Wes Craven’s Scream 3

• 2nd Apr 2011

Anyone keeping track will notice that we’ve left out all the direct-to-television movies Craven directed – we may as well opt here to inform you that we’re only covering the horror/thriller titles he’s worked on – which is literally all of his releases except for Music Of the Heart which he released between Scream 2 and 3. So if you were waiting for our opinion on Craven-does-straight-drama then you won’t find it here. Our reasons are simply time constraints – not because we can’t handle Craven doing drama! And so onto Scream 3.

The chance to deliver a perfect trilogy is sullied here in the lesser third part. Much of this can be attributed to the fact that Kevin Williamson wasn’t available to write the script. The kills are for the large part clumsy. It may seem daring to kill off a leading returning character in the opening of the film – but by this point it had become commonplace in many franchises, so is less of a surprise really (I seem to recall Beverly Hills Cop 3 killing off the police chief in the opening so as to surprise the audience?). But Cotton Weary (who has become a big TV star) and his other half get taken out by the new killer – who seems now to have the power to disguise his voice as others.

Sidney takes a backseat for almost the first half of the film as she’s in hiding in the middle of nowhere working on a call in programme. The killer seems intent on luring her out of hiding as the set for the new STAB movie is now having its cast killed off in the order that they die in the film within a film. Deputy Dewey and Gale Weathers are back on the scene (and of course they didn’t seem to figure out their relationship issues at the end of the second film). Gale’s appearance makes perfect sense (though Courtney Cox seem to have aged about 10 years since the last film); Dewey’s on the other hand is very contrived. He’s now working as a personal bodyguard to the star of the film (a very over the top Parker Posey – but then does she ever show restraint?).

It seems then that with so many new characters, including the returning cast, the cast of the film within a film, the director, the producer and the cops on the case, we have quite a selection to pick from. Roger Corman even pops up as a producer.

But sadly any decent sort of set-up is wasted in a run of rather dull attack scenes and deaths until close to halfway through the film. Jenny McCarthy has probably the worst death in the film – it’s neither tense or gory. Things pick up when a group of the characters are attacked at one of the star’s houses (which if you listen carefully to a character reading from a script gives a huge clue to who’ll kill the bad guy in the end!).

When she finally returns Sidney is given a potential romantic interest in the shape of buff cop (Patrick Dempsey). But once she does she does very little. It’s Gale and Dewey who are the driving force for this film. Gale even gets to have a cheeky run in with cameo performances from Kevin Smith and Jason Mewes (bizarrely Jay and Silent Bob are on a studio tour along with director Craven), as well as Carrie Fisher.

The characters in this film have been given rather cheeky names that allude to real stars at the time, so look out for the names like Jennifer Jolie, Tom Prinze and Tyson Fox. In fact this is probably the best that the film can do when making comments on Hollywood and trilogies in general. There isn’t nearly enough commentary on the mechanics of trilogies, not even from Jamie Kennedy’s cameo. The film series has become very lazy. And even this cameo is lazy. We’re led to believe that Randy has filmed this in the event of his own death, yet who films such a thing on more than one camera? You clearly see when he leaps out of his chair to berate a fellow student that the camera angle changes??? CHEAT!

The killer’s identity is also signposted in a lazy way. Early on we see someone wearing death makeup that someone else mistakes for real. Later in the film the Roman Bridger character appears suddenly dead in a coffin after investigating a basement by himself (but with no onscreen kill). This is meant to fool the audience, but anyone paying attention will know he’s faking it. Sorry! Called that one too! His ultimate revelation is in keeping with the family and making it a “every time is personal” thing for Sidney.

10 years later we’re returning to the franchise with the release of Scream 4. Who will be the killer this time: Sidney’s dad? Her granddad? Her mum back from the dead?! Her cousin (there is a relative in the film as a main character – perhaps taking over the franchise)? Maybe even Sidney herself. The smart money may be on more twists than ever and perhaps some bumping off of the old main cast members (the trailer is very telling of which one of the three is seriously “dead meat”). Or perhaps have one of them be the killer, or caught up in the events leading to a killer running amok! With fingers crossed I’m praying that they stick a knife in the giant head of the cheerleader from Heroes who’s making an appearance in the film. That may sound cruel, but for a non-fan it would be worth the price of admission alone!

We’ve been through so many updates of the horror genre that we’re not in a position to make wild stabs in the dark as to what surprises future films may have. It makes it increasingly hard for filmmakers to be successful. And yet so many deliver very little. The worst offense Scream 4 could commit is to be bland. It will be under some tough scrutiny. So if it’s smart it’ll play things straight without trying to be clever. Or perhaps Kevin Williamson has one more trick up his sleeve which’ll pull the rug out from under us!

Steven Hurst