2000, R, 116 minutes

At the end of 1996 a little horror flick called Scream hit theaters and quickly turned the entire horror genre on its head. I was a tremendous fan of the film, but was somewhat disappointed by the sequel released the following year. With Scream 3 I didn't quite know what to expect. Wes Craven and crew had a whole extra year this time around, which was definitely a good thing, but had the series already lost its life? Maybe some of it, and despite taking itself just a tad too seriously, I'm glad to say that I found this film to be a pleasant surprise.

After enduring a horrible finish of high school, and then a blood bath at college, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) has finally gone underground. She's changed her name, her location, and basically doesn't exist anymore. Going by the name of Laura, Sidney works from her highly secured home giving support to young women over the telephone. At the same time, Stab 3 is filming in Hollywood, the third movie based on the real killings (within the movie, of course). Quickly, people involved with the film's production start to die, and once again Sidney's life is turned upside down. As you could have guessed, former deputy Dewey Riley (David Arquette) and cutthroat reporter Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox-Arquette) are out to help Sidney and catch the killer.

After the disappointment that was Scream 2, this film was certainly refreshing. Scream 3 provides many of the things that I wanted from Scream 2, including ties that relate to the original film -- and in a much more surprising manner. After the traditional "opening death scene" I was a little worried that this film was going to turn into a piece of excrement, but it quickly recovered and continued to improve as the story progressed. Scream 3 isn't nearly as witty or clever as the first Scream, but it does cover some new territory rather than repeating the same old crap.

Screenwriter Ehren Kruger (who took over Kevin Williamson's duties) provided a solid screenplay full of twists and turns, and he also does a good job at making you think a number of different characters are the killer. There are a few points where the story goes a bit over the top in order to pull you in, but by the end he gives this trilogy a good place to rest and call it quits. As for Wes Craven's direction, he's as good as he always is. I was especially thankful for how he managed to control numerous cuts within a scene without giving me a headache like some directors do with the use of too many close shots.

The cast for Scream 3 is as good as you could've asked for from a teen-slasher flick. Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette give decent follow-up performances to their past characters, and the supporting cast was also up to par. Parker Posey was hilarious in her portrayal of an actress who plays Gale Weathers in the Stab 3 movie, and Scott Foley (from Felicity) was good as well. I don't like to single people out, but the one real sore-thumb in the bunch was Emily Mortimer, who had the role of Sidney Prescott in Stab 3. Perhaps she was supposed to be suspicious or funny -- I don't know -- but just about every line she delivered made me cringe.

If you allow yourself the opportunity to enjoy it, Scream 3 is a somewhat worthy follow-up and is certainly better than most sequels in other horror franchises. I recommend it to moviegoers who tend to enjoy most horror films, but if you only liked the first Scream for being aware of its own genre, you'll probably be disappointed.