After college, Sydney Prescott has become a phone-in crisis counselor, hiding from the ghost-faced killers that have stalked her and her friends. Before long, though, another killer has made mincemeat of several castmembers of Stab 3 (the third movie based upon the "real" events of Scream), and is closing in on Sid and her surviving friends. This time, however, there is a deeper, more sinister subtext, as the killings are somehow tied into Sid's own family and past.
Also known as: Ghostface (working title), Scream 3: Ghostface Killer (working title)
Subgenres: slasher, postmodern
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 Whatever magic the first two Screams possessed, whatever made them special and different, is gone. The Scream series was on its way to being the second-best horror series ever made (after the stupendous Evil Dead trilogy), but with this film's lackluster if not terrible showing, I'm going to put it behind the Psycho films (and, yes, I've seen Psycho III). However, as a whole, the Scream series does go out still being a positive example of what postmodern horror can be. (You listening, Jan De Bont?) Unfortunately, the writer of Scream 3 (Ehren Kruger, not Kevin Williamson, and it shows) seems to have forgotten that he is writing a postmodern horror film, and the result is a movie that winds up, at times, with more flopsweat than blood flowing from the actors. Speaking of which, the castmembers don't inject much into their characters, but then again, the writing isn't there; there's very little of the character growth that was present in Scream 2. The supporting cast is capable, but, again, just in a forgettable standard-horror-flick sort of way. Actually, that summation doesn't include Parker Posey, who is, well, really annoying. Knowingly satirical, but still annoying. Neve Campbell herself seems almost like a member of the supporting cast; she's barely in the first half of the movie. Actually, thinking back on it, I realize that I wasn't frightened once in this film. Didn't even jump. Scream 3 does make an attempt to tie the trilogy together. However, it does it in such a way that I, at least, was left dissatisfied. "Who cares?" is not something you want to say at the conclusion of a trilogy of which you've been a staunch supporter. philjohn.com - approaching the unexplained 
All good things must come to an end. Did I say "good"? Then I'm afraid I'm writing about the wrong movie. How did I anticipate this film, how astonished was I about the bad reviews it got, how much did I want this one to be good. But truth to be told, already after some minutes into the movie the sad realization sank in that this would not be a good film. So I bored myself through the rest of it, and while it got a little bit better towards its end, it was pale and simply dull in its entire run, self-clichéd and self-centered, but not self-reflexive, and not an ounce of excitement was in it, except, of course, Lance Henriksen, for the small part he had. After the certainly mediocre but otherwise enjoyable 'Scream', 'Scream 2', however, having turned out to be a positive surprise, the hopefully-to-be-over-series went even below its initial weak and indulged mainly in a self-pleasing compilation of cameos and cheap kills, not thrills. Some interesting moments, some interesting though soap-operaic revelations, some déjà-vus, coerced into the frame of a dull plot: All of this is not the least poetic, not the least true to its predecessors, not the least suited to the (alleged? self-alleged?) talents involved. A lack of ideas combined with the availability of sufficient budget is a dangerous combination, but that seems to have been the case here. Well, the script was not by Kevin Williamson - which may serve as an explanation. Maybe I'm spoiled with The X-Files, Twin Peaks or even Buffy, but when I watch something denoted as horror I expect it to be somehow scary and weird, and after 'Scream 2', I expect its sequel to be intelligent. Nada. What a waste . . . (June 25, 2000)
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Follows Scream and Scream 2. The movies were originally planned by writer Kevin Williamson as a trilogy, though Williamson did not write Scream 3, said duty being taken over by Ehren Kruger.
