3 is a silly, shrieking 6. And get ready for a parody. Miramax will slay you with Scary Movie on March 31.

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