A Revisit of the “Scream” Series: “Scream 3” and “Scream 4”
- Matt Palmer
- Mar 5
- 3 min read
For last week’s edition, I revisited the first two entries of the franchise and am still eagerly awaiting the release of “Scream 7” (which I am planning for the March 11 edition). For this week, I checked out the 2000 and 2011 installments - “Scream 3” and "Scream 4” - the weakest of the series.
In “Scream 3,” a murder spree begins to happen again; this time targeted toward the original Woodsboro survivors and those associated with the movie in production “Stab 3.” Sidney must face the demons of her past to stop the killer(s).
Even though the 2000 sequel does have some entertaining moments here and there,
it’s pretty much the black sheep of the franchise. While it’s meta-commentary on Hollywood can be entertaining and humorous at times, this sequel relied too much on humor and not enough scares.
Despite this entry being more light-hearted than the other movies, “Scream 3” does have some decent suspenseful sequences, such as a chase on the “Stab 3” set with Sidney as she sees recreations of her house and Stu Macher’s house from the “Scream” finale, the opening sequence, and a moment where Sidney has a haunting nightmare where her mother’s ghost appears at the window. Even the killer reveal for this sequel (which is usually one of the best parts of the series) is still kind of on the lackluster side.
“Scream 3” is generally considered the weakest of the original trilogy due to a shift towards satire and camp over slasher/horror, driven by a post-Columbine, less violent, and heavily rewritten script. While critic and audience reactions were fairly mixed upon release, retrospective views often appreciated its ambitious, yet flawed, attempt to wrap up the franchise.
In “Scream 4,” it has been many years since the Ghostface Killer cut a deadly path
through the town of Woodsboro. In order to get over the trauma of those horrific events, Sidney Prescott has written a self-help book.
She returns to Woodsboro for her book tour and reconnects with Gale Weathers and Sheriff Dewey. However, Sidney’s arrival also sparks the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney and everyone she loves in danger.
When “Scream 4” was initially released in 2011, it received a mixed to somewhat positive response and ended up being the lowest-grossing movie in the series. And, even though I initially didn’t enjoy it at first, after a few more viewings over the years, I actually warmed up to this entry a bit more.
“Scream 4” delivers a sharp, satirical take on the remake trend that was going on at the time, social media obsession and a strong young cast (including fan favorite character Kirby). This 2011 sequel also brought back more scares and a few moments that actually got pretty brutal.
Over the last decade, this sequel has undergone a massive positive reprisal and has frequently been ranked by fans as being one of the best sequels in the series. I’ll be providing my own ranking of this series at the end of my “Scream 7” review coming up!
The 2001 movie actually brings fresh energy to the franchise and features a great combination of satirical elements and horror, including the twist reveal (which is still great even after numerous viewings). The movie actually begins with a meta moment featuring several “movie-within-a-movie” sequences from the “Stab” franchise before transitioning to the actual opening. I remembered watching this for the first time years ago and though this opening was a tad annoying, yet now it’s actually not too bad.
There’s also a little hospital showdown at the end that’s still entertaining as Sidney is still trying to battle the mastermind (not spoiling who) and says an iconic line that’s still pretty awesome “Don’t mess with the original.” I actually had to change one of the words in this quote due to the word that was actually used.
“Scream 4” is a meta-slasher that attempted to revitalize the franchise by blending Wes Craven’s signature self-aware horror with sharp satire on 21st century fame, social media and remake/reboot culture. After this attempted revitalization of the franchise flopped at the box office, the franchise tried again in 2022 and 2023 with “Scream” (2022) and “Scream VI”, which I will be revisiting for the March 11 edition!
You can currently stream the entire franchise on Paramount Plus.
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