Scream 3
A trilogy ends with a new Ghostface in Hollywood.
Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger. It is the third installment in the Scream film series, following Sidney Prescott as she is drawn back into danger after a new Ghostface killer targets the cast of a film within a film. The movie combines slasher violence with comedy and mystery while satirizing film trilogy clichés, and was released amid increased scrutiny on media violence following the Columbine High School massacre.
Quick Facts
- Director
- Wes Craven
- Writer
- Ehren Kruger
- Based on
- Characters, Kevin Williamson
- Producer
- Cathy Konrad
- Kevin Williamson
- Marianne Maddalena
- Cinematography
- Peter Deming
- Editing
- Patrick Lussier
- Music
- Marco Beltrami
- Production companies
- Konrad Pictures; Craven/Maddalena Films
Facts from the source article.
Plot
Cotton Weary, now a talk show host, is killed by Ghostface along with his girlfriend Christine after refusing to reveal Sidney Prescott's whereabouts. Detective Mark Kincaid contacts Gale Weathers, who travels to Hollywood and finds Dewey Riley working as an adviser on the set of Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, where he is dating Jennifer Jolie, the actress playing Gale. Ghostface kills actress Sarah Darling, halting production, and later attacks a gathering at Jennifer's home, killing her bodyguard and causing a gas explosion that kills co-star Tom Prinze. Sidney, living in seclusion under an alias and working as a crisis counselor, is taunted by the killer using a voice changer to sound like her deceased mother Maureen Prescott. She travels to Hollywood, where Gale and Jennifer learn that Maureen briefly worked as an actress under the stage name Rina Reynolds and was raped at a party held by producer John Milton. Martha Meeks delivers a videotape from her brother Randy, who posthumously warns that the rules of horror films do not apply in a trilogy. Sidney is attacked on the Stab 3 set and held for protection. At a birthday party at Milton's mansion, Ghostface kills Angelina Tyler, Tyson Fox, and Jennifer, and takes Gale and Dewey hostage. Sidney goes to the mansion, where Ghostface reveals himself to be Roman, having faked his death.
Production
Scream 3 was released over two years after Scream 2 with a budget of $40 million, a significant increase from the previous films. Kevin Williamson had provided five-page outlines for two sequels when selling his original Scream script, but his commitments to other projects prevented him from developing a complete script for Scream 3, so Ehren Kruger wrote the screenplay, discarding many of Williamson's notes. Following the Columbine High School massacre, the studio considered whether to proceed with the film amid increased scrutiny on media violence, but decided to move forward with changes. The studio pressed for a greater emphasis on satiric humor and scaling back violence, at one point demanding no blood or on-screen violence at all, but director Wes Craven intervened, arguing that if it were a Scream movie it would have certain standards. Principal photography took place from July to September 1999, with the ending re-filmed in January 2000. Production was troubled by script rewrites, pages ready only on the day of filming, and scheduling difficulties with the main cast.
Reception
Scream 3 premiered on February 3, 2000, in Westwood, Los Angeles, and was released theatrically the following day. It set a record for the widest opening ever in the United States and Canada, playing on 3,467 screens. The film grossed $34.7 million in its opening weekend, ranking number one at the US box office and breaking the record for the highest weekend debut in February, as well as the highest weekend debut for a horror film and for a Miramax film. It went on to gross $89 million in the United States and Canada and $73 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $162 million. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 45% approval rating based on 164 reviews, with the critical consensus stating that despite some surprising twists, the franchise falls back on old horror formulas. Metacritic gives a weighted average score of 56 out of 100, indicating mixed or average reviews, and audiences gave it a B grade on CinemaScore. Time Out London criticized the film's metafiction commentary as a poor imitation of Wes Craven's New Nightmare. Roger Ebert called the characters thin but praised Neve Campbell's screen presence. Positive reviews came from the Los Angeles Times, which called it genuinely scary and highly amusing, and the BBC, which said it works effectively as a trilogy conclusion. Variety praised how wittily Craven brought down the curtain on the series, while Empire found it satisfying though the premise had worn thin.
More in Dream Stalkers & Victims
Elsewhere in A Nightmare on Elm Street
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced