"Do You Like Scary Movies?" Re-Watch: Scream 3

 "Scream 3" (2000)

Jennifer Jolie: "Gale Weathers!"

Gale Weathers: [says quietly] "Shit."

Jennifer Jolie: "Oh my God. Listen, I know we've never met and I don't mind you never returning my calls, but I have to tell you that after two films I feel like I am in your mind."

Gale Weathers: "Well that would explain my constant headaches."

Jennifer Jolie: "You know I'm sorry things didn't work out on 60 Minutes II but Total Entertainment, that's a pretty good fallback."

Gale Weathers: "Thank you. I'm sorry things didn't work out with Brad Pitt, but being single. That's a pretty good fallback."

Jennifer Jolie: "Gives me more time for my work. After all Gale Weathers, you're such a complex character."

Gale Weathers: "Oh, and to be played by an actress with such depth and range."

Jennifer Jolie: [To John Milton] "Come on, you have made millions off the story of her murder. You're obsessed with her and you're obsessed with her daughter!"

Gale Weathers: "Alright, easy Geraldo."

"Scream 3" was originally meant to be the final film in a trilogy of "Scream" films and it was for a long time. Out of the six "Scream" films, "Scream 3" and the original are the only ones that I haven't seen in the theater. I think I tried to convince some of my friends to go to the theater in Newton to see it with me, but they wouldn't go. 

Principal photography on "Scream 3" began in July 1999 and was completed in September 1999. The ending was re-filmed in January 2000. The film stars David Arquette as Dewey Riley, Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, Patrick Dempsey as Mark Kincaid, Scott Foley as Roman Bridger, Lance Henriksen as John Milton, Matt Keeslar as Tom Prinze, Jenny McCarthy as Sarah Darling, Emily Mortimer as Angelina Tyler, Parker Posey as Jennifer Jolie, Deon Richmond as Tyson Fox, Kelly Rutherford as Christine, Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary and Patrick Warburton as Steven Stone. The film was written by Ehren Kruger. It was directed by Wes Craven. "Scream 3" premiered on February 4, 2000.

Twinsies.

"Scream 3" is maybe the most interesting installment of the franchise while also being the worst movie out of the six. It was plagued with issues from the start. Kevin Williamson wasn't able to write the script. He had a treatment but a lot of his ideas were thrown out due to concerns about how the public would react since his original treatment since there was more scrutiny on violence in film due to things like the Columbine shootings. Ehren Kruger was hired to write the script and had trouble capturing some of the characters voices which led to Wes Craven having a pretty heavy hand in helping Kruger write the script. Much like during the filming of "Scream 2" pages were sometimes given to the actors on the day of shooting, but unlike with "Scream 2" that sort of thing is very noticeable here. 

The thing about "Scream 3" is that while it is objectively the worst "Scream" movie, I think it is a ton of fun and genuinely enjoyable to watch. It is camp. Out of all six films, "Scream 3" really leans in to the comedic aspects of the series. It sometimes feel like "Scream 3" is trying to be a comedy before it is trying to be a horror/slasher film.

The plot of "Scream 3" is relatively simple. The production of "Stab 3" is being targeted by a new Ghostface killer who is slaughtering the cast and leaving pictures of Sidney's mother, Maureen at the crime scenes. This eventually brings Sidney Prescott out of hiding to confront this new Ghostface who seems to have ties to the original Woodsboro killings.

Due to scheduling conflicts, Neve Campbell was only available to shoot for "Scream 3" for twenty days, so Sidney's role was dramatically reduced for this film. That meant that other characters roles were beefed up which means that "Scream 3" is really Gale Weather's time to shine. Courteney Cox doesn't allow this to be a wasted opportunity. If you are a Gale fan, then this is probably your favorite film of the franchise. Gale is on fire in "Scream 3." She's hilarious, throwing out one liners left and right. And she actually is doing investigative journalism in this movie. "Scream 3" is the one film in the franchise where we really get to see Gale flex her journalistic muscles. She is the one that uncovers Maureen Prescott's secret past as Rina Reynolds and the awful things that were done to her at the hands of producer John Milton and his cronies back in the '70's. It's great to really see this side of Gale for the first time in three films.

"Scream 3" gives Gale a partner-in-crime to play off of (one that isn't Dewey) in the form of Parker Posey's Jennifer Jolie. Jennifer has been playing Gale in the "Stab" franchise since the beginning. Parker is amazing as Jennifer. She looks just like Courteney Cox in that lime green skirt suit from the original "Scream" with the brown hair streaked with blonde to match. One of my favorite scenes in the entire franchise is when they first meet on the lot. The back and forth is perfect and I love Jennifer acting and reacting as Gale behind the real deal. Jennifer is great and I really hope they find a way to bring her back for "Scream 7." I know she's supposed to be dead but come on, if they can bring Kirby back, they could bring back Jennifer.

Dynamic Duo.

I feel like you can't have a conversation about "Scream 3" without talking about Courteney Cox's bangs. I remember seeing them for the first time and thinking "what the hell?" They were wild. And it was just Cox. It was a minor trend in the '90's. There was one episode of "Buffy" from season 3 called "Amends" where Sarah Michelle Gellar has the exact same bangs. According to Courteney, they were clip in bangs and they were cut on set. They only had one pair so she was basically stuck with them. David Arquette said the bangs idea was initially his because he wanted to see her in a Bettie Page style 'do. I do think it's great that everyone can laugh about it now. Cox has lampooned the look on her Instagram page. It's fun.

