A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games

Scream 3 (2000)

November 24, 2021 Steve Bennet-Martin, Stephen Martin-Bennet Season 1 Episode 95
A Lifetime of Happiness: Movies, TV, and Video Games
Scream 3 (2000)
Show Notes Transcript Chapter Markers

The Steves discuss the 2000 blockbuster, Scream  3, along with what's making them happy in pop culture today.

What's making us happy?

  • We're Here on HBO Max
  • Spiritfest in Sarasota

Scream 3 topics discussed:

  • The creative team and actors
  • It's success and intention as the finale of a trilogy
  • Why is Scream 3 funnier and less gory than the first two
  • How they turned the opening kill on it's head
  • The voice changer changing the game
  • What happened to our leads between 2 and 3?
  • Impressions of the new victims and suspects
  • Tropes of a trilogy
  • Scream 3 and Harvey Weinstein
  • Thoughts on the films retcons
  • Did Sid and Detective Kincaid get it on?

Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.

Support the show
Steve:

Hello, returning happiest and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin, and this

Stephen:

is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of

Steve:

happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, television shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy while hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way. And today

Stephen:

we once again ask, what's your favorite scary movie as we take a stab at covering scream

Steve:

three, and I see what you did there, but first my love what's been making you happy.

Stephen:

Well, a lot of things, but one thing that I do want to talk about is this show on HBO, max that we found called we're

Steve:

here, who's here, we're here.

Stephen:

Okay. So it is so, um, anybody that's listened to the show knows that we love our drag Queens. Really

Steve:

we do are loving drag Queens all over the place.

Stephen:

I know. And so, um, you know, we'll always talk about. Um, Ru Paul's drag race and things, but this is not that. So, um, we're here stars, um, Shane, Angela you're Rica and Bob, the drag queen doing a kind of, um, queer eye, um, for the small town guys type of thing where they're going around the country to small towns, interacting with the gay and straight communities, um, trying to show, you know, we're here, we're queer get used to it type of thing. And it's fantastic.

Steve:

It certainly is. It's the perfect blend of drag Queens and heartwarming loving moments and the feels and the drag shows themselves have been fun to watch. They have some really good standout moments and,

Stephen:

um, anybody that has not been watching it. I do watch it, but if you have, and they were in Selma and Bob's,

Steve:

our number was

Stephen:

awesome. The wig reveal was the most spectacular things I'd ever seen. And it was

Steve:

unexpected. Yes. I love the different faces of the queer community that they're showing. It's not just gay guys and it's not just lesbians and it's non binary people. It's ally, it's

Stephen:

trans people. It's people that, um,

Steve:

you know, Are figuring things out,

Stephen:

figuring things out and some that, you know, need a little help, um, being a better ally. Yes. Looking at you, blonde mom on the show. Yes.

Steve:

So check it out. It's on HBO max. There are two seasons outright now. Yep. We're in the middle of the second season. Yes. So check it out. It'll make you happy. It

Stephen:

will. And one of the other things that made us happy is we went to spirit Fest Sarasota this week. Is it about cheerleading? It was not.

Steve:

No, no. It was about metaphysical spirits.

Stephen:

Yes. It was about metaphysical spirits. So, you know, there were healers and readers and crystals and um, just a lot of wonderful things, um, dealing with metaphysical spirituality. And we had a really good time. Some friends of ours went with us and then we had some lunch after. But it was really lovely and there was a pretty decent turnout when we were there.

Steve:

And I would say in general, this has been, I was just one of the many steps in your recent metaphysical journey that you've been really enjoying and making. Can you happy?

Stephen:

Yes, absolutely. We have two metaphysical stores in town. One is the pixie dust boutique, and the other is wild ginger apothecary. And, um, I took a taro class from sky at wild ginger. That was just eyeopening. And then we recently did a, um, angel healing meditation with Bridget McMullan also at wild ginger. And, you know, both were fantastic. The, I was really, really impressed with. Um, angel healing meditation as well.

Steve:

If you're one of the 11% of our listeners from the Sarasota area, I definitely recommend checking it out. Yup. I

Stephen:

absolutely. And you know, I'm sure we'll be hearing more along my metaphysical journey in future

Steve:

episodes. Yes. Sorry. You can tell us what the future will be with it right now.

Stephen:

Sorry, the spirits aren't speaking right now. All right.

Steve:

Sounds good. Well then let's head back over to our good friends. Uh, Sydney.

Stephen:

Gail and

Steve:

Dewey. Yes. And scream three was released on February 4th, 2000 with a budget of$40 million and a box office of 161.8, a million dollars.

