Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 6 of Scream 3 (0:19:25-0:21:55)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!



SCENE 6 of Scream 3
Length: 2mins 30secs
Primary Characters: Sidney Prescott, Neil Prescott (Lawrence Hecht) and "Maureen Prescott" (Lynn McCree)
Pop Culture References:

• The Curse of the Cat People (Sidney's mother appears in her garden dressed in white, perhaps most reminiscent of this 1944 sequel)

I like this short bit at the start of this scene purely because it features...

NEIL PRESCOTT!

I like that they didn't forget him in Scream 2, especially since the whole plot revolves around the original Maureen Prescott storyline that he is directly a part of. I think I read that there was meant to be a bit in Scream 4 that explained his absence. He supposedly died between Scream 3 and 4, but for some reason it was excised (like so much other stuff), which is disappointing since it would've made the whole family angle of that film even more potent since her Woodsboro relatives were probably all she had left.

"Psychos can't kill what they can't find."
But they can kill other people to get to you and to get you out of hiding. Well done, Sidney. Great plan.

No, but seriously, Scream 3 and Halloween H20 share a bit in common in this regard, just another way that film and the Scream franchise feel like curiously linked entities. Oh, and hey, both feature dream sequences!

I love that this shot mirrors the first film right down to the way Sidney is asleep on the couch and next to her is a table with a telephone and that very same photo of she and her mother. Of course, you think Sidney's about to get "the call", when really all that happens is a strange, out of place dream sequence. Or maybe since it is a dream sequence, that is why it mirrors the setup of her Woodsboro home? Hmmm.

Meanwhile, the same scene from Scream (scene 7, which I linked to just now with "the first film") I mention a similarity with Twin Peaks and just thinking about it now, this moment of Sidney having a nightmare about her dead, secretive relative on the couch is very much like what Mrs Palmer (played by Grace Zabriskie) did. Although with fewer dwarf's spouting dialogue like "fire walk with me." Naturally.

The best thing that I can see about this scene is that at least it's well lit.

Really well lit.

And yet so dumb.

Seriously.

I really do question the - to use a popular phrase on a show I just watched an entire series of, Project Runway - taste level of this scene. It irks me to see Sidney dreaming of her own mother this way. It comes off as crass and unnecessary. I much prefer the bed sheet mother scare later in the film because it's a genuine "WTF?" moment. This is never anything other than a dream (nightmare, sure) that fails to scare. If they had to have it, why not have Sidney think she's being stalked by the killer only to discover it's not him, and then have it revealed to be a dream? At least that makes sense for the franchise. The Scream films never went here and I wish they hadn't.

The scene doesn't even help set up the later mother scare. I mean, we can all assume that Sidney is "haunted" by the memory of her mother, we don't need this ghoulish scene to tell us this. Basically, I think this moment ranks alongside the "fuck Bruce Willis" quip from Scream 4 as the series' worst moment. Although maybe I've forgotten something else from Scream 3 that we'll discover along the way was worse than both. Martha Meeks, maybe? Nah, that scene is hilarious (for all the wrong reasons.

It did provide a good trailer moment though. Seeing the bloodied hand moving down the window had us Scream fanatics asking who it was? It looked like it was from a doozy of a chase and kill scene. Alas...

Likewise this shot, but it's such a superficial scare. I mean, these films are all about giving us the superficial scare to weaken the audience and then giving them the gut punch (gut stab?) of actual human violence, but this is just the filmmakers getting their money's worth from hiring the boo machine over a couple of weekends. It's not in aid of anything bigger, it's just there. If Scream 3 was really going to go there then why not get Wes Craven to work some of his old A Nightmare on Elm Street magic?


Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14. Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, End Credits

Scream 3
Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5