One would think that two SCREAM movies would have milked out all of the ideas they had. Then again any fan of horror films, or follower of Randy in the series, would realize that a good horror franchise needs to become a trilogy to be great. Okay forget the new movie and just consider this one for the moment.
Gone are the days of school, both high school and college. The survivors of the earlier films have moved on with their lives. Gale (Courtney Cox) and Dewey (David Arquette) were and item but are now apart. Sidney (Neve Campbell) lives in a secluded and secure location where she councils victims via phone. And Cotton?
Well as the film opens Cotton (Liev Schreiber) has become a radio talk show host and is on his way home when he gets a call. One of “those” calls fans of the films recognize by now. The killer is in his home and about to kill Cotton’s girlfriend. Cotton races home to stop this but fails and in so doing finds himself the second victim of part 3, his girlfriend being the first.
All of this occurs as a film studio is in the process of making STAB 3, the third movie based on the fictional murders in this series of films. I wonder if INCEPTION got their idea for a dream within a dream from these movies within movies? Anyway, Word of Cotton’s death reaches the cast and crew and of course Gale is there to cover the story. In her usual insensitive manner she goes looking for the story. It leads her to the studio where the film is being shot and running into Dewey who is a technical advisor to the film, helping Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey) as the character based on Gale.
The banter between the two goes back and forth but eventually they work together as members of the cast begin being murdered in the same order their characters are in the script. The killer also keeps leaving behind pictures of Sidney’s mother, the woman whose infidelity began this whole story. He/she also wants to know where to find Sidney.
Each cast member as well as studio executives and the police detective in charge of the investigation (Patrick Dempsey) become a suspect at one time or another. Perhaps the only ones not suspects are Sidney, Gale and Dewey. As the cast and crew are whittled down, the revelation of who the killer is this time around and his/her motivations are revealed.
It is the revelation that shows how original and interesting this series actually was. Once more they could have taken an easy out or done something that didn’t relate to anything. Instead the film works as another whodunit where we are presented with clues that will lead us to the killer if we only pay close attention. Here we are again presented with what could have been a lame excuse for a movie but instead becomes a good little film all in itself.
The ideas behind movies are discussed in each of the films. On the surface this is seen when each one discusses the rules found in all horror films. But it also takes on critics who talk about how bad sequels can be, proving them wrong. It talks about how violence affects us by showing that perhaps the violence we see onscreen isn’t what causes violence but the circumstances of our lives do. It talks about a press who is willing to sacrifice love, honor and respect for people in the attempt to get the story. And it talks about the fact that while we may make fun of sequels we still fill the theater seats to see them when they come out.
The series is well worth adding to your collection if you’re a horror fan. Once again Lionsgate has done a bang up job of putting together a quality product here. The extras on all three don’t offer much but I for one don’t mind. I find that with all the movies I want to watch I rarely have time for these any longer. I mean come on, how come a movie can be 90 minutes long but have 3 hours of extras to watch?
Suffice to say that the SCREAM series as released now on blu-ray is a great buy for fans. Now all we have to do is sit back a few months and wait for the release of SCREAM 4.
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