Somewhat, 4 out of 10. It's a Ghostface slasher with plenty of jump scares, set on the film set of a movie about the murders.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
4 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
Nothing lingers after the credits, since the mystery is more fun to guess than to fear.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: This Ghostface slasher has many jump scares and a whodunit on a Hollywood film set, and it suits teenagers.
Scream 3 runs 116 minutes and moves the Ghostface murders to Hollywood, where a third Stab movie is being filmed about them. Someone in the mask starts killing the cast, and Sidney Prescott, who has been living under an alias, is pulled back in.
The premise, briefly
Ghostface turns up on the Hollywood set of Stab 3, a film about the Woodsboro murders, and starts killing the cast while Sidney Prescott tries to stay hidden.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
The killer is the film's director, Roman Bridger, who is Sidney's half-brother and faked his own death. Sidney outwits him in a fight, and Dewey shoots him. Sidney, Dewey, Gale and Kincaid survive, and Dewey proposes to Gale.
The scene you're dreading
The opening phone call, early in the movie. Ghostface demands to know where Sidney is hiding, and when talk show host Cotton Weary refuses to say, he murders Cotton and his girlfriend Christine.
The dog
No dog dies in Scream 3.
Once you know who the killer is, Scream 3 is a murder mystery with a lot of jump scares and a movie set for a backdrop.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
Cotton Weary should not have taken the call
Cotton Weary has become a talk show host, and Ghostface phones him asking where Sidney Prescott is. When Cotton refuses, Ghostface murders him and his girlfriend Christine. That is the scene people dread most, and it is the first murder in the movie. Detective Mark Kincaid contacts Gale Weathers about it, so she goes to Hollywood, where Dewey Riley turns out to be advising on Stab 3: Return to Woodsboro, a film based on the Ghostface murders. Dewey is dating Jennifer Jolie, who plays Gale in the movie. Ghostface then kills the actress Sarah Darling, which stops production and annoys the director, Roman Bridger. The surviving cast, Dewey and Gale gather at Jennifer's house, where Ghostface stabs her bodyguard and causes a gas explosion that kills Tom Prinze, the actor who plays Dewey.
Sidney has been hiding under a false name and working as a crisis counselor on a hotline for abused women. The killer finds her and starts taunting her with a voice changer that makes him sound like her late mother, Maureen Prescott. Sidney concludes she is no longer safe and travels to Hollywood. There Gale and Jennifer learn that Maureen took a short acting career in the 1970s as Rina Reynolds, and was assaulted at a party thrown by John Milton, the producer of Stab 3. Martha Meeks, the sister of Sidney's friend Randy, arrives with a videotape Randy made before he died. In it he warns that the rules of horror movies no longer hold once you reach part three of a trilogy, so anyone can die. Ghostface then attacks Sidney on the Stab 3 set, and the police hold her for her own protection.
A birthday party at the producer's mansion
Dewey, Gale, Jennifer and the rest of the cast, including Angelina Tyler, who plays Sidney in Stab 3, and Tyson Fox, who plays Rickey, turn up at Milton's mansion for Roman's birthday party. Exploring the house, Gale and Jennifer come across what looks like Roman's body. Ghostface turns on the group, kills Angelina, Tyson and Jennifer, and holds Gale and Dewey hostage. Ghostface calls Sidney, and she heads to the mansion. Kincaid follows her but is knocked unconscious. Sidney is led to a secret screening room, where Ghostface takes the mask off and turns out to be Roman, who faked his death.
The ending, explained
Roman tells Sidney he is her half-brother, born after Maureen was assaulted. Maureen turned him away when he found her four years earlier, so he started following her and filming the men she saw. He showed Billy Loomis the footage of his father with Maureen, which set off the Woodsboro murders, and he snapped when he saw how famous Sidney became. He reveals a bound Milton and cuts his throat. Sidney tells him his story is an excuse for selfishness, and Roman attacks her. After a brutal fight she outsmarts him and stabs him repeatedly. When Dewey and Gale arrive he gets up again, and Dewey finally kills him with a shot to the head. Afterward Dewey proposes to Gale and she accepts. Sidney leaves her front gate open, and when a gust opens her front door while she watches a movie with the others, she ignores it.
The post-credits ruling
There is no post-credits scene. You can leave when the credits start.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Scream 3 scary?
Somewhat. Scream 3 is a 4 out of 10 with low dread and a lot of jump scares. It is a slasher built around a murder mystery.
How does Scream 3 end?
Sidney defeats Roman Bridger, the director who turns out to be Ghostface, and Dewey finishes him off with a shot. Dewey then proposes to Gale, and Sidney, Gale, Dewey and Kincaid are left alive.
Does the dog die in Scream 3?
No. No dog dies in Scream 3.
Is there a post-credits scene in Scream 3?
No. Scream 3 has no post-credits scene, so you can leave when the credits start.
Who is the killer in Scream 3?
Roman Bridger, the director of Stab 3, is Ghostface in Scream 3. He is Sidney's half-brother, the son of Maureen Prescott, and he faked his own death.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Scream 3 is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
Now you know who is under the mask in Scream 3 without waiting for the screening room. Install Scaredy Cat and the internet's horror gets blurred before you see it.
