Scream 3 takes place after our heroine Sidney (Neve Campbell) has graduated from college. She's now living up in the hills somewhere, determined to put the horrors of her life behind her. If you remember in Scream 2, they were making a film about the events that took place in the original Scream, entitled Stab! Well now they're filming the 3rd installment of the Stab! trilogy, called, well Stab 3! Our favorite cop Dewey (David Arquette) is now an advisor on the set. Gale Weathers is still a reporter, and when Cotton Weary (the man accused by Sidney in the first movie) is murdered in his home, the detective on the case (Patrick Dempsey) calls Gale to come and help. One by one the people on the set of Stab 3 are being killed off. The only clues left behind are pictures of Sidney's dead mother. Who's coming after Sidney now? Has everything we believed from the first two movies been wrong? Is there someone else out there who's been behind everything all along? Or has one of our favorite characters finally snapped? After a slow opening, Scream 3 kicks it into high gear with a lot of brutal killings, and a surprise ending that finally ends the nightmare for Sidney.

As many of you faithful readers out there know, I love horror films. And the Scream movies are definitely some of the best of the genre. It has taken horror films to another level. It's no longer just good enough to kill innocent scantily clad women (not that I don't enjoy that as well), you need to write the movie with the understanding that the audience is smarter than in the past (when it comes to movies at least). And the one thing the Scream series doesn't do is insult the intelligence of their audience. Scream 3 continues in the tradition of its counterparts by having smart dialogue, and creating a believable story line (for a horror film). While the eventual conclusion may leave some people with a bad taste in their mouth, I personally feel satisfied with it. A lot of horror film series (which shall remain nameless) keep going in the series, without ever coming to an end. This time, director Wes Craven has made a movie trilogy that comes to a final conclusion. Sure, as with all horror films, there could be another installment, but no one wants that. By bringing the major story arc to a finish, and by explaining how and why the entire series got started in the first place, the story ends without pissing off the audience.

As usual, the acting is pretty sharp (with the exception of Jenny McCarthy who still looks great, but needs to work on her "scared" look). Along with the characters mentioned above, there were other good turns by Parker Posey (playing Gale Weathers in the Stab! series), Scott Foley (of Felicity fame) as the director of Stab 3, Lance Henriksen as the Producer of the Stab! series, and two special cameos by Carrie Fisher and Jaime Kennedy (by means of videotape). I especially liked bringing Kennedy's character back (even though he was killed off in the last movie) and having him explain the rules of a trilogy. It's things like that that keep the Scream movies fresh and entertaining. The script (this time not written by Kevin Williamson but by Ehren Kruger (nice name)) was well written and kept the spirit of the first two films alive, while still creating a new story with a lot of new characters.

So overall, I found Scream 3 very entertaining and fun to watch. I thought that it did a good job of using elements of the first two movies to create the story, and then giving the audience a final ending to one of the best trilogies of all time. And for great pictures of Courtney Cox-Arquette, Neve Campbell and others, visit the all new Picture Gallery.

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