Scream 3
Encyclopedia
Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film
created by Kevin Williamson
, directed by Wes Craven
and written by Ehren Kruger
, starring Neve Campbell
, Courteney Cox Arquette
and David Arquette
, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series. Scream 3 takes place three years after Scream 2 and follows the character of Sidney Prescott
(Campbell) who has gone into self-imposed isolation following the events of the previous two films but is drawn to Hollywood after Ghostface
returns and begins killing the cast of the film within a film "Stab 3" and leaving images of Sidney's mother at the crime scenes. The film also follows the characters of Gale Weathers (Cox Arquette) and Dewey Riley (Arquette) as they aid Sidney but also deal with their own romantic subplot
. As the previous films, Scream 3 combines the traditional violence of the slasher genre with comedy and "whodunit
" mystery while satirizing the cliché
of film trilogies. Unlike the previous films, however, there was a greater emphasis on the comedic elements while the violence and horror were reduced following increased scrutiny from news media
about violence in media and its effect on the public after the Columbine High School massacre
. The film was originally the concluding chapter of the Scream series but a sequel, Scream 4
, was greenlit in 2008 and released in 2011.
Williamson provided a five-page outline for two sequels to Scream when auctioning his original script, hoping to entice bidders with the potential of buying a franchise and was originally conceived with a similar premise, featuring the production of the fictional "Stab" films but took place in the fictional town of Woodsboro featured in Scream. Due to Williamson's commitments to other projects including directing his self-penned film Teaching Mrs. Tingle
meant he was unable to develop a complete script for Scream 3 and writing duties were undertaken by Arlington Road
-scribe Ehren Kruger
who discarded much of Williamson's notes and moved the setting to Hollywood. Craven and Marco Beltrami
returned to direct and score the film respectively as they had with the previous two series entries. The production of the film was troubled with script rewrites, with pages sometimes only ready on the day of filming, and scheduling difficulties with the main cast. Scream 3 suffered both financially and critically worse than previous installments in the series, earning $161,843,175 with many critics claiming that the film had become what Scream originally "spoofed
". Despite the significant negative criticism however, the film did receive some praise with reviewers calling it the perfect end to the Scream trilogy. Scream 3 is currently the 3rd highest-grossing slasher-film in the US, following Scream at #1 and Scream 2 at #2.
Beltrami received positive critical response to his score for Scream 3, with some critics calling it his best work in the series, especially for incorporating elements of the score from Broken Arrow
by Hans Zimmer
, inserted controversially into Scream 2 over Beltrami's work, and successfully blending it with his own original score. The film's soundtrack was also well-received over those from Scream and Scream 2, spending fourteen weeks on the Billboard 200
and reaching a high of #32.
), now living in Los Angeles and the host of a nationally syndicated television show, 100% Cotton, is called by Ghostface
(voiced by Roger L. Jackson
) who demands the whereabouts of Sidney Prescott
(Neve Campbell
) who has gone into seclusion since the events of Scream 2. He refuses and both Cotton and his girlfriend Christine (Kelly Rutherford
) are murdered.
Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey
) meets with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox
) to discuss the murders prompting her to travel to Hollywood, where she finds Dewey Riley (David Arquette
) working as an advisor on the set of "Stab 3", the third film in the film within a film series based on the Ghostface murders. After Ghostface kills "Stab 3" actress Sarah Darling (Jenny McCarthy
) with the help of a voice changer
that can perfectly mimic various voices. Sidney is now living reclusively as a crisis counselor
for hotline
, as she is terrified that another killer may strike
. The killer begins taunting Sidney by phone, having discovered her phone number, forcing her out of hiding and drawing her to Hollywood. As the remaining "Stab 3" cast gather at the home of Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey
), Ghostface kills her bodyguard Steven Stone (Patrick Warburton
) and uses a gas-leak to cause an explosion, killing fellow actor Tom Prinze (Matt Keeslar
).
Dewey, Gale, Jennifer and the remaining "Stab 3" actors Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer
) and Tyson Fox (Deon Richmond
) attend a birthday party for the director Roman Bridger (Scott Foley
) where Ghostface strikes. Roman, Angelina, Tyson and Jennifer are killed and Ghostface orders Sidney to the mansion to save Gale and Dewey's lives, as they are tied up. Sidney is forced to remove her firearm, and detective Kancaid gives her his gun, which she uses to shoot the killer. Sidney flees and hides in a secret screening room where she discovers Ghostface.
He unmasks himself as Roman, having faked his death and survived being shot due to a bullet proof vest. Roman admits to being Sidney's half-brother, born to their mother Maureen Prescott (Lynn McRee) when she was an actress in Hollywood. Roman details how, upon finding Maureen, she rejected him and he took his revenge by convincing Billy Loomis to kill her, sparking the events of Scream and Scream 2. However, when he discovered how much fame Sidney got because of those events, Roman snapped and lured Sidney out of hiding. Sidney and Roman fight and Sidney fatally stabs Roman. Dewey and Gale arrive and Roman jumps to his feet, before he is shot through the head by Dewey, who learns from Sidney that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. In the aftermath of the murders, Dewey asks Gale for her hand in marriage, which she accepts, and they settle down to watch a horror film, accompanied by Sidney and Detective Kincaid. As Sidney goes to join the others, a door behind her opens, but she walks away leaving it as is, finally confident that the murders have ended and that she is now safe.
, Courteney Cox
, David Arquette
and Liev Schreiber
all returned to their roles as Sidney Prescott
, now a crisis counselor
, news reporter Gale Weathers, Dewey Riley and Cotton Weary, now host of a TV show, respectively for Scream 3, their characters being the only central roles to survive the events of the previous two films. In an interview, Craven stated that convincing the central cast to return to film a new Scream film was not difficult but as with Scream 2, their burgeoning fame and busy schedules made arranging their availability with the film's production period difficult. The consequence of Campbell's commitments in particular meant she was only available to film her role for 20 days forcing the script to reduce the series' main character to a smaller role while focusing on the other characters played by Cox and Arquette. Roger L. Jackson
again returned to voice the antagonist Ghostface
and Jamie Kennedy
reprised his role as Randy Meeks in spite of the character's death in Scream 2. Negative feedback following the death of Randy had the production consider methods to have had his character survive to appear in Scream 3 including having the character's family hide him away for safety while recuperating from his injuries, but it was deemed too unbelievable and the idea was replaced with the character appearing in a minor role via a pre-recorded video message.
Many of the supporting cast played fictitious actors taking part in the film within a film "Stab 3" including Emily Mortimer
as Angelina Tyler, Parker Posey
as Jennifer Jolie, Matt Keeslar
as Tom Prinze, Jenny McCarthy
as Sarah Darling and Deon Richmond
as Tyson Fox with Scott Foley
as the film's director, Roman Bridger. Additional cast included Lance Henriksen
as film producer
John Milton, Patrick Dempsey
as detective Mark Kincaid, Patrick Warburton
as bodyguard Steven Stone and Kelly Rutherford
as the girlrfiend of Cotton Weary, Christine Hammilton. Rutherford was cast after filming had begun as the production was undergoing constant rewrites and the opening scene evolved from requiring only a female corpse to needing a live actress with whom Schreiber could interact. Shortly after being cast, Mortimer was found to lack the necessary work permit to allow her involvement in the film, requiring her to be flown to Vancouver
to obtain one. Scream 3 also featured the first live on-screen appearance of Sidney Prescott's mother Maureen Prescott, played by Lynn McRee, the actress previously having represented the character in photographs during the previous films.
