Hooptober Neun (2022) - Film #16

The end of the trilogy; this time, it’s convoluted. A little too convoluted.

Having thoroughly enjoyed Scream and Scream 2, it’s safe to say that the meta approach works for me. The problem with the Scream series, at least until this point, it feels like each one needs to be more meta than the last. This leads to some pretty confusing elements here, especially if your memory of the first two movies isn’t that great.

That said, I still found a lot to enjoy here. I liked the videotaped explanation of ‘the rules’, I loved some of the cameos and the choice to have real versions and ‘film versions’ of the main cast made for some great scenes, even if the concept is somewhat recycled from Scream 2. I found the voice changer a little too convenient and felt it pushed the suspension of disbelief almost to breaking point. The killer, as usual is almost impossible to predict, and I feel like Scream 3 cheats the mystery formula here by not providing reasonable clues.

What works particularly well here is the commentary on how Hollywood treats people, a thread with added poignancy since the truth came out about Harvey Weinstein.

The film is basically the same length as the first two instalments, but for some reason it felt a decent bit longer, and I can only attribute this to it not being as consistently engaging as the originals.

Special merit for the casting of Lance Henriksen - I’m always happy to see him on the screen.

Scream 3: not as bad as people make out.