Scream 3
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Scream 3 (2000) (theatrical name "Scr3am") is the final installment in the successful Scream trilogy of satirical horror films. It follows Scream 2.
The film stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courteney Cox-Arquette, each reprising their roles from the first two films. This is the only part of the Scream trilogy not to be written by Kevin Williamson, as he was busy working on his short-lived television series Wasteland. Newcomer Ehren Kruger (who would later go on to write the highly successful screenplays for both The Ring and The Ring Two) was given the task of writing the script based on notes Williamson himself had sketched out.
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Plot
Image:Mccarthy.jpgHaving experienced the trauma of the first two pictures, Campbell's Sidney Prescott character now lives in a secluded area of California where she works as a women's crisis counselor from her home. Her whereabouts are unknown even to her surviving friends (save for Dewey, played by Arquette). Gale Weathers (Cox) has become a largely successful news reporter (of a sensationalist style), thanks to the books she wrote revolving around the murders of the first two films (and subsequent films based on the books).
The film begins when Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), the man long-ago suspected of killing Sidney's mother, is slaughtered (along with his girlfriend). Suspected of being related to the original killings, Los Angeles police officials (led by Mark Kincaid, played by Patrick Dempsey) inform Gale Weathers of Weary's murder, asking if she may know anything about a picture found at the murder scene. When she identifies it as a picture of Maureen Prescott, Sidney's mother, it becomes apparent the killings are linked to her murder.
Meanwhile, Weathers visits the set of the latest film in the Stab series, Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro. There she discovers a set that looks identical to the scene of the horrific "real" events that plagued her in the first Scream film. The visit also provides Weathers with the opportunity to meet director Roman Bridger (Scott Foley) and the various performers who are portraying the real-life people she knew or knows: Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer) as "Sidney", Sarah Darling (Jenny McCarthy) as "Candy", Tom Prinze (Matt Keeslar) as "Dewey" and Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey) as Gale herself. Mark Christian(Chris Wade) is the character known as "tyson".
Soon, these actors are systematically killed off in the same order as they are slated to be murdered in the Stab 3 script. Sidney is brought in to help unravel who is behind these killings, but she is barely holding onto her own sanity because of the trauma of past events.
It turns out that Roman (who had faked his own murder) is the killer, the connection being that he is the son of Sidney's mother (her half-brother). He was born because Sidney's mother had slept with a well known director to get parts in his movies (Gale and her movie counterpart discovered Sid's mother's acting career, which brought forth somewhat a short-lived friendship, as fake Gale was killed towards the end).
Eventually, when Sidney confronts Roman, she "kills" him by shooting him with a gun she snuck in, but he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. He manages to shoot her in the heart, but she was also wearing a bullet-proof vest (one from the police station), and kills him. As usual, Roman, being the main villain, wasn't really dead and Dewey kills him for real after being told (by Sidney, the only one who knew of Roman's bulletproff vest) to shoot Roman in the head.
The rules
Image:Neve.jpegA signature device, started in Scream and continued in Scream 2 and Scream 3, was the typical "rules" for that type of horror movie being stated by the characters. In Scream 3, Sidney watches a video made by Randy (Jamie Kennedy, in a cameo role) before his death in Scream 2; he states that if the third movie is just another sequel, then the standard rules for a sequel (given in Scream 2) apply. However, the rules for the final concluding chapter of a trilogy are different:
- "You've got a killer who’s gonna be super human. Stabbing him won’t work, shooting him won’t work, basically in the third one, you gotta cryogenically freeze his head, decapitate him, or blow him up."
- "Anyone, including the main character, can die."
- "The past will come back to bite you...Whatever you think you know about the past, forget it. The past is not at rest, any sins you think were committed in the past are about to break out and destroy you."
Later, Det. Mark Kincaid says "All I know about movie trilogies is in the third one, all bets are off."
Trivia
- On working on the set of Stab 3, Tyson makes reference to a special makeup-effects artist named Stan. This has been thought to be a reference to legendary makeup-FX artist Stan Winston.
