by Afra Nariman

Scream 3 (2000)

Director: Wes Craven

Stars: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox

REVIEW:

A stale and rather forgettable installment into the franchise, the third Scream film falls flat on many of the keys that made the original film special. The second film, although still very good, already felt relatively watered down when considering the merits of the first; but here, too much of what’s necessary to make Scream work, is lacking.

Scream 3 sets aside the franchise’s original calling card of clever satire and good comedy, and instead takes on a more “serious” tone — or a more straight forward approach. What satire and comedy still persist in midst this tonal shift, ultimately falls flat and didn’t land for me the way it did in the first two installments. The satire and comedy here feel relatively routine and uninspired. Being that the concept of Scream, in the first place, was to satirize the “serious” and dramatic horror films of its kind, the shift here towards emulating the tone of films that the franchise originally set out to satirize, simply doesn’t work. What we’re left with is an uninspired horror/slasher film with all the classic tropes of its genre (which the first two satirize), executed with the energy of a (still fun) B-movie; but unlike its more clever predecessors, this installment has nothing unique to say or add to the genre it inherently reacts to. There is a difference between satirizing a genre and it’s tropes, and ironically copying it. Scream 3 unfortunately embodies the latter. 

Still worth watching, and still fun in parts; but Scream 3 simply falls short of originality and lacks the most effective elements of what made the first two installments great.

MY RATING /5:

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