Scream 3 review
Scream 3. When it stumbles, it stumbles. But when it works, it goddamn WORKS.
Starting off with the bad, I hate how they had Dewey and Gale go through the 'will or won't they' story AGAIN. I thought 2 had settled it.
The opening felt too rushed. The original and 2 took their time building up the suspense. This one rushed in and just felt cheap.
Suddenly, Randy has a sister. Good foreshadowing for the GF reveal, but still.
What happened to the costume department in this film? I know Gale's bangs have been talked about to death, but Milton was supposed to be a bigwig in a large film company. Why was he dressed like he had just rolled out of bed with a bad hangover?
It was good that the film used the voice changer to add paranoia about who was actually on the other side of the phone, but it came way too late.
All in all, this movie felt a lot more cartoonish than the previous 2, especially in the fax scene and the third act.
And now for the good parts.
The mystery was genuinely intriguing. Piecing together clues about Maureen's past.
There were some very scary and eerie moments: Sidney's nightmare about her mother and finding the film set of her house really stand out. Echoes of past conversations, Ghostface using Muareen's voice, going back to Woodsboro without actually having to go back there. And Milton talking about Maureen was chilling in a unique way you don't usually see in Scream.
Killing off Cotton was a great way to start the (at the time) final film.
Hollywood is a natural next step, considering the meta aspect. And I do like that they use the setting: showing films being made, the darker side of the business. Actresses having to sleep with directors to get roles was constantly brought up, tforeshadowing what happened to Maureen. Again, the mystery angle in this film is very strong.
This is also the first film in the series where the legacy trio felt like a trio. In the original and 2, they were mostly with other people, never really being together as a group. They all had relationships with each other, but they never really felt like a trio. But here, they feel like a group of friends who understand each other in ways no one else can.
It was nice to see Randy again. Forced, but nice. His video brought a sense of foreboding to the narrative.
If this had been the series' final ending, I'd be satisfied. The final fight against the director of Ghostface is emotionally charged; Dewey and Gale get married, and Sidney finds closure and has a friend circle around her again (Dewey, Gale and Mark).
Now I want to talk about Roman Bridger. The director of Ghostface. I like him; his working alone (Angelina being an accomplice is just a theory) really adds to his threat level, and his existence as Sidney's long-lost sibling born when their mother was raped by a director is foreshadowed a lot throughout the movie. Scott Foley does a great job of conveying Roman's anger and fury, and this Ghostface has one of the best GF lines in the series: "It was a simple game, Cotton."
My main problem is that Sidney never meets him before the unmasking, so it comes across as less 'oh my God' and more 'who the hell are you?'. Couldn't they have written Sidney watching Roman on TV, advertising the upcoming Stab 3? Or they meet on the Stab film set? Just something.
I would have preferred it if Roman died after holding hands with Sidney. No last-second scare. It was a really poignant moment: the man responsible for all this death and suffering, realising that it didn't have to be this way, that he and Sidney could have been friends in another life. It would have underlined the pointlessness of it all.
Regarding ranking, I can't justify putting 3 above 2. But I also can't put it below it either because, again, when this film works, it WORKS.
Scream (1996)
Scream 2/Scream 3
Though this feels like an opinion that could change.
That's the original trilogy done. Now onto Scream 4. I hope that vaseline filter isn't as distracting as everyone says.
