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Scream 3
Miramax Films

Scream 3 reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 56 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.3 out of 10
based on 32 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 11 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for strong horror violence and language

Starring David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henrikson, Jenny McCarthy, and Parker Posey

Stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette and Courtney Cox Arquette are back for more in the chilling final chapter of this phenomenally popular and frightfully entertaining trilogy. While Sydney Prescott (Campbell) lives in safely guarded seclusion, bodies begin dropping around the Hollywood set of "Stab 3," the latest movie sequel based on the gruesome Woodsboro killings.


GENRE(S): Suspense/Thriller  
WRITTEN BY: Kevin Williamson (characters)
Ehren Kruger
 
DIRECTED BY: Wes Craven  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: July 4, 2000 
Video: July 4, 2000 
Theatrical: February 4, 2000 
RUNNING TIME: 116 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

88
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
For the initiated, the third time's a charm. For everyone else, it's just a scream.
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80
Film.com Ernest Hardy
It's a pleasant surprise to note how good Scream 3 really is.
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80
Variety Joe Leydon
A crafty and well-crafted wrap-up that really does bring a satisfying sense of closure to the franchise.
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80
Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas
Genuinely scary and also highly amusing.
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80
LA Weekly John Patterson
It's a pleasure to report that Scream 3 is an absolute riot, jammed with spicy cameos.
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80
Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir
I enjoyed every moment of this densely plotted final chapter, and most other fans will too.
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80
The New York Times A.O. Scott
Funny and brisk, with enough good lines to make the comedy more satisfying than the somewhat routine but still unsettling jolts to the spine.
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75
USA Today Susan Wloszczyna
(Craven) and his Scream dream team have done a frightfully good job of killing off and wrapping up the popular horror series.
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75
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Jim Peterson
Scream 3 also has wit and intelligence, but at their core the Scream movies are still slasher films and this one is no exception.
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70
Slate David Edelstein
A lot more fun than "Blair Witch," and it's more relaxed and goofy than its two predecessors -- a farcical bloodbath.
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70
Film.com Gemma Files
But it IS enjoyable.
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70
Washington Post Rita Kempley
It's plenty entertaining, but the ending is disappointing, given the buildup.
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63
New York Post Lou Lumenick
It's the chemistry between the Arquettes (they met on the first film and married after the second) and their rapport with Campbell that sustains Scream 3 through its overly convoluted plot.
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63
San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
At its savviest, Scream 3 is a cheeky conceptual conceit, cheaply executed for the sake of achieving trilogy status. Instead, it's like a carnival that's been in town a week too long.
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63
Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Just isn't very scary.
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60
Time Richard Schickel
Not so good is the absence of hip cross-references to the classic horror tropes.
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50
Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday
Even if Scream 3 lacks the punch and verve of the first two installments, it manages to wring some ironically metaphysical comedy from the movie-within-a-movie motif.
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50
Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
About the only thing the movie kills with any decisiveness is your time.
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50
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
Essentially an interlacing of irony and gotcha! Scenes.
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50
Chicago Tribune Marc Caro
Although Scream 3 is often clever in the way it interweaves the worlds of "Scream," "Stab" and life outside the theater, it's not exactly groundbreaking.
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50
Film.com John Hartl
Simply can't sustain interest for much of its final hour.
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50
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Where Scream 3 triumphs is in its wacky, take-no-prisoners, I am a Juggernaut of Terror, Hee, Hee attitude, which wisely makes room for some downright surreal moments amongst the carnage.
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50
San Francisco Chronicle Edward Guthmann
Campy, overwrought and gleefully cannibalistic in the way it references and regurgitates horror flicks of yore, Scream 3 fulfills its modest ambitions by delivering a glib slasher spoof for the mall crowd.
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50
Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector
Slower, more earnest, and not as gory.
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40
TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
It's got turns, it's got an attractive cast that gets shish-kabobed with ruthless regularity. It's just tired.
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38
Boston Globe Jay Carr
A lame little flat liner.
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38
Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey
At 116 minutes, this third installment lumbers along like a serial killer in shackles.
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38
Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
Cowardice and cliché - not a tasty combination.
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33
Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
What's left is a husk with all the superficial features of a Scream movie and none of the heart, brains, guts or laughs.
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30
Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
It's time to run, screaming.
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30
TNT RoughCut Christopher Brandon
First rule of a film trilogy: Part 3 sucks. See "The Godfather 3,"" Alien 3,"" Jaws 3." Even "Return of the Jedi" was just a rehash of "Star Wars" with muppets. Add Scream 3 to that trend.
30
Village Voice Michael Atkinson
Logic, motivation, suspense -- anything that might make the film frightening or resonant -- is buried under Dolby blams, medulla-shaming dialogue, and a rain of overdubbed hunting-knife schwings that grate like a 3 a.m. car alarm.
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What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.3 (out of 10) based on 11 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dwight V. gave it a9:
Considering that this is the 3 installment of a horror film it succeeds greatly. It could have been a disaster...but it's not ....at all

mos gave it a10:
Screem is the hotest scary movie ever its scary/funyand hot i have screem3 and all i no is that its hot!!!!!

craig n. gave it a10:
Tis wikd.

Dwight V. gave it a 9:
Considering that this is the 3 installement of a hooror film it succeeds greatly. It could have been a disaster...but it's not ....at all.

Tyler C gave it a 0:
This movie proves one thing: All of the scream movies suck! There is not one single clip of this so called "horror trilogy" that actually scared me or gave me a thrill in the least! The first one was maybe ok because it poked fun at the genre but after that it really lost its flavor. There is absolutely no entertainment value in any of the three films.

Stacey G. gave it an 8:
The first is always the best, still true but screen 3 beats out screem 2 because of its much better opening scene. the acting is still pretty good and the trilogy still has its charm. all scream fans will like this movie and i think it will surprise some other viewers as well.

Aaron i. gave it a 10:
It was Brill!!!

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