Lawrence Hecht and C.W. Morgan appeared in minor roles reprising their characters of Sidney's father Neil Prescott and Hank Loomis respectively. Nancy O'Dell appeared as an unnamed reporter, having previously appeared in Scream 2 and would go on to appear in Scream 4
in the same role. Scream 3 featured several cameo appearances including the fictional characters of Jay and Silent Bob
from the 1994 film Clerks
played by Jason Mewes
and Kevin Smith
. Carrie Fisher
made a cameo in the film as former actress, Bianca Burnette, at the suggestion of Bob Weinstein
, with Fisher helping to write her character.
In an 2009 interview, Matthew Lillard
, who played Stu Macher in Scream, claimed that he had been contracted to reprise his role in Scream 3 as the primary antagonist, having survived his apparent death, orchestrating new Ghostface attacks from prison on High School students and ultimately targeting Sidney. Following the Columbine High School massacre
shortly before production began, the script was scrapped and re-written without his character and this plot to avoid development of a film which associated violence and murder with a High School setting.
Scream 3 was released just over two years after Scream 2, greenlit with a budget of $40 million, a significant increase over the budgets of Scream at $15 million and Scream 2 at $24 million. Williamson's involvement had been contracted while selling his Scream script, to which he had attached two five-page outlines for potential sequels, what would become Scream 2 and Scream 3, hoping to entice buyers with the prospect of purchasing a franchise rather than a single script. Craven too had been contracted for two potential sequels following a successful test screening
of Scream and he returned to direct the third installment. Shortly before production began on the film, two teenagers staged a deadly attack on their school, killing several students in what became known as the Columbine High School massacre
. In the aftermath of the incident, many parties began looking for reasoning behind their actions and there came an increased scrutiny on the role of the media in society, including video games and film, and the influence it could have on an audience. With production of Scream 3 not yet underway, there were considerations about whether the film should be made at that time, aware of the potential for negative attention but the studio decided to press forward, albeit with changes. The studio remained however much more apprehensive concerning violence and gore in Scream 3 than with previous installments, pressing for a greater emphasis on the series' satiric humor while scaling back on the violence. At one point in the production, the studio went as far as demanding that the film feature no blood or on-screen violence at all, a drastic departure for the series, but Craven directly intervened stating that the film should either have the violence present in earlier Scream films or should be called something other than Scream.
and Harvey Weinstein
approached Williamson in early 1999 to pursue a full script for a third installment to the Scream franchise, Scream 3. However, following his successes with the Scream series and other projects such as I Know What You Did Last Summer
, Williamson had become involved in multiple projects including the development of the short-lived TV series Wasteland
and directing his self-penned film Teaching Mrs. Tingle
(1999) which Williamson had written prior to Scream and which had languished in development hell
since.' Unable to develop a full script for the production, Williamson instead wrote a 20-30 page draft outline for the film that involved the return of Ghostface
to the fictional town of Woodsboro where the "Stab" series, a fictional series of film within a film's that exist within the Scream universe and are based on the events of Scream, would be filmed. The Weinstein's hired Arlington Road
scribe Ehren Kruger
to replace Williamson and helm writing duties, developing a script based on Williamson's notes.
The environment for Scream 3s development had become more complicated than with previous films. There was an increased scrutiny on the effects of violence in media and the effect it could have on the public in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre
which occurred shortly before production would begin on the film. In addition, since the release of the original Scream films, various acts of violence had taken place which had gained notoriety and media attention when they were linked to, or blamed on, the films. Eager to avoid further criticism or connection to such incidents, Williamson's notes were largely discarded as the studio insisted that the script should focus on the comedic elements of the series while significantly reducing the violence. The setting of the film was changed from Woodsboro to Hollywood upon which Kruger commented that he believed the characters should be moving to "bigger" places from high school
, to college
to the city of Hollywood. Behind the scenes however, the move away from Woodsboro was mandated as it was considered that a film containing violent acts of murder in and around the small town of Woodsboro and the associated school would attract significant negative criticism and attention that could be detrimental to the production and studio, the film set for release less than a year following the Columbine incident.
Kruger agreed to develop the script for Scream 3 primarily to work with Craven and the executives under Miramax, arguing that writing a sequel to the work of someone else was not the same as writing "an original". To help in developing the script, Kruger read copies of Williamson's scripts for Scream and Scream 2 as well as watching the earlier films to better understand the characters and tone. In an interview, Kruger admitted that his lack of involvement with the development of the principal cast of Scream hampered his ability to portray them true to their previous characterization. Early scripts had the character of Sidney Prescott much like "Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2" - a more action-orientated heroine - at which point Craven would intervene and correct the script to bring the characters closer to their previous appearances. Kruger would admit that despite not receiving any writing credit, Craven had a significant hand in developing the script for Scream 3. Like Scream 2, the script for Scream 3 was subject to repeated alterations with pages sometimes completed only on the day on which they were to be filmed. Multiple scenes were rewritten to include previously absent characters or change elements of the plot when it was decided that they were not connecting with other scenes.
for Scream 3 began on July 6, 1999 in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles on a budget of $40 million and finished on September 29, 1999 after twelve weeks. Filming took place largely in the areas of San Fernando Valley
, Macarthur Park
, Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills
and Silverlake
with the isolated home of Campbell's character situated in Topanga Canyon
. The opening scene involves Cotton Weary (Schreiber) driving before arriving home where he is murdered by the Ghostface
character. For the driving scene, the production filmed on Hollywood Boulevard
but the following scene in Cotton's apartment was changed frequently, requiring alterations to the driving scene to maintain continuity
, modifying who speaks to Cotton by phone and what the conversation entailed. Unable to return to Hollywood Boulevard, the scene was reshot on a street outside of the production studio in San Fernando Valley and intermixed with footage taken on the Boulevard. The opening attack scene was filmed partially at the exterior and interior of Harper House in West Hollywood
but changes were made to the scene including introducing a live girlfriend for Cotton instead of her being dead when Cotton arrives. It was later decided that the confrontation between Cotton and Ghostface, featuring Cotton physically dominating the character and attempting to escape by skylight, was unrealistic and made Ghostface appear weak and this scene was reshot. Again however, they were unable to return to Harper House to conduct filming and resorted to constructing a replica of the apartment interior to produce the necessary footage which had the Ghostface character appear more dominant and completely excised the attempted skylight escape. Cox's character is introduced during a seminar which takes place within a classroom
at UCLA, a location previously used in Scream 2 to represent the fictional Windsor College. The film studio where the fictional "Stab 3" is filmed is represented by the CBS Studio Center
in Studio City, San Fernando Valley while scenes at the home of Posey's character were filmed in the Hollywood Hills
at Runyon Ranch in Runyon Canyon Park
. The finale, featuring the final attacks of the film and confrontation between the antagonist and Sidney, was filmed at the Canfield-Moreno Estate
, a mansion in Silverlake.
A scene in the film involved Campbell being pursued by Ghostface through filmset
replicas of locations from the original Scream
including her characters home. The scene was not present in the script itself but Craven paid to have the sets constructed, knowing he wanted to revisit the original film in some manner. After the construction of the sets, the scene was then written around the resulting areas producing the scene in the final film. The script underwent changes repeatedly as filming was conducted with pages regularly only available on the day of filming. Additionally, if the production decided to change a scene this sometimes meant refilming other scenes to maintain continuity requiring further rewrites. The production team purposely filmed large amounts of footage containing different variations of each scene based on the different script developments in order that, should the script further change, they would ideally have a scene they could use without having to film new ones at a later date, requiring them to obtain access to locations or build sets. The opening scene in particular had several alternate versions filmed, initially altering the girlfriend of Schreiber's character from dead to alive, resulting in the prior driving scene being changed to alter dialog and tone to make sense with the changes. Additionally, a three-minute scene featuring the character of Randy Meeks had over two-hours of footage filmed. The script for the film was so in flux that the epilogue scene was filmed with three variants of Patrick Dempsey's character - one with him absent, one where his arm is bandage
d and one with him in a normal condition - as the production were not certain what his ultimate fate would be following the finalization of the film.
