Scream 3 (2000)

Marianne Maddalena

Dimension Films

## Overview

Cotton Weary, now living in Los Angeles and the host of a successful talk show, *100% Cotton*, is contacted by Ghostface, who demands to know the whereabouts of Sidney Prescott. Cotton refuses to cooperate, and Ghostface breaks into his home, murdering Cotton and his girlfriend Christine while speaking with Cotton's voice.

Detective Mark Kincaid contacts Gale Weathers to discuss the recent murders, prompting her to travel to Hollywood, where she finds Dewey Riley working as an adviser on the set of *Stab 3*, the third film in the series based on the Ghostface murders. Using a voice changer as a ruse, Ghostface kills *Stab 3* actress Sarah Darling. Meanwhile, Sidney is living in seclusion as a crisis counselor for an abused women's hotline, fearing that another killer may strike. Having discovered Sidney's location, the killer begins taunting her by phone with her deceased mother Maureen Prescott's voice, forcing her out of hiding and drawing her to Hollywood. As the remaining *Stab 3* cast, along with Dewey and Gale, gather at the home of Jennifer Jolie, Ghostface murders her bodyguard and uses a gas leak to cause an explosion, which kills fellow actor Tom Prinze.

Martha Meeks, the sister of Sidney's friend Randy, who was murdered while Sidney was in college, visits Sidney and the others to drop off a videotape that Randy had made before his death, posthumously warning them that the rules of a horror film do not apply to anyone in the third and final film of a horror trilogy and that any of them, including main character Sidney, could die. Sidney is later attacked by Ghostface at a movie set, forcing the police to keep Sidney safe at their station.

Later, Dewey, Gale, Jennifer, and the remaining *Stab 3* cast, Angelina and Tyson, attend a birthday party for *Stab 3*'s director Roman Bridger, where Ghostface strikes. Gale discovers Roman's dead body in the basement. Angelina wanders off alone before she is also murdered. Tyson attempts to fight Ghostface but the killer manages to throw him off a balcony to his death. Jennifer tries to escape through a secret passage, but is also murdered by Ghostface. The killer then orders Sidney to the mansion to save Gale and Dewey, who are being held hostage. When she arrives, Ghostface forces Sidney to abandon her firearm and lures her inside where Gale and Dewey are bound and gagged with duct tape. As Sidney is untying them, Ghostface appears, though Sidney gains the upper hand using a second hidden gun to fight him off. Detective Kincaid shows up but is knocked unconscious by Ghostface.

Sidney flees and hides in a secret screening room where she encounters Ghostface. He reveals himself as Roman, having faked his death and survived being shot due to a bulletproof vest. Roman admits to being Sidney's half-brother, born to their mother Maureen when she was an actress in Hollywood. Four years ago, he had unsuccessfully tried reuniting with her, only for her to reject him due to him being the product of rape. Bitter over the rejection, Roman began stalking her, filming all the men she philandered with and showing Billy Loomis the footage of his father with Maureen, which motivated him to kill her, thus setting off the string of murders in Sidney's hometown and at her college. However, when he discovered how much fame Sidney had attracted due to those events, Roman snapped and lured Sidney out of hiding.

Roman then tells Sidney of his plan to frame her for the murders, before killing tied-up and gagged *Stab* producer John Milton, his biological father and their mother's rapist. Sidney furiously denounces Roman, saying he has no excuse for his actions of killing innocent people other than simply choosing to do so, causing Roman to break down into a rage. A fight ensues between Sidney and Roman, which ends when Roman shoots Sidney in the chest, but Sidney survives the shot and stabs Roman multiple times. As he lies bleeding, Sidney shows him that she, too, was wearing a bulletproof vest. Dewey and Gale arrive when a screaming Roman suddenly resurfaces with a knife; unaware of his bulletproof vest, Dewey shoots him in the chest, but Sidney yells at him to shoot Roman in the head, which Dewey does, finally killing him.

Sometime after at Sidney's house, Dewey proposes to Gale, who accepts. Sidney returns from a walk with her dog and leaves her gates, which were previously shown to be alarmed, open. She enters her home and is invited to join Dewey, Gale, and Detective Kincaid to watch a movie. As she goes to join the others, her front door blows open behind her, but she walks away leaving it as it is, finally confident that the murders are over.

## Cast

* David Arquette as Dewey Riley, a deputy and advisor on the set of *Stab 3*
* Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, a crisis counselor and main target of Ghostface
* Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, an investigative reporter
* Patrick Dempsey as Mark Kincaid, a detective
* Scott Foley as Roman Bridger, director of *Stab 3*
* Lance Henriksen as John Milton, a Hollywood producer
* Matt Keeslar as Tom Prinze, an actor portraying a fictional Dewey in *Stab 3*
* Jenny McCarthy as Sarah Darling, an actress cast as Candy in *Stab 3*
* Emily Mortimer as Angelina Tyler, an actress portraying a fictional Sidney in *Stab 3*
* Parker Posey as Jennifer Jolie, an actress portraying a fictional Gale in *Stab 3*
* Deon Richmond as Tyson Fox, an actor
* Kelly Rutherford as Christine Hamilton, Cotton's girlfriend
* Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary, a talk show host
* Patrick Warburton as Steven Stone, a bodyguard
* Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks, who appears in a videotape recording made in college before he was murdered
* Roger L. Jackson as the voice of Ghostface