Scream 3

by Jumana Farouky

No matter how many times you see that ghost-face mask, it always scares the bejesus out of you. This time around, the eeriest disguise since Jason's hockey mask hides a Hollywood killer who stalks the cast of Stab 3, the third film in a trilogy based on the Woodsboro murders (of Screams 1 & 2) in the hope of discovering where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) -- the toughest, smartest horror heroine in recent history -- has been hiding since Scream 2. The key to effective horror is anticipation (that's why the phone makes such a good vehicle for fear; you never really know who's on the other end), and Scream 3 dives into the bloodbath a little too quickly, with the first cut made five minutes in. But director Wes Craven remains the master of the slasher flick, using the Stab 3 set's reproductions of the Woodsboro homes to revive creepy flashbacks of the first movie and providing the psychological fright that was the heart of Scream but was lacking in Scream 2. The Scream films don't take themselves or the movie industry too seriously, so in-jokes (most of them funny) abound and rewatching the first two Screams is recommended if you want to get half of the humor. Let's hope this really is the last in the series, because the screams are starting to die down.