), who had previously been completely absent from the finale, after the production realized that his character simply disappeared from the plot and his story arc went nowhere.
As with production of Scream, Craven encountered repeated conflicts over censorship with the MPAA regarding violence, with the director stating in an interview that the issues made him consider leaving the horror genre.
returned to score Scream 3, having scored the previous two films in the series. For the film, Beltrami employed seven orchestrators to aid in scoring the extensive orchestral accompaniment featured in the films score. He experimented with new styles of sound production by recording instruments in abnormal circumstances such as inserting objects into a piano and recording at various velocities to create a distorted, unnatural sound and modifying the results electronically. Beltrami continued to incorporate a heavy vocal orchestra throughout the score as he had with the previous films. There was consideration that Beltrami was forced to hire multiple orchestrators to complete the score to meet the films deadline. Beltrami took inspiration from other composers for the score, again incorporating excerpts of the score to Broken Arrow
by Hans Zimmer in the track "Sid Wears a Dress".
on February 3, 2000 at the AMC
Avco theater in Westwood, California
with a public release following on February 4, 2000.
with 3,669.
The film earned $34,713,342 during its opening weekend making it the 11th highest grossing opening weekend in a February and went on to accrue $89,143,175 in the US and $72,700,000 in foreign territories with a world lifetime-gross of $161,843,175 making it the second-lowest financially performing film in the Scream series, with the lowest being Scream 4
.
compared to Screams 83% and Scream 2s 81% with general consensus that "Scream 3 became what the series originally started out spoofing
" and concluded that the series "lost its freshness and originality by falling back on the old horror formulas and cliché
s". Time Out London was particularly critical of the film, calling the film's metafiction
commentary a poor imitation of Craven's own horror film Wes Craven's New Nightmare
(1994). Of the characters, Roger Ebert said "[the characters] are so thin, they're transparent" but praised Campbell's appearance saying "The camera loves her. She could become a really big star and then giggle at clips from this film at her AFI tribute".
However, not all reviews were negative with the Los Angeles Times calling it "Genuinely scary and also highly amusing" and the BBC
stating that "as the conclusion to the trilogy it works more effectively than anyone had a right to expect". Variety
also praised the film as the end of the Scream trilogy, saying "Aficionados will be the best able to appreciate how wittily Craven has brought down the curtain on his much-imitated, genre-reviving series" while Empire
called it "satisfying" though believed the premise of the series had worn thin.
on October 24, 2000 and on DVD
on July 4, 2000 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment
. The DVD version was only released as a Collector's Edition featuring deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentary, music videos of songs featured in the film, trailers for the film and biographies on the cast and crew involved in the films production. Following the release of Scream 3 as, originally the concluding chapter of the series, Director's Cut
editions of Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 were collected in "The Ultimate Scream Collection" DVD boxset by Dimension Films
on September 26, 2000 which included "Behind the Scream", a short documentary
about the production of the films, outtakes, deleted scenes, screentests of actors involved in the films and other miscellaneous materials related to the series. In 2001, the DVD release of Scream 3 was nominated for a Saturn Award
for Best Home Video Release but lost to Princess Mononoke
(1997).
Scream 3 remained unreleased in foreign territories including Europe and Japan until 2001 where it was simultaneously released with Scream and Scream 2 on February 26 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Each film contained the additional content found in the Collector's Edition version of their US release including deleted scenes, outtakes, theatrical trailers, music videos and commentary from each respective films crew. Additionally, the three films were collected together in a single pack, again released on February 26 and released as "Scream Trilogy".
Scream 3 was released on the Blu-ray Disc
format on March 29, 2011, alongside Scream and Scream 2, two weeks prior to the release of Scream 4, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment
, hosting the films in 1080p
high definition
and included audio commentary, theatrical trailers and behind-the-scenes footage for each respective film.
featuring 18 songs consisting largely of the metal
genre by artists such as System of a Down
and Powerman 5000
, some of which are represented in the film. The album fared better than its predecessors, spending fourteen weeks on the Billboard 200 and reaching a top rank of #32. and scoring a 2.5 out of 5 from music guide AllMusic. Reviewer Steve Huey claims that the "high pedigree" of the albums contributors had produced a "pretty listenable album".
Slasher film
A slasher film is a type of horror film typically involving a psychopathic killer stalking and killing a sequence of victims in a graphically violent manner, often with a cutting tool such as a knife or axe...
created by Kevin Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Kevin Meade Williamson is an American screenwriter, best known for the horror films Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Faculty, as well as the popular television series Dawson's Creek and, more recently, The Vampire Diaries and The Secret Circle.-Early life:Williamson was born in New...
, directed by Wes Craven
Wes Craven
Wesley Earl "Wes" Craven is an American actor, film director, writer, producer, perhaps best known as the director of many horror films, particularly slasher films, including the famed A Nightmare on Elm Street and Wes Craven's New Nightmare, featuring the iconic Freddy Krueger character, the...
and written by Ehren Kruger
Ehren Kruger
-Life and career:Kruger was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at New York University. He attended the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, graduating in 1990....
, starring Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
, Courteney Cox Arquette
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
and David Arquette
David Arquette
David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...
, released on February 4, 2000 as the third, and originally, concluding installment in the Scream film series. Scream 3 takes place three years after Scream 2 and follows the character of Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Scream series of slasher films. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven and is portrayed by Canadian actress Neve Campbell. She first appeared in Scream followed by three sequels: Scream 2 , Scream 3 ...
(Campbell) who has gone into self-imposed isolation following the events of the previous two films but is drawn to Hollywood after Ghostface
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional identity adopted by the main antagonists in the Scream series of slasher films. The character is voiced by Roger L. Jackson regardless of who is behind the mask...
returns and begins killing the cast of the film within a film "Stab 3" and leaving images of Sidney's mother at the crime scenes. The film also follows the characters of Gale Weathers (Cox Arquette) and Dewey Riley (Arquette) as they aid Sidney but also deal with their own romantic subplot
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
. As the previous films, Scream 3 combines the traditional violence of the slasher genre with comedy and "whodunit
Whodunit
A whodunit or whodunnit is a complex, plot-driven variety of the detective story in which the puzzle is the main feature of interest. The reader or viewer is provided with clues from which the identity of the perpetrator of the crime may be deduced before the solution is revealed in the final...
" mystery while satirizing the cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
of film trilogies. Unlike the previous films, however, there was a greater emphasis on the comedic elements while the violence and horror were reduced following increased scrutiny from news media
News media
The news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
about violence in media and its effect on the public after the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
. The film was originally the concluding chapter of the Scream series but a sequel, Scream 4
Scream 4
Scream 4 is a 2011 American slasher horror film and the fourth installment in the Scream film series. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream and Scream 2, the film stars an ensemble cast which includes David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts,...
, was greenlit in 2008 and released in 2011.
Williamson provided a five-page outline for two sequels to Scream when auctioning his original script, hoping to entice bidders with the potential of buying a franchise and was originally conceived with a similar premise, featuring the production of the fictional "Stab" films but took place in the fictional town of Woodsboro featured in Scream. Due to Williamson's commitments to other projects including directing his self-penned film Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Teaching Mrs. Tingle is a 1999 black comedy film and the directing debut of screenwriter Kevin Williamson. The film stars Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson and Jeffrey Tambor and was released on August 20, 1999. It was originally titled Killing Mrs...
meant he was unable to develop a complete script for Scream 3 and writing duties were undertaken by Arlington Road
Arlington Road
Arlington Road is a 1999 American drama/mystery film, which tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and...