Neve Campbell is absent for a lot of the first part of "Scream 3," but as always she kills it when she is on screen. She's shook from the last two attempts on her life and is living in the California wilds as a women's crisis counselor under an assumed name. I will say that I think it's a testament to how strong the other two actors in the trio are that you don't really miss her but she's always an asset when she's on screen.

"Scream 3" has probably my favorite Ghostface/Sidney chase scenes of the entire franchise. Sidney follows Angelina Tyler onto the Woodsboro set and ends up wandering into the facsimile of her childhood home. Neve plays this really well as she wanders up to her bedroom. We will ignore the Creed poster taking the place of the original Indigo Girls poster. We get hit with the nostalgia hammer as Sidney remembers Billy climbing through her bedroom window and we hear Skeet Ulrich's voice. It's not long before. Ghostface attacks and Sidney is running through her old house in a chase sequence that is extremely similar to her first confrontation with Ghostface. They tweak it a bit. Since this is not a real house, there are doors that open to nowhere and Sidney is able to use one to her advantage to take Ghostface by surprise. It's a really great chase scene. Sometimes I watch it just for fun.

Creepy Karen?

There is a surprise cameo from the dearly departed Randy Meeks. Well, it would have been a surprise if it hadn't been featured pretty heavily in the trailer for "Scream 3." We meet another member of the Meeks clan, Randy's sister, Martha played by geek cinema icon, Heather Matarazzo. She will pop up in a future film. It's nice to see Randy again. He apparently knew that he would maybe die, so he recorded the rules to a trilogy for his surviving pals. I am not sure if this scene is the most necessary, but you can't have a "Scream" movie without a character reciting the rules for something. These are just... the rules.

The rest of "Scream 3" is kind of a hot ass mess. The opening kill scene is the shortest in the franchise. And to be honest, I didn't like time them, but I'm pretty sure they are. Just trust me. I really like the idea of Cotton being the opening kill. He's this big time LA talk show host, but he's still a sleazebag, ready to cheat on his girlfriend the moment a hot sounding stranger shows a little interest. This opener is not scary at all. It's not super clever aside from the introduction of the voice changer. There is no tension. Also, Christine gets stabbed once in the back and dies? That seems strange.

I like the idea of the set of the meta movie franchise within the franchise being setting for the new murders, but I don't feel like the movie really takes advantage of that setting. Aside from the aforementioned Sidney chase scene. One of the biggest problems with "Scream 3" is that it never feels scary. Now, I'm not saying that the first two are like super duper scary, but there are heightened moments. There are times where tension is high. There is never really any of that in "Scream 3." The kill scenes are the lamest in the franchise. They aren't creative. And I will not give any credit to the house explosion because that just feels like it's from a different movie. The climax of the movie, usually where a "Scream" movie really shines, is so frenetic and all over the place. Just super chaotic and not in a good way.

I really hate the Roman Bridger killer reveal. I mean, good for him that the is the only solo Ghostface killer in the franchise history. But the revelation that he is Sidney's brother and that he pretty much orchestrated everything because Maureen rejected him, I kind of hate. Like, it sort of lessens the impact of everything that happens in the first two films knowing that this whiny little dipshit was the mastermind. I will say, I do love how Sidney has absolutely no time for any of his nonsense. When she tells him to get on with it because she's heard this shit before, I feel like she is fully an audience surrogate in that moment.

Sid will be an only child again soon enough.

It's interesting to watch "Scream 3" post-Harvey Weinstein scandal. A through line of "Scream 3" is the casting couch and how the assault of women impacts actresses in Hollywood. Aside from Milton admitting that Maureen came to his parties and was assaulted, Jennifer and Sarah Darling both allude to sleeping with powerful Hollywood men to further their careers. When Gale and Jennifer go searching Sunrise Studios for information on Maureen the find Bianca Burnette, a Carrie Fisher lookalike played by Carrie Fisher who says that Carrie Fisher only got the part of Princess Leia because she slept with George Lucas.

The fact that all this is being talked about in a movie made by a subsidiary of Miramax, the Weinstein Brothers studio, is wild. People involved with the making of "Scream 3" have talked about how Wes was really keen on having this be a plot line. I do think "Scream 3" had a real opportunity to talk about the treatment of women in Hollywood, particularly the treatment of women in horror films and kind of drop the ball. Milton is clearly the villain here and gets what's coming to him in the end, but the comments I mentioned that the women in the film make about sleeping with powerful men to get ahead are played mostly for laughs. And that is really too bad. I think that if this was handled in a different way, it could really have set "Scream 3" apart from the other films in the franchise in a better way than it stands out now.

In an alternate timeline there is a better "Scream 3." A version that Kevin Williamson was able to write and that hewed closer to his original vision. But alas, we live in this timeline and have this version of "Scream 3." I will say upon repeated viewings I have found a way to appreciate it's myriad charms and accept it for what it is, but I imagine it will always land at the bottom of mine and a lot of other "Scream" fan's rankings.

Next up, Sidney returns to Woodsboro on her book tour at the same time as the 10 year anniversary of the original Woodsboro Massacre. And wouldn't ya know it, new Ghostface killings start happening.

What do you all think? Any diehard "Scream 3" fans out there? I'd love to hear from you in the comments.