- John Milton's house where the film's climax is set, is the same house that was used as a school in Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998).
- The name on the empty cinematographer's chair on the set of the fictitious Stab 3 is the name of the real film's actual cinematographer, Peter Deming.
- The complaints of the actors of Stab 3 regarding the rewrites and three different scripts is a reflection of those of the real cast's because of the same issues behind the scenes due to apparent leaks of the scripts onto the internet, and postings on fansites and the Internet Movie Database .
- Gale, played by Courteney Cox, makes mention of Jennifer's relationship with Brad Pitt. In reality, Cox's Friends costar Jennifer Aniston was married to Pitt.
- The film set a record in its opening weekend for the number of screens in the United States: 3,467. This was later surpassed by Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) with 3,762.
- Jay and Silent Bob, the popular drug dealer characters from Kevin Smith's movies, appear as tourists visiting Sunrise Studios. In original Scream, a VHS copy of their first film Clerks. can be spotted in Stu Macher's house. Kevin Smith would later go on to include Wes Craven in a cameo as the director of a fictitious Scream 4 in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back; in addition, a copy of Scream 3 can be seen in the background of a scene taking place within a video store in Smith's 2004 film Jersey Girl.
- Wes Craven makes a cameo dressed as a tourist walking behind Jay and Silent Bob, outside the Stab 3 set.
- The Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song "Red Right Hand" is played in the film, having been heard in all three films. Nick Cave actually wrote a "sequel" to the song just for the film, which can be heard in the closing credits. Unfortunately, this track has not been known to have been released. Additionally, Marco Beltrami uses a few notes from the song in his score.
- During the studio tour, the tour guide mention's that making a stop to the set of Seinfeld. Patrick Warburton, who plays Steven Stone in the film, earned fame for his recurring role as Elaine Benes's boyfriend David Puddy on Seinfeld.
- Lance Henriksen's director character shares the same name as the famous 17th century English poet John Milton, best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. Many have drawn similarities between the character in the film with Satan in Paradise Lost.
- All sets for Stab 3 are replicas of the originals from the original Scream as they were destroyed after production. To further indicate the film-with-a-film's reference to the first Scream, the green outfit worn by Jennifer Jolie playing Gale Weathers is the same as the one worn by Gale herself in the first film.
- Neve Campbell made a deal stating that she would only be on set for 20 days, as at the time, she was fearful of being typecast into horror films. This explains why her Sidney character is not as predominant in the film as she was in the previous two.
- Sidney continues to wear the Greek letters given to her by her boyfriend Derrick from Scream 2.
- David Arquette and Courteney Cox, who met during Scream and dated during Scream 2, got married just before this film. They had to cut their honeymoon short to begin filming. Courteney added 'Arquette' to the end of her name, as can be seen in the credits.
- Shannen Doherty was almost cast in the part of Christine. She would later appear in "Scream 4" in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Kate Winslet and Charisma Carpenter were also candidates before the part went to Kelly Rutherford.
- David Arquette (Dwight 'Dewey' Riley), Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers), Jamie Kennedy (Randy Meeks) and Liev Schreiber (Cotton Weary) are the only actors (and characters) to appear in all Scream films. Arquette, Cox, and Campbell are the only three to survive all of them.
- Compared to its two predecessors, the film used the least amount of artificial blood. Scream used 50 gallons of the substance, Scream 2 used 30 gallons, and Scream 3 used as little as 10 gallons.
- Scream 3, the last chapter in the trilogy was a success earning over $161m worldwide. There are repeated findings of a fourth film in the works among fans, but these all turn out to be rumours.
- It is interesting to note that, when finally faced with who is responsible for the murders, we learn that Scream had 3 killers, Scream 2 had 2 and Scream 3 had only one, and that he or she was responsible for all of the killings. Also of note is the family ties factor acting as motivation.
- The DVD's audio commentary reveals that the producers originally intended Angelina Tyler to be the killer's accomplice.