-scribe Ehren Kruger
Ehren Kruger
-Life and career:Kruger was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at New York University. He attended the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, graduating in 1990....
who discarded much of Williamson's notes and moved the setting to Hollywood. Craven and Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami is an American film composer.-Life and career:Beltrami was born in Long Island, New York of Italian and Greek descent...
returned to direct and score the film respectively as they had with the previous two series entries. The production of the film was troubled with script rewrites, with pages sometimes only ready on the day of filming, and scheduling difficulties with the main cast. Scream 3 suffered both financially and critically worse than previous installments in the series, earning $161,843,175 with many critics claiming that the film had become what Scream originally "spoofed
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
". Despite the significant negative criticism however, the film did receive some praise with reviewers calling it the perfect end to the Scream trilogy. Scream 3 is currently the 3rd highest-grossing slasher-film in the US, following Scream at #1 and Scream 2 at #2.
Beltrami received positive critical response to his score for Scream 3, with some critics calling it his best work in the series, especially for incorporating elements of the score from Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow (1996 film)
Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action film directed by John Woo, written by Graham Yost, and starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer, and features guitarist Duane Eddy. It deals with the theft of an American nuclear weapon.The film received...
by Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer
Hans Florian Zimmer is a German film composer and music producer. He has composed music for over 100 films, including critically acclaimed film scores for The Lion King , Crimson Tide , The Thin Red Line , Gladiator , The Dark Knight and Inception .Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the...
, inserted controversially into Scream 2 over Beltrami's work, and successfully blending it with his own original score. The film's soundtrack was also well-received over those from Scream and Scream 2, spending fourteen weeks on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
and reaching a high of #32.
Plot
Cotton Weary (Liev SchreiberLiev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
), now living in Los Angeles and the host of a nationally syndicated television show, 100% Cotton, is called by Ghostface
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional identity adopted by the main antagonists in the Scream series of slasher films. The character is voiced by Roger L. Jackson regardless of who is behind the mask...
(voiced by Roger L. Jackson
Roger L. Jackson
Roger Labon Jackson is an American voice actor. He is best known for voicing the killer Ghostface in the Scream films, leaving him to keep an unknown identity to withhold the mystery of Ghostface...
) who demands the whereabouts of Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Scream series of slasher films. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven and is portrayed by Canadian actress Neve Campbell. She first appeared in Scream followed by three sequels: Scream 2 , Scream 3 ...
(Neve Campbell
Neve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
) who has gone into seclusion since the events of Scream 2. He refuses and both Cotton and his girlfriend Christine (Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Danne Melissa Rutherford is an American actress known for her roles of Stephanie "Sam" Whitmore on Generations, Megan Lewis on Melrose Place from 1996 to 1999 and currently as Lily van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl...
) are murdered.
Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to Grey's Anatomy he made several television appearances and was nominated for an Emmy Award...
) meets with Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
) to discuss the murders prompting her to travel to Hollywood, where she finds Dewey Riley (David Arquette
David Arquette
David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...
) working as an advisor on the set of "Stab 3", the third film in the film within a film series based on the Ghostface murders. After Ghostface kills "Stab 3" actress Sarah Darling (Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" McCarthy is an American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then parlayed her Playboy fame into a successful television and...
) with the help of a voice changer
Voice changer
The term voice changer refers to a system of altering a person's voice to either make them sound like someone else or to disguise their voice.Voice changers change the tone or pitch, add distortion to the user's voice, or a combination of all of the above and vary greatly in price and sophistication...
that can perfectly mimic various voices. Sidney is now living reclusively as a crisis counselor
Crisis intervention
Crisis Intervention can be defined as emergency psychological care aimed at assisting individuals in a crisis situation to restore equilibrium to their biopsychosocial functioning and to minimise the potential for psychological trauma...
for hotline
Hotline
In telecommunication, a hotline is a point-to-point communications link in which a call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by the user when the end instrument goes off-hook...
, as she is terrified that another killer may strike
Agoraphobia
Agoraphobia is an anxiety disorder defined as a morbid fear of having a panic attack or panic-like symptoms in a situation from which it is perceived to be difficult to escape. These situations can include, but are not limited to, wide-open spaces, crowds, or uncontrolled social conditions...
. The killer begins taunting Sidney by phone, having discovered her phone number, forcing her out of hiding and drawing her to Hollywood. As the remaining "Stab 3" cast gather at the home of Jennifer Jolie (Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
), Ghostface kills her bodyguard Steven Stone (Patrick Warburton
Patrick Warburton
Patrick John Warburton is an American actor of television, film, and voice. He is best known for his several TV roles, including the title role of The Tick, David Puddy on Seinfeld, the evil Johnny Johnson on NewsRadio, and anchorman Jeb Denton on Less Than Perfect...
) and uses a gas-leak to cause an explosion, killing fellow actor Tom Prinze (Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar is an American actor.Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Fred Keeslar and Ann Ferguson, who divorced in 1977....
).
Dewey, Gale, Jennifer and the remaining "Stab 3" actors Angelina Tyler (Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
) and Tyson Fox (Deon Richmond
Deon Richmond
Deon Richmond is an American actor from New York City; he is best known for his semi-regular childhood role as Rudy Huxtable's friend Kenny on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
) attend a birthday party for the director Roman Bridger (Scott Foley
Scott Foley
Scott Kellerman Foley is an American actor. He is known for roles in television shows such as The Unit and Felicity, and in films such as Scream 3...
) where Ghostface strikes. Roman, Angelina, Tyson and Jennifer are killed and Ghostface orders Sidney to the mansion to save Gale and Dewey's lives, as they are tied up. Sidney is forced to remove her firearm, and detective Kancaid gives her his gun, which she uses to shoot the killer. Sidney flees and hides in a secret screening room where she discovers Ghostface.
He unmasks himself as Roman, having faked his death and survived being shot due to a bullet proof vest. Roman admits to being Sidney's half-brother, born to their mother Maureen Prescott (Lynn McRee) when she was an actress in Hollywood. Roman details how, upon finding Maureen, she rejected him and he took his revenge by convincing Billy Loomis to kill her, sparking the events of Scream and Scream 2. However, when he discovered how much fame Sidney got because of those events, Roman snapped and lured Sidney out of hiding. Sidney and Roman fight and Sidney fatally stabs Roman. Dewey and Gale arrive and Roman jumps to his feet, before he is shot through the head by Dewey, who learns from Sidney that he was wearing a bulletproof vest. In the aftermath of the murders, Dewey asks Gale for her hand in marriage, which she accepts, and they settle down to watch a horror film, accompanied by Sidney and Detective Kincaid. As Sidney goes to join the others, a door behind her opens, but she walks away leaving it as is, finally confident that the murders have ended and that she is now safe.
Cast
Neve CampbellNeve Campbell
Neve Adrianne Campbell is a Canadian actress. After beginning her career on stage, and on numerous commercials, she starred on the Canadian television series Catwalk. She then rose to international fame on the Golden Globe-winning 1990s television series Party of Five, playing the role of teenager...
, Courteney Cox
Courteney Cox
Courteney Bass Cox is an American actress, she is best known for her roles as Monica Geller on the NBC sitcom Friends, Gale Weathers in the horror series Scream and as Jules Cobb in the ABC sitcom Cougar Town, for which she earned her first Golden Globe nomination....
, David Arquette
David Arquette
David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...
and Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
all returned to their roles as Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott
Sidney Prescott is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the Scream series of slasher films. The character was created by Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven and is portrayed by Canadian actress Neve Campbell. She first appeared in Scream followed by three sequels: Scream 2 , Scream 3 ...
