20131111: Horror Review--Scream 3

Scream 3

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 2000, rated R, 116 minutes.  Horror, mystery.
2. IMDB: 5.4/10.0 from 74,844 audience ratings.  Estimated budget: 40 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 36% on the meter; 45% liked it from 402,067 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 1,573,091 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Wes Craven.
6. Starring: Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary, Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, David Arquette as Dewey Riley, Patrick Dempsey as Detective Mark Kincaid, Lance Henriksen as John Milton, Parker Posey as Stab 3 Gale, Jenny McCarthy as Sarah Darling, Patrick Warburton as Steven Stone, Carrie Fisher as Bianca.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The murders start up again while the third installment of the parallel movies, _Stab 3_, is in production.


2. In the opening sequence, Cotton Weary, now a celebrity, is stuck in traffic when a new serial killer calls him.  He rushes home to try to save his girlfriend.


3. Sidney now goes as Laura, and lives in a gated, supposedly secure compound in the sticks.  She works on the telephone for the California Women's Crisis Counseling hotline.  Gale is now quite a celebrity, and is often on the talk circuit.  Det. Kincaid contacts her about the death of Cotton.


4. Sarah Darling dies on set, as per the _Stab 3_ script.  Well, one version of the Stab 3 script.


5. The studio guard Steven Stone dies while checking Dewey's trailer.  The killer almost gets five of them at once.  Sidney comes out of hiding after the killer calls her at home.


6. So, the hunt is on, and Sidney is fully engaged again.  The sister of Randy Meeks delivers a VHS tape, which Randy uses to deliver (post-mortem, he knew he would be dead) the rules for the third film in a trilogy.  By tracing the film archives with Bianca, they discover Maureen Prescott had a stage name, Rina Reynolds, and worked for John Milton using that name.  Sidney has a weird time visiting the room she grew up in, as reconstructed for Stab 3.  Unfortunately, she shares that with some killer in the usual costume.


7. Dewey, Gale, and Stab 3 Gale discuss the matter with John Milton.


8. The killer must be very good with faking voices.  Dewey, Gale, and Gale 3 get diverted by 'Sidney' telling them to go to the party at John Milton's house.  Gale and Dewey find one of the devices used for voice faking.  They go looking for the others at the party.


9. The ending looked good enough to finish the trilogy, but we'll see.  The illumination of a few issues from the first film was nice.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: The secrets of Sidney's mother's earlier life come to light.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 No problems.


2. Sound: 10/10 Well done.


3. Acting: 8/10 Better than the last one, Scream 2.  Several of the cameos were quite good.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Wraps up the trilogy, I hope.