Third time's a Scream
'Scream 3' delivers what fans of first two films are looking for

Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), the director of "Stab 3," and one of the actresses in his film (Parker Posey), tell police that his broken award statue means he could be the next victim of the murderer.

by Catherine Marquis-Homeyer
staff editor

Do you want to get scared? Do you want to laugh?

"Scream 3" is the third (and reportedly final) installment in this series of films parodying teen horror flicks. They work so well with fans of teen horror flicks because these parodies also deliver scares of the type found in those films while also spoofing the genre. The first of this series was very clever in its ability to point out all the conventions of the genre, while playing the story just straight enough to really thrill those who like these roller-coaster-like entertainments. Since it's a staple of this genre that successful "teen scream flicks" spawn sequels, the parody followed suit, successfully poking fun at the predictability while keeping the chills intact. In "Scream 3," director Wes Craven gives his fans again the same combination of jolts and laughs, appropriately adapted to what fans expect in the third film in a trilogy.

Too much information here would certainly spoil the film, and so I'll keep the description to a minimum. First of all, teen scream films are essentially B movies, so comparing them to A movies is meaningless. Their "cheesiness" and predictability are expected parts of the films, and part of what their fans like. Of course, the kids will go back in the house after narrowly escaping with their lives, and so on, and of course we will find out who is committing these seemingly random murders and why.

Where Wes Craven changed the basic premise was that, rather than trying to come up with a new twist for the plot, he turns the genre on itself by describing the "rules" of the films to the audience and parodying the stock characters, drawing laughs while still managing to sneak up and scare them. In "Scream 3," the surviving characters from the first two films are drawn back into the action when murders start occurring on the set of "Stab 3," a movie based on the "real" incidents in the first two "Scream" films. Once the original cast shows up in this movie-within-a-movie (which allows for a whole new set of stereotypes to have fun with), director Wes Craven is up and running. This third film is a little funnier than the second one, although it still has lots of scares, and this one also has more gore than the other two. The major drawback to the film is that you have to have seen the other two to really follow this one, since it often refers back to information from the previous "Screams."

Making a recommendation about his film is meaningless. If you saw the previous two films in this series, this film does everything it's supposed to do, and you will be pleased and entertained. If you've not seen any of these films and like this genre (although it seems unlikely that a fan of "teen scream" films hasn't seen the series), this is not the place to start; instead, rent the other two and then go to see this latest installment. If you would never in your wildest dream go see a "teen scream" film, the films are still entertaining (particularly the first one), although hardly essential viewing. The important thing is that "Scream 3" delivers what fans of the first two "Screams" are looking for, and that's all it needs do to succeed.

(Now playing at Clarkson, Creve Coeur, West Port, and other theaters)