, now a crisis counselor
Crisis intervention
Crisis Intervention can be defined as emergency psychological care aimed at assisting individuals in a crisis situation to restore equilibrium to their biopsychosocial functioning and to minimise the potential for psychological trauma...
, news reporter Gale Weathers, Dewey Riley and Cotton Weary, now host of a TV show, respectively for Scream 3, their characters being the only central roles to survive the events of the previous two films. In an interview, Craven stated that convincing the central cast to return to film a new Scream film was not difficult but as with Scream 2, their burgeoning fame and busy schedules made arranging their availability with the film's production period difficult. The consequence of Campbell's commitments in particular meant she was only available to film her role for 20 days forcing the script to reduce the series' main character to a smaller role while focusing on the other characters played by Cox and Arquette. Roger L. Jackson
Roger L. Jackson
Roger Labon Jackson is an American voice actor. He is best known for voicing the killer Ghostface in the Scream films, leaving him to keep an unknown identity to withhold the mystery of Ghostface...
again returned to voice the antagonist Ghostface
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional identity adopted by the main antagonists in the Scream series of slasher films. The character is voiced by Roger L. Jackson regardless of who is behind the mask...
and Jamie Kennedy
Jamie Kennedy
James Harvey "Jamie" Kennedy is an American comedian, rapper, and actor.-Early life:Kennedy, the youngest of six children, was born in Upper Darby Township, a suburb of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His family is of Irish descent and he was raised Roman Catholic. He attended and graduated from...
reprised his role as Randy Meeks in spite of the character's death in Scream 2. Negative feedback following the death of Randy had the production consider methods to have had his character survive to appear in Scream 3 including having the character's family hide him away for safety while recuperating from his injuries, but it was deemed too unbelievable and the idea was replaced with the character appearing in a minor role via a pre-recorded video message.
Many of the supporting cast played fictitious actors taking part in the film within a film "Stab 3" including Emily Mortimer
Emily Mortimer
Emily Kathleen A. Mortimer is an English actress. She began performing on stage, and has since appeared in several film and television roles, including Scream 3, Match Point, Lars and the Real Girl, and Shutter Island....
as Angelina Tyler, Parker Posey
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey is an American actress. She became known during the 1990s after a series of roles in several well-received independent films. As a result, she has often been referred to as the "Queen of the Indies"....
as Jennifer Jolie, Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar
Matt Keeslar is an American actor.Keeslar was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the son of Fred Keeslar and Ann Ferguson, who divorced in 1977....
as Tom Prinze, Jenny McCarthy
Jenny McCarthy
Jennifer Ann "Jenny" McCarthy is an American model, comedian, actress, author, activist, and game show host. She began her career in 1993 as a nude model for Playboy magazine and was later named their Playmate of the Year. McCarthy then parlayed her Playboy fame into a successful television and...
as Sarah Darling and Deon Richmond
Deon Richmond
Deon Richmond is an American actor from New York City; he is best known for his semi-regular childhood role as Rudy Huxtable's friend Kenny on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show....
as Tyson Fox with Scott Foley
Scott Foley
Scott Kellerman Foley is an American actor. He is known for roles in television shows such as The Unit and Felicity, and in films such as Scream 3...
as the film's director, Roman Bridger. Additional cast included Lance Henriksen
Lance Henriksen
Lance James Henriksen is an American actor and artist best known to film and television audiences for his roles in science fiction, action, and horror films such as the Alien film franchise, and on television shows such as Millennium....
as film producer
Film producer
A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
John Milton, Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to Grey's Anatomy he made several television appearances and was nominated for an Emmy Award...
as detective Mark Kincaid, Patrick Warburton
Patrick Warburton
Patrick John Warburton is an American actor of television, film, and voice. He is best known for his several TV roles, including the title role of The Tick, David Puddy on Seinfeld, the evil Johnny Johnson on NewsRadio, and anchorman Jeb Denton on Less Than Perfect...
as bodyguard Steven Stone and Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Rutherford
Kelly Danne Melissa Rutherford is an American actress known for her roles of Stephanie "Sam" Whitmore on Generations, Megan Lewis on Melrose Place from 1996 to 1999 and currently as Lily van der Woodsen on Gossip Girl...
as the girlrfiend of Cotton Weary, Christine Hammilton. Rutherford was cast after filming had begun as the production was undergoing constant rewrites and the opening scene evolved from requiring only a female corpse to needing a live actress with whom Schreiber could interact. Shortly after being cast, Mortimer was found to lack the necessary work permit to allow her involvement in the film, requiring her to be flown to Vancouver
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
to obtain one. Scream 3 also featured the first live on-screen appearance of Sidney Prescott's mother Maureen Prescott, played by Lynn McRee, the actress previously having represented the character in photographs during the previous films.
Lawrence Hecht and C.W. Morgan appeared in minor roles reprising their characters of Sidney's father Neil Prescott and Hank Loomis respectively. Nancy O'Dell appeared as an unnamed reporter, having previously appeared in Scream 2 and would go on to appear in Scream 4
Scream 4
Scream 4 is a 2011 American slasher horror film and the fourth installment in the Scream film series. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream and Scream 2, the film stars an ensemble cast which includes David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts,...
in the same role. Scream 3 featured several cameo appearances including the fictional characters of Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob
Jay and Silent Bob are fictional characters portrayed by Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith, respectively, in Kevin Smith's View Askewniverse, a fictional universe created and used in most films, comics and television by Smith, which began in Clerks....
from the 1994 film Clerks
Clerks
Clerks is a 1994 independent comedy film written and directed by Kevin Smith, who also appears in the film as Silent Bob. Starring Brian O'Halloran as Dante Hicks and Jeff Anderson as Randal Graves, it presents a day in the lives of two store clerks and their acquaintances...
played by Jason Mewes
Jason Mewes
Jason Edward Mewes is an American television, film actor, and internet radio show host best known for playing Jay, the vocal half of the duo Jay and Silent Bob, in longtime friend Kevin Smith's films.-Early life:...
and Kevin Smith
Kevin Smith
Kevin Patrick Smith is an American screenwriter, actor, film producer, and director, as well as a popular comic book writer, author, comedian/raconteur, and internet radio personality best recognized by viewers as Silent Bob...
. Carrie Fisher
Carrie Fisher
Carrie Frances Fisher is an American actress, novelist, screenwriter, and lecturer. She is most famous for her portrayal of Princess Leia in the original Star Wars trilogy, her bestselling novel Postcards from the Edge, for which she wrote the screenplay to the film of the same name, and her...
made a cameo in the film as former actress, Bianca Burnette, at the suggestion of Bob Weinstein
Bob Weinstein
Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
, with Fisher helping to write her character.
In an 2009 interview, Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lillard
Matthew Lyn Lillard is an American actor and producer. He is best known for his roles as Stu Macher in Scream, Stevo in SLC Punk , and Shaggy Rogers in the Scooby-Doo film series and the Animated reboot series.-Early life:Lillard was born in Lansing, Michigan, and grew up in Tustin, California...
, who played Stu Macher in Scream, claimed that he had been contracted to reprise his role in Scream 3 as the primary antagonist, having survived his apparent death, orchestrating new Ghostface attacks from prison on High School students and ultimately targeting Sidney. Following the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
shortly before production began, the script was scrapped and re-written without his character and this plot to avoid development of a film which associated violence and murder with a High School setting.
