Scream 3 is a 2000 American
slasher film and the third installment in the
Scream franchise. Directed by
Wes Craven and written by
Ehren Kruger, the film stars
Neve Campbell,
Courteney Cox, and
David Arquette, and was released on February 4, 2000. The story is set three years after
Scream 2 and follows
Sidney Prescott (Campbell), who has gone into self-imposed isolation following the events of the previous two films but is drawn to
Hollywood after a new
Ghostface begins killing the cast of the
film within a film "Stab 3".
Scream 3 combines the violence of the slasher genre with comedy and "
whodunit" mystery, while satirizing the
cliché of
film trilogies. Unlike the previous
Scream films, there was an increased emphasis on comedic elements in this installment, and the violence and horror were reduced in response to increased public scrutiny about violence in media, following the
Columbine High School massacre. The film was the concluding chapter of the
Scream series until the franchise was revived with a sequel,
Scream 4 (2011).