Posted in: Horror, Movies | Tagged: film, horror, neve campbell, scream, scream 3

Why Scream 3 is Massively Misunderstood by Fans

Scream is one of the franchises that has and will always have a passionate fandom. Over the course of four films and two television series, Scream fans have rallied behind the murder-mystery hybrid that has helped the genre develop since the late '90s.

Scream 3 has received the most conflicted response from fans of all of the films, and the criticism feels extremely unwarranted. Here's why.

The first drastic change in Sidney Prescott

In the first film, Sidney Prescott is a teenager trying to repair her life after the murder of her mother. When new killings commence just before the anniversary of her death, we watch Sidney fight for survival, but still has a fragility to her that made people root for her.

In Scream 2, Sidney is a slightly scorned and tougher variation of her former self, but it isn't until Scream 3 that things change. In Scream 3, Sidney has completely isolated herself from society; she's armed, sometimes ready to snap, and being rushed to extremes by discovering more secrets her mother held.

This brought on Neve Cambell's marvelous display of her range as epic final girl Sindey, truly proving her title as a horror legend.

The most debated aspect can be considered an asset.

Scream 3 is majorly regarded as people's least favorite in the franchise because they weren't happy with the reveal that Sidney had a brother. Has that been done in a horror franchise? Yes. But with Maureen Prescott building the world of Scream around living a double life, it was the perfect avenue to take.

Giving Sidney a sibling, and a murderous one, was probably even more difficult of a kill to make than Billy Loomis. The only person who understands the heartbreak of Maureen's choices took a much more sinister path, forcing Sidney to lose any chance at a unique familial bond that she didn't even know she was capable of — resulting in one of the most well-executed Sidney vs. Ghostface fights in all four films. A dark, unpredictable, bold choice for a third chapter in a horror franchise that (thankfully) doesn't toy with the notion of rebooting.

Parker Posey

The Scream films have had so many incredible celebrity roles, but Parker Posey in Scream 3 was, without a doubt, one of the greatest. Posey has some of the best comedic timing and delivery you could ever hope for in a film, and it complements the films comedic undertones, but she transitions into terror with ease.

Posey's combination of both genres is a perfect example of why the franchise has received the amount of love that it has for over two decades. Who could have ever expected a character playing another character in a third installment could be so effective?

Eerily realistic

One thing that we can't ignore is the fact that John Milton feels very…familiar.

The horror movie producer who has been known as a predator (in the movie, of course) is a Hollywood executive type that's finally being confronted decades after his monstrous crimes. The former Dimension Films title might have had a little more interesting commentary on the industry, and its toxicity than people initially realized.

With the obvious dissolution of Dimension and Weinstein Films, this film is something that has to be viewed differently than it was received when it was first released 20 years ago.

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