Development
| "Wes [...] said 'Be serious, guys, Either we make a Scream movie or we make a movie and call it something else. But if it's a Scream movie, it's going to have certain standards.'" |
| — Kruger on Craven's refusal to remove violence from Scream 3. |
Scream 3 was released just over two years after Scream 2, greenlit with a budget of $40 million, a significant increase over the budgets of Scream at $15 million and Scream 2 at $24 million. Williamson's involvement had been contracted while selling his Scream script, to which he had attached two five-page outlines for potential sequels, what would become Scream 2 and Scream 3, hoping to entice buyers with the prospect of purchasing a franchise rather than a single script. Craven too had been contracted for two potential sequels following a successful test screening
Test screening
A test screening is a preview screening of a movie or television show before its general release in order to gauge audience reaction. Preview audiences are selected from a cross-section of the population, and are usually asked to complete a questionnaire or provide feedback in some form. Harold...
of Scream and he returned to direct the third installment. Shortly before production began on the film, two teenagers staged a deadly attack on their school, killing several students in what became known as the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
. In the aftermath of the incident, many parties began looking for reasoning behind their actions and there came an increased scrutiny on the role of the media in society, including video games and film, and the influence it could have on an audience. With production of Scream 3 not yet underway, there were considerations about whether the film should be made at that time, aware of the potential for negative attention but the studio decided to press forward, albeit with changes. The studio remained however much more apprehensive concerning violence and gore in Scream 3 than with previous installments, pressing for a greater emphasis on the series' satiric humor while scaling back on the violence. At one point in the production, the studio went as far as demanding that the film feature no blood or on-screen violence at all, a drastic departure for the series, but Craven directly intervened stating that the film should either have the violence present in earlier Scream films or should be called something other than Scream.
Writing
BobBob Weinstein
Robert "Bob" Weinstein is an American film and theatre producer, the founder and head of Dimension Films, former co-chairman of Miramax Films, and current head, with his brother Harvey Weinstein, of The Weinstein Company.-Career:...
and Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...
approached Williamson in early 1999 to pursue a full script for a third installment to the Scream franchise, Scream 3. However, following his successes with the Scream series and other projects such as I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer
I Know What You Did Last Summer is a 1997 American horror film. The film stars Jennifer Love Hewitt, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Ryan Phillippe and Freddie Prinze Jr. The screenplay was written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream, and very loosely based on Lois Duncan's popular novel of the same title...
, Williamson had become involved in multiple projects including the development of the short-lived TV series Wasteland
Wasteland (TV series)
Wasteland is an American television drama on ABC network created by Kevin Williamson. The show debuted in 1999, a Miramax Films production....
and directing his self-penned film Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Teaching Mrs. Tingle
Teaching Mrs. Tingle is a 1999 black comedy film and the directing debut of screenwriter Kevin Williamson. The film stars Helen Mirren, Katie Holmes, Marisa Coughlan, Barry Watson and Jeffrey Tambor and was released on August 20, 1999. It was originally titled Killing Mrs...
(1999) which Williamson had written prior to Scream and which had languished in development hell
Development hell
In the jargon of the media-industry, "development hell" is a period during which a film or other project is trapped in development...
since.' Unable to develop a full script for the production, Williamson instead wrote a 20-30 page draft outline for the film that involved the return of Ghostface
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional identity adopted by the main antagonists in the Scream series of slasher films. The character is voiced by Roger L. Jackson regardless of who is behind the mask...
to the fictional town of Woodsboro where the "Stab" series, a fictional series of film within a film's that exist within the Scream universe and are based on the events of Scream, would be filmed. The Weinstein's hired Arlington Road
Arlington Road
Arlington Road is a 1999 American drama/mystery film, which tells the story of a widowed George Washington University professor who suspects his new neighbors are involved in terrorism and becomes obsessed with foiling their terrorist plot. The film stars Jeff Bridges, Tim Robbins, Joan Cusack, and...
scribe Ehren Kruger
Ehren Kruger
-Life and career:Kruger was raised in Alexandria, Virginia, and attended college at New York University. He attended the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, graduating in 1990....
to replace Williamson and helm writing duties, developing a script based on Williamson's notes.
| "When you're doing a rewrite script, it's never totally coming from you. It's never the same as writing an original. So often, what you look for is, 'Well who am I going to be working with?' and 'Who am I going to be learning from?' The [answers to those] questions give you a lot of motivation for pursuing a project like this." |
| — Kruger on his decision to write Scream 3. |
The environment for Scream 3s development had become more complicated than with previous films. There was an increased scrutiny on the effects of violence in media and the effect it could have on the public in the aftermath of the Columbine High School massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
which occurred shortly before production would begin on the film. In addition, since the release of the original Scream films, various acts of violence had taken place which had gained notoriety and media attention when they were linked to, or blamed on, the films. Eager to avoid further criticism or connection to such incidents, Williamson's notes were largely discarded as the studio insisted that the script should focus on the comedic elements of the series while significantly reducing the violence. The setting of the film was changed from Woodsboro to Hollywood upon which Kruger commented that he believed the characters should be moving to "bigger" places from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
, to college
College
A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...
to the city of Hollywood. Behind the scenes however, the move away from Woodsboro was mandated as it was considered that a film containing violent acts of murder in and around the small town of Woodsboro and the associated school would attract significant negative criticism and attention that could be detrimental to the production and studio, the film set for release less than a year following the Columbine incident.
Kruger agreed to develop the script for Scream 3 primarily to work with Craven and the executives under Miramax, arguing that writing a sequel to the work of someone else was not the same as writing "an original". To help in developing the script, Kruger read copies of Williamson's scripts for Scream and Scream 2 as well as watching the earlier films to better understand the characters and tone. In an interview, Kruger admitted that his lack of involvement with the development of the principal cast of Scream hampered his ability to portray them true to their previous characterization. Early scripts had the character of Sidney Prescott much like "Linda Hamilton in Terminator 2" - a more action-orientated heroine - at which point Craven would intervene and correct the script to bring the characters closer to their previous appearances. Kruger would admit that despite not receiving any writing credit, Craven had a significant hand in developing the script for Scream 3. Like Scream 2, the script for Scream 3 was subject to repeated alterations with pages sometimes completed only on the day on which they were to be filmed. Multiple scenes were rewritten to include previously absent characters or change elements of the plot when it was decided that they were not connecting with other scenes.
Filming
Principal photographyPrincipal photography
thumb|300px|Film production on location in [[Newark, New Jersey]].Principal photography is the phase of film production in which the movie is filmed, with actors on set and cameras rolling, as distinct from pre-production and post-production....
for Scream 3 began on July 6, 1999 in and around Hollywood, Los Angeles on a budget of $40 million and finished on September 29, 1999 after twelve weeks. Filming took place largely in the areas of San Fernando Valley
San Fernando Valley
The San Fernando Valley is an urbanized valley located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area of southern California, United States, defined by the dramatic mountains of the Transverse Ranges circling it...
, Macarthur Park
MacArthur Park
MacArthur Park is a park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, named after General Douglas MacArthur and designated city of Los Angeles Historic Cultural Monument #100.- Geography :...
, Beverly Hills, Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
and Silverlake
Silver Lake, Los Angeles, California
Silver Lake is a hilly neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California east of Hollywood and northwest of Downtown Los Angeles. Silver Lake is inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and socioeconomic groups, but it is best known as an eclectic gathering of hipsters and the creative class.The...
with the isolated home of Campbell's character situated in Topanga Canyon
Topanga, California
Topanga is a census-designated place in western Los Angeles County, California, USA. It is located in the Santa Monica Mountains. Occupying Topanga Canyon, it is often referred to by that name. Topanga is bounded on three sides by State Park or conservancy lands, and on the south by the Pacific...
