Review of Scream 3

Introduction

Just in case anybody decides to watch this film without having seen the first two instalments...basically a madman with a big knife is trying to kill Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) and in order to find her goes around killing everybody else who gets in the way!

As with the other two films, the plot is cleverly designed so viewers have no idea who is behind the mask until the end of the film. Fans of the first two films will not be disappointed!

Video

The picture is presented in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and is very sharp and stable throughout. There are several night scenes, which are beautifully encoded, and no compression problems were evident in the film.

The locations themselves are not particularly exciting, comprising of a film studio and its surroundings, however, the sets are well presented and filmed.

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is perfect for this movie – plenty of quiet scenes with noises occurring at the sides and rear to give you the creeps, sudden loud noises behind you and all channels erupting into action during some of the set-piece scenes.

The dialog is always clear and well directed and as usual with horror films the slow creepy music builds up nicely as the action intensifies.

There are plenty of good moments for your surround system and subwoofer, particularly a huge explosion when…but that would be telling!

Features

The extra features on this DVD are excellent. There are numerous outtakes of the cast cocking up their lines etc along with several deleted scenes (some of which should have been left in the film in my opinion!). There is also a behind the scenes montage containing footage from all three films, an alternative ending plus theatrical and international trailers. The deleted scenes and alternative endings also include commentary by Wes Craven.

Other extras include a soundtrack trailer, music video, TV spots, crew and cast bios and an audio commentary by the director, producer and editor.

The only complaint about the extra material is that the alternative ending and deleted scenes are heavily compressed and therefore have fairly ropey picture quality.

Conclusion

Anybody who has seen the first two films will know what to expect with Scream 3 – and they won’t be disappointed. An entertaining hack ‘n’ slash film with excellent picture and sound, along with some top-notch extra material. The film itself is not the best of the three, but provides plenty of jumpy moments and screams of “ouch” when someone is stabbed. A good film to watch with your mates!

Overall Scream 3 completes an excellent trilogy of films and fans of the first two films should add this one to their collection.