Classic Review: ‘Scream 3’ is Craven’s Most Misunderstood Slasher

Director: Wes Craven
Writers: Kevin Williamson, Ehren Kruger
Stars: David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox

Synopsis: While Sidney and her friends visit the Hollywood set of Stab 3, the third film based on the Woodsboro murders, another Ghostface killer rises to terrorize them.

For a franchise with as much cult status, lore and overall obsession as Scream, the series’ third entry is astonishingly under-mentioned in relevant circles and conversations. What should have been the climactic end to an uber-popular horror trilogy went down for many as a confusing disappointment instead. And while it is confusing and, in some ways, a letdown, Scream 3 has only improved in the 25 years it’s had to age. Like a fine wine, Wes Craven’s second-to-last endeavor in the Scream saga is due more reverence than it often receives.

What doesn’t quite work about the film is obvious. The killer being Sydney’s half-brother Roman Bridger, who the audience hardly knows, is difficult enough to understand. But to take that underwhelming revelation and undergird it with the subsequent disclosure that he orchestrated the apparent crimes of previous killers, who fans are far more fond of, is asinine on the surface. It just doesn’t work in the franchise’s framework to that point.

Yet, there’s an earnest energy to this entry that, at least in my opinion, the film before it doesn’t share. Missing from Scream 2 was the unmuted desire to completely duck expectations and send watchers a right hook in return. Is it a good film? Sure, but it feels like something that was made in the shadow of the first one. Say what you want about 3, but if it has an identity in anything, it’s singularity.

Body doubles for multiple characters played for comedic relief? Check. A scare sequence in a rebuilt version of the first film’s final house set? Check. A random, action movie style house explosion at the midway point? Unbelievably, hilariously, check. Oh, and don’t forget the Carrie Fisher cameo.

Scream 3 has it all, whether you want it or not. It’s a cosmetic blast that Craven clearly had a ton of fun with behind the scenes. But what’s more, it features the framing of Hollywood as a malignant entity that preys on the very things that keep it running, which grows more relevant as the film continues to age.

“Play by the game, sleep to get the job.” Ironic, as the Weinsteins produced Scream 3, but even then the film’s constant insistence on tearing closed systems open and revealing what’s inside is a dashingly clever breakdown of the Hollywood system that works in a way only Wes could manage.

To that point, Bridger being a behind the scenes, relatively unknown piece of the puzzle, yet planning and executing the entire thing from the shadow of his superstar sister is sensible for the same reason. Even if the reveal still doesn’t land, the thematic explanation and background for it is among the most studied in the series.

If anything can be said about Wes Craven’s work, beyond his legendary ability to scare, it’s the intentionality in his storytelling. It seems to me that the message woven into 3 was a higher priority than it being a threequel and, at the time, franchise finale.

If Scream 4 hadn’t come out further down the line (and been as good as it was), perhaps this would be a very different conversation. But now that 3 doesn’t have to carry the weight of being the last one, it has access to the proper breathing room to expand into the space it was always meant to occupy: a fittingly awkward, disheveled slasher that punches up at the industry in which it exists.

A particularly beautiful thing about film as a medium is its ability to be multi-layered, and interpreted and seen in different ways. You can watch Scream 3 as an off-the-rails, highly entertaining sequel on one day, and then as a genuine, heart-on-the-sleeve critique of Hollywood on the next. It’s a film defined by this dichotomy and, in spite of some flaws, made brilliant by it as well.

If you haven’t watched Scream 3 in a while, or ever, now is the time to do it. 25 years removed from release, Craven’s decisive sequel is one that has finally started to explain itself and the decisions within it. Beneath the jagged, weathered rock exists an ore original to the Wes Craven experience; Scream 3 is pure cinematic gold.

Grade: B+