. The opening scene involves Cotton Weary (Schreiber) driving before arriving home where he is murdered by the Ghostface
Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface is a fictional identity adopted by the main antagonists in the Scream series of slasher films. The character is voiced by Roger L. Jackson regardless of who is behind the mask...
character. For the driving scene, the production filmed on Hollywood Boulevard
Hollywood Boulevard
-Revitalization:In recent years successful efforts have been made at cleaning up Hollywood Blvd., as the street had gained a reputation for crime and seediness. Central to these efforts was the construction of the Hollywood and Highland shopping center and adjacent Kodak Theatre in 2001...
but the following scene in Cotton's apartment was changed frequently, requiring alterations to the driving scene to maintain continuity
Continuity (fiction)
In fiction, continuity is consistency of the characteristics of persons, plot, objects, places and events seen by the reader or viewer over some period of time...
, modifying who speaks to Cotton by phone and what the conversation entailed. Unable to return to Hollywood Boulevard, the scene was reshot on a street outside of the production studio in San Fernando Valley and intermixed with footage taken on the Boulevard. The opening attack scene was filmed partially at the exterior and interior of Harper House in West Hollywood
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
but changes were made to the scene including introducing a live girlfriend for Cotton instead of her being dead when Cotton arrives. It was later decided that the confrontation between Cotton and Ghostface, featuring Cotton physically dominating the character and attempting to escape by skylight, was unrealistic and made Ghostface appear weak and this scene was reshot. Again however, they were unable to return to Harper House to conduct filming and resorted to constructing a replica of the apartment interior to produce the necessary footage which had the Ghostface character appear more dominant and completely excised the attempted skylight escape. Cox's character is introduced during a seminar which takes place within a classroom
Classroom
A classroom is a room in which teaching or learning activities can take place. Classrooms are found in educational institutions of all kinds, including public and private schools, corporations, and religious and humanitarian organizations...
at UCLA, a location previously used in Scream 2 to represent the fictional Windsor College. The film studio where the fictional "Stab 3" is filmed is represented by the CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center
CBS Studio Center is a television and film studio located in the Studio City district of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley. It is located at 4024 Radford Avenue and takes up a triangular piece of land, with the Los Angeles River bisecting the site...
in Studio City, San Fernando Valley while scenes at the home of Posey's character were filmed in the Hollywood Hills
Hollywood Hills
The Hollywood Hills is an affluent and exclusive neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, in the southeastern Santa Monica Mountains. It is bound by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Vermont Avenue to the east, Mulholland Drive to the north, and Sunset Boulevard to the south.-Hollywood Hills...
at Runyon Ranch in Runyon Canyon Park
Runyon Canyon Park
Runyon Canyon Park is a park in Los Angeles, California, at the eastern end of the Santa Monica Mountains, managed by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The southern entrance to the park is located at the north end of Fuller Avenue in Hollywood. The northern entrance is off the...
. The finale, featuring the final attacks of the film and confrontation between the antagonist and Sidney, was filmed at the Canfield-Moreno Estate
Canfield-Moreno Estate
The Canfield-Moreno Estate, also known as The Paramour Mansion, or The Crestmount, is a historic residence and estate, and a present day recording studio, located in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, California...
, a mansion in Silverlake.
A scene in the film involved Campbell being pursued by Ghostface through filmset
Set construction
Set construction is the process by which a set designer works in collaboration with the director of a production to create the set for a theatrical, film or television production...
replicas of locations from the original Scream
Scream (film)
Scream is a 1996 American slasher film written by Kevin Williamson and directed by Wes Craven. The film stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, and David Arquette...
including her characters home. The scene was not present in the script itself but Craven paid to have the sets constructed, knowing he wanted to revisit the original film in some manner. After the construction of the sets, the scene was then written around the resulting areas producing the scene in the final film. The script underwent changes repeatedly as filming was conducted with pages regularly only available on the day of filming. Additionally, if the production decided to change a scene this sometimes meant refilming other scenes to maintain continuity requiring further rewrites. The production team purposely filmed large amounts of footage containing different variations of each scene based on the different script developments in order that, should the script further change, they would ideally have a scene they could use without having to film new ones at a later date, requiring them to obtain access to locations or build sets. The opening scene in particular had several alternate versions filmed, initially altering the girlfriend of Schreiber's character from dead to alive, resulting in the prior driving scene being changed to alter dialog and tone to make sense with the changes. Additionally, a three-minute scene featuring the character of Randy Meeks had over two-hours of footage filmed. The script for the film was so in flux that the epilogue scene was filmed with three variants of Patrick Dempsey's character - one with him absent, one where his arm is bandage
Bandage
A bandage is a piece of material used either to support a medical device such as a dressing or splint, or on its own to provide support to the body; they can also be used to restrict a part of the body. During heavy bleeding or following a poisonous bite it is important to slow the flow of blood,...
d and one with him in a normal condition - as the production were not certain what his ultimate fate would be following the finalization of the film.
Post production
In January 2000, three months after completing principal photography for Scream 3, the ending was refilmed when it was decided to be an inadequate conclusion. Originally the ending consisted of Sidney (Campbell) easily defeating Roman (Scott Foley) which led into an early morning scene of police arriving and then into the final scene of Sidney in her home. The production considered that this amounted to essentially three endings, damaging the pacing of the film and there was also consideration that, being the concluding chapter of the trilogy, the audience needed to believe that Sidney could lose and die, something her easy victory did not achieve. To create the alternate ending, the fight scene between Sidney and Roman was extended and an addition involved Roman shooting Sidney, seemingly to death where previously she had simply hidden from the character. A major addition was the presence of the character Mark Kincaid (Patrick DempseyPatrick Dempsey
Patrick Galen Dempsey is an American actor, known for his role as neurosurgeon Dr. Derek Shepherd on the medical drama Grey's Anatomy. Prior to Grey's Anatomy he made several television appearances and was nominated for an Emmy Award...
), who had previously been completely absent from the finale, after the production realized that his character simply disappeared from the plot and his story arc went nowhere.
As with production of Scream, Craven encountered repeated conflicts over censorship with the MPAA regarding violence, with the director stating in an interview that the issues made him consider leaving the horror genre.
Music
Marco BeltramiMarco Beltrami
Marco Beltrami is an American film composer.-Life and career:Beltrami was born in Long Island, New York of Italian and Greek descent...
returned to score Scream 3, having scored the previous two films in the series. For the film, Beltrami employed seven orchestrators to aid in scoring the extensive orchestral accompaniment featured in the films score. He experimented with new styles of sound production by recording instruments in abnormal circumstances such as inserting objects into a piano and recording at various velocities to create a distorted, unnatural sound and modifying the results electronically. Beltrami continued to incorporate a heavy vocal orchestra throughout the score as he had with the previous films. There was consideration that Beltrami was forced to hire multiple orchestrators to complete the score to meet the films deadline. Beltrami took inspiration from other composers for the score, again incorporating excerpts of the score to Broken Arrow
Broken Arrow (1996 film)
Broken Arrow is a 1996 American action film directed by John Woo, written by Graham Yost, and starring John Travolta and Christian Slater. The original music score was composed by Hans Zimmer, and features guitarist Duane Eddy. It deals with the theft of an American nuclear weapon.The film received...
by Hans Zimmer in the track "Sid Wears a Dress".
Reception
Scream 3 held its premierePremiere
A premiere is generally "a first performance". This can refer to plays, films, television programs, operas, symphonies, ballets and so on. Premieres for theatrical, musical and other cultural presentations can become extravagant affairs, attracting large numbers of socialites and much media...
on February 3, 2000 at the AMC
AMC Theatres
AMC Theatres , officially known as AMC Entertainment, Inc., is the second largest movie theater chain in North America with 5,325 screens, second only to Regal Entertainment Group, and one of the United States's four national cinema chains AMC Theatres (American Multi-Cinema), officially known as...
