Why So Blu?

Scream 3 (Blu-ray Review)

Gale, Dewey, Cotton, and Sidney have survived both the Woodsboro massacre and the murders at Sidney’s college but now face another killer yet again.  While I really enjoyed the writing in Scream and Scream 2, it is a tragedy that Scream 3 was not written by Kevin Williamson since the quality dropped in this one.  Aside from the title of Cotton’s TV Show – “100% Cotton” there isn’t much I liked about this one.

Film  

As the movie opens, Sidney (Neve Campbell) is suffering from some serious post traumatic stress and is living out in the middle of nowhere.  She is working as a phone crisis counselor, and hanging out with her dog while she tries to move on with her life.  That goal is difficult since another Stab movie is being made and it even has Dewey Riley (David Arquette) acting as a technical advisor for it.  Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) at this point in time, is now a guest lecturer, and semi well known celebrity who milks her fame for all it’s worth.

The murders begin again and this time old pictures of Maureen Prescott (Sidney’s mom) are left at the scene.  Lead Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) has been assigned to investigate the murders.  He works with Dewey and Gale but really wants to talk to Sid but is having a hard time doing that since Dewey has removed her file from the police station and refuses to divulge her whereabouts.  Luckily, she walks right through the police station doors when she realizes she isn’t as well hidden as she thought.

The new ghostface killer claims that he was the one who killed Maureen Prescott.  This is where they lose me completely.  Scream was about Billy Loomis killing Sidney’s mother (and a bunch of other people), Scream 2 was about the revenge of Billy’s family (and their ability to convince other psychos to murder for them), and now Scream 3 has another killer and we’re supposed to believe that the events that occurred in Scream didn’t happen the way that what we thought.  Since all the killers from the first two movies are dead which leaves us once again with the realization that the killer could be anyone.

Whoever the ghostface killer is at the time, they always have a voice changer on hand.  This time, the killer can change his voice into anyone’s.  He can be Cotton, Sidney, Dewey.  I realize this is supposed to add to the idea that anyone can be the killer but it’s just weird.  It’s useful in making Sidney a little more nuts when she hears her dead mother’s voice, but I want to know more about how you get such a device.  For $29.99 at Radio Shack can I impersonate all of my friends too?

The movie has a lot of guest stars including Carrie Fisher, Scott Foley, Lance Henrikson, Parker Posey, Patrick Warburton, and even Jenny McCarthy.  For those of you who might watch Scream 3 just for Jennie McCarthy, I warn you now that she never gets undressed.  There is even a cameo from Jay and Silent Bob which is kind of weird.  A lot of these guest stars are part of the fictional Stab movie and the rest are part of the Hollywood scene.

With Parker Posey playing the actress who’s playing Gale Weathers, the back and forth between the real and faux Gail is amusing at times.  Maybe I disliked this movie so much because Gale’s bangs put me in such a bad mood.  I wonder, was it a character choice that Gale had such bad hair or did Courtney Cox just need a new stylist?

I won’t “spoil” the ending by telling you who is behind the mask this time.  I will say that they don’t end up with a pulse at the end of the movie which makes me wonder what the plot of Scream 4 will be.  I’m told that Kevin Williamson who wrote the first two movies is the writer for Scream 4, so I hope that he will be able to erase Scream 3 from my memory.

Video  

After the decent transfer of Scream 2, I was expecting more of the same but for some reason Scream 3 looks worse than it’s previous installment.  This 1080p transfer has inconsistent black levels and the contrast is terrible.  Any scenes in daylight look a lot sharper and the colors fare better than they did in Scream 2.  Night time shots or low light scenes however, look pretty bad and have a lot of digital noise.  Not only does the film have a softer look to it, but there’s also more grain present in this transfer than in Scream 2.  At least, skin tones are more consistent this time around.

Audio  

Scream 3‘s lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is the best part of this disc.  The mix does a great job adding to the scares with an active mix that uses all of the channels.  LFE is a lot stronger here than the previous movie’s and there’s a constant swirl of action, cues, and music that keeps you engaged throughout the movie.  The movie’s dialogue is clear and mixed well with the rest of the movie and music.

Special Features  

I was really happy about a small detail in Scream 2 – the “knife slashing noise” that you heard when you switched between special features.  That detail is absent from Scream 3, and that makes me sad.  Everything else about the special features is pretty much the same as in Scream 2.

• Audio Commentary – With Director Wes Craven, Producer Marianne Maddalena and Editor Patrick Lussier.  I enjoyed hearing about the continuity issues they had like sideburns not being the same length in all shots, jewelry being too loud for the sound guys and actors wearing the wrong shirt.  We learn that Courteney Cox and David Arquette have just returned from their honeymoon and their tans were not part of the plan.
• Deleted Scenes – With optional commentary by Director Wes Craven, Producer Marianne Maddalena and Editor Patrick Lussier
• Alternate Ending – No alternate ending could have saved this film.
• Outtakes – Just as in Scream 2, the outtakes aren’t very funny.
• Behind-The-Scenes Montage – Scenes from all the entire Scream Trilogy
• Music Video – What If
• Theatrical Trailer
• International Trailer
• TV Spots

Final Thoughts  

Randy is back to give the rules of the Trilogy.  Although he did die in Scream 2, he went ahead and made a video to help his friends out.  Even Randy couldn’t help Scream 3.  I’m hoping that Scream 4 will be the best movie of 2011, but right now I think the makers of  this series should have stopped at Scream 2.

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