The Fantasy Review‘s Spoiler-Free Review of Scream 3 (2000).
Rating: 3.5/5
Scream 3 (2000) is the least interesting and most convoluted movie of the original trilogy, but it’s still plenty of fun to watch and is a good finale for this main story.
Positives
With this third movie being located on the movie set for Stab 3, the meta-fun is ramped up to 11! There are plenty of witty lines and clever scenes that will have you seeing the movies from many angles.
It’s kind of refreshing watching a movie that wants you to think. You feel like an active participant, or at least an extra on set.
I loved how they got the main characters back together again, even bringing Sidney out of hiding to deal with the latest Ghostface killings.
I can’t remember if the twists are surprising anymore as I’ve seen this quite a few times, but they are satisfying twists with plenty of clues leading up to them. The red herrings are great too, making many people seem like good suspects for Ghostface.
Negatives
Some of this movie is a convoluted mess. Even with seeing it so many times, I don’t really fully understand the plot links to Sidney’s mum, except for the obvious.
It’s almost overly complicated on purpose, to make a point, but perhaps this was done too much, to the detriment of the movie as a whole.
Final Thoughts
As the third movie in a slasher franchise, and the final in a trilogy, Scream 3 is leagues above other franchises, but it still lacks some of the charm and concise storytelling of the first two. It’s still a decent movie though, and a fun continuation of Sidney’s story.