Avco theater in Westwood, California
Westwood, California
Westwood is a census-designated place in Lassen County, California, United States. Westwood is located west-southwest of Susanville, at an elevation of 5128 feet...
with a public release following on February 4, 2000.
Box office
The film set a record in its opening weekend in February 2000 for the number of screens in the United States with 3,467, which also made it the 7th widest opening for an R-Rated film. This was surpassed the same year in July by Mission: Impossible IIMission: Impossible II
Mission: Impossible II is a 2000 action film directed by John Woo, and starring Tom Cruise, who also served as the film's producer...
with 3,669.
The film earned $34,713,342 during its opening weekend making it the 11th highest grossing opening weekend in a February and went on to accrue $89,143,175 in the US and $72,700,000 in foreign territories with a world lifetime-gross of $161,843,175 making it the second-lowest financially performing film in the Scream series, with the lowest being Scream 4
Scream 4
Scream 4 is a 2011 American slasher horror film and the fourth installment in the Scream film series. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson, writer of Scream and Scream 2, the film stars an ensemble cast which includes David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Emma Roberts,...
.
| Release date (United States) |
Budget (estimated) |
Box office revenue | Box office ranking | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Foreign | Worldwide | Release year | All time U.S. | All time worldwide | |||
| February 4, 2000 | $40,000,000 | $89,143,175 | $72,691,101 | $161,834,276 | #27 | #548 | #616 | |
| Note(s)
|
||||||||
Critical reaction
Scream 3 received mixed reviews earning a 36% average score from 100 reviews on review-site Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
compared to Screams 83% and Scream 2s 81% with general consensus that "Scream 3 became what the series originally started out spoofing
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
" and concluded that the series "lost its freshness and originality by falling back on the old horror formulas and cliché
Cliché
A cliché or cliche is an expression, idea, or element of an artistic work which has been overused to the point of losing its original meaning or effect, especially when at some earlier time it was considered meaningful or novel. In phraseology, the term has taken on a more technical meaning,...
s". Time Out London was particularly critical of the film, calling the film's metafiction
Metafiction
Metafiction, also known as Romantic irony in the context of Romantic works of literature, is a type of fiction that self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion...
commentary a poor imitation of Craven's own horror film Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
Wes Craven's New Nightmare is a 1994 horror metafilm written and directed by Wes Craven. Although it is the seventh installment of the Nightmare on Elm Street series, it is not part of the series continuity, instead portraying Freddy Krueger as a fictional movie villain who invades the real world...
(1994). Of the characters, Roger Ebert said "[the characters] are so thin, they're transparent" but praised Campbell's appearance saying "The camera loves her. She could become a really big star and then giggle at clips from this film at her AFI tribute".
However, not all reviews were negative with the Los Angeles Times calling it "Genuinely scary and also highly amusing" and the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
stating that "as the conclusion to the trilogy it works more effectively than anyone had a right to expect". Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
also praised the film as the end of the Scream trilogy, saying "Aficionados will be the best able to appreciate how wittily Craven has brought down the curtain on his much-imitated, genre-reviving series" while Empire
Empire (magazine)
Empire is a British film magazine published monthly by Bauer Consumer Media. From the first issue in July 1989, the magazine was edited by Barry McIlheney and published by Emap. Bauer purchased Emap Consumer Media in early 2008...
called it "satisfying" though believed the premise of the series had worn thin.
| Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance... |
Metacritic Metacritic Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,... |
|
|---|---|---|
| Overall | Cream of the Crop | |
| 36% (111 reviews) | 38% (26 reviews) | 56 (32 reviews) |
Home media
Scream 3 was released in US territories on VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
on October 24, 2000 and on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
on July 4, 2000 by Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment is the home video distribution division of The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment also operates as Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Also, "Buena Vista" translated in Spanish is "Good View"...
. The DVD version was only released as a Collector's Edition featuring deleted scenes, outtakes, audio commentary, music videos of songs featured in the film, trailers for the film and biographies on the cast and crew involved in the films production. Following the release of Scream 3 as, originally the concluding chapter of the series, Director's Cut
Director's cut
A director's cut is a specially edited version of a film, and less often TV series, music video, commercials, comic book or video games, that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit...
editions of Scream, Scream 2 and Scream 3 were collected in "The Ultimate Scream Collection" DVD boxset by Dimension Films
Dimension Films
Dimension Films is a motion picture unit currently a part of The Weinstein Company. It was formerly used as Bob Weinstein's label within Miramax Films, to produce and release genre films...
on September 26, 2000 which included "Behind the Scream", a short documentary
Documentary
A documentary is a creative work of non-fiction, including:* Documentary film, including television* Radio documentary* Documentary photographyRelated terms include:...
about the production of the films, outtakes, deleted scenes, screentests of actors involved in the films and other miscellaneous materials related to the series. In 2001, the DVD release of Scream 3 was nominated for a Saturn Award
Saturn Award
The Saturn Award is an award presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films to honor the top works in science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, television, and home video. The Saturn Awards were devised by Dr. Donald A. Reed in 1972, who felt that films within...
for Best Home Video Release but lost to Princess Mononoke
Princess Mononoke
is a 1997 epic Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster...
(1997).
Scream 3 remained unreleased in foreign territories including Europe and Japan until 2001 where it was simultaneously released with Scream and Scream 2 on February 26 by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Each film contained the additional content found in the Collector's Edition version of their US release including deleted scenes, outtakes, theatrical trailers, music videos and commentary from each respective films crew. Additionally, the three films were collected together in a single pack, again released on February 26 and released as "Scream Trilogy".
Scream 3 was released on the Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc
Blu-ray Disc is an optical disc storage medium designed to supersede the DVD format. The plastic disc is 120 mm in diameter and 1.2 mm thick, the same size as DVDs and CDs. Blu-ray Discs contain 25 GB per layer, with dual layer discs being the norm for feature-length video discs...
format on March 29, 2011, alongside Scream and Scream 2, two weeks prior to the release of Scream 4, by Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment
Lionsgate Home Entertainment is the home video and DVD distribution arm of Lions Gate Entertainment and most former Artisan Entertainment releases. Its library of more than 8000 films owes some of its size to output deals with other studios...
, hosting the films in 1080p
1080p
1080p is the shorthand identification for a set of HDTV high-definition video modes that are characterized by 1080 horizontal lines of resolution and progressive scan, meaning the image is not interlaced as is the case with the 1080i display standard....
high definition
High-definition video
High-definition video or HD video refers to any video system of higher resolution than standard-definition video, and most commonly involves display resolutions of 1,280×720 pixels or 1,920×1,080 pixels...
and included audio commentary, theatrical trailers and behind-the-scenes footage for each respective film.
Soundtrack
The Scream 3 original soundtrack was released on January 25, 2000 by Wind-up RecordsWind-Up Records
Wind-up Entertainment, Inc. is a record label based in New York City. It was formed in 1997 by Alan Meltzer, former owner of CD One Stop, following his 1996 purchase of Grass Records. Wind-up is currently the largest independently-owned record label in the world...
featuring 18 songs consisting largely of the metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
genre by artists such as System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
and Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000
Powerman 5000 is an American Metal band formed in 1991. Through the span of over two decades, the group has released several albums and gained their highest commercial success with 1999's science fiction themed Tonight the Stars Revolt!...
, some of which are represented in the film. The album fared better than its predecessors, spending fourteen weeks on the Billboard 200 and reaching a top rank of #32. and scoring a 2.5 out of 5 from music guide AllMusic. Reviewer Steve Huey claims that the "high pedigree" of the albums contributors had produced a "pretty listenable album".