Stephen:

Okay. So this came out my freshman year of college

Steve:

and you got your$8 or whatever. The movie tickets were back in that

Stephen:

day, which was a big deal for a college student. And, um, we went opening night, opening, you know, like weekend. It was a big deal. The mall was packed. And, um, I, we got our tickets in advance because it was selling out and I put my ticket in my right front pocket. Um, and then we were walking through the food court to go shopping for a little bit and I reached down and my ticket was gone. Oh no. And I. I realized I had just pulled something else out of my pocket. And so I turn around and these two guys were standing there holding on to a movie ticket and I walked up. Hey, is there any chance you guys just found that on the ground? And he said for scream three at, you know, 8:00 PM. And they were like, yeah. And I was like, that's mine. I dropped it. And they're like, okay. And you could tell that they were excited that they had just gotten the ticket to a sold out movie, but they were nice enough to give it back. But for a minute there, I was like, all my friends are going to get to see this movie and I'm not, oh, well, I'm

Steve:

glad you got to see mean you've seen it once or twice since then, right? Just a few. Yes. Now this is movie like the other originals in the screen trilogy where it's directed by west Craven, also known for his work on the nightmare on Elm street and dozens of other horror movies. And it was written by Aaron Krueger who went on to do the transformers franchise, but also did the ring and the ring too.

Stephen:

And he's not related to Frederick

Steve:

Kruger? No. Of the nightmare. Yes.

Stephen:

So it has returning stars. Nev Campbell is Sydney Prescott, David Arquette, as do we, it. And at the time, Courtney Cox Arquette as Gail weathers and Roger Jackson as the voice of Ghostface and leave Schrieber as cotton weary.

Steve:

Yes. And we went back into more of where we know them from then, and now in our first two scream episodes to make sure you go back and our archives and check those episodes out if you haven't already, because we're about to jump on from those two and take the train going

Stephen:

through. Yep. And new faces this time are Dr. McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey from Grey's anatomy.

Steve:

Yes. He's mark Kincade. Yep. Scott Foley. We know from scandal as well as Grey's anatomy as a Roman Bridger. Yep.

Stephen:

Um, Lance Hendrickson from alien as director and film producer, John Milton,

Steve:

Matt Keesler as Tom prince. And I don't know what else he's from. I don't

Stephen:

either. Um, Jenny McCarthy, um, who everyone, these days. The number one TV show in America, the mass singer.

Steve:

How did this happen? Me? It

Stephen:

was me. She's playing Sarah darling. Yes. Emily Mortimer it from Mary Poppins returns as Angelina Tyler.

Steve:

Yes. Parker Posey from best in show as Jennifer Jolie. Yup.

Stephen:

Uh, Dionne Richmond from the Cosby show as Tyson

Steve:

Fox and Patrick Warburton from the tick as Steven Stone, the bodyguard. Yup.

Stephen:

And this was originally intended to be the final of the scream trilogy. And you can totally see that until it was revived in 2011, with scream four and scream five coming this January. Potentially as a new trilogy. So everyone out there go see it and don't screw this up

Steve:

for us so that we can see scream six a couple years from now. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Yes. Now, one thing that you'll notice that makes this movie a little bit differently from the first two, is that for a franchise that later, you know, inside the movies even called stab, because the killer notoriously uses a knife, the killer gets a little more creative this way, and there is a little bit less blood and gore and a little more of a focus on the comedy aspects of the, you know, the satire part of it. And the main reason for that is because it came out in 2000, they had a serious concerns about it after the response about violence and media following the Columbine high school massacre in 1999. Yeah.

Stephen:

So people that like to do mass shootings and everything like that, you're ruining entertainment, um, for the

rest

Steve:

of us. Yes. So don't do it please. Okay. Thanks. Thank you. How do you feel though? This ended the trilogy.

Stephen:

I'm of several minds on it. So, um, I still think this is a great entry in the scream franchise. Is it the weakest of the four so far? Yeah, it is, but that's like still saying, you know, oh, it's the weakest Adele album. Like, there is no such thing really. And, um, I really enjoy this. I thought it ended well. Um, because you know, a lot of the times in horror movies, we never get like they end and, or just shortly after the trauma's done. So you don't realize where your characters are headed off. And so this kind of gives us a nice little farewell to people that we had spent three movies with.

Steve:

Yes, exactly. And one of the people that was returning was surprisingly enough, the opening kill.

Stephen:

Shocking. So it's cotton weary. He has the number one syndicated talk show, 100% cotton. And he's on the phone with his, um, rep bitching about the role that they offered him on stab three, not being good enough because he calls it just a cameo. And then he gets a call on his cell phone, not his car phone that he's talking to the manager on too many phones, cotton, too many phones.

Steve:

Yes. I love how data the technology at the time was with how bulky and big the cell phones or yeah. And you know, the, you know, the color starts off as a female voice. Who's flirting with him, but then it quickly turns out to be ghost Facebook before we get into ghost face coming back. What do you feel about this as cotton's future after it ends in scream two with him getting his first big interview with Gale, you

Stephen:

know what? I'm absolutely 100% fine with this because. Sidney thought she was doing the right thing prior to scream one with saying, Hey, he killed my mother. And he was wrongfully convicted with spending time in prison, screamed too. He just wants his day in the sun at the end. Sidney gives him that opportunity and he's a hustler and he turned it into this talk show. So good for Yukon.

Steve:

Great. And as we say goodbye, or as we see a sunset for his day in the side, ghost face is, uh, tells him that he's in his home with Christine, his girlfriend, and that he'll let her live if he tells her where Sydney's living. So he starts to run.

Stephen:

Right. And what's interesting is though Sydney gave him that little boost at the end. I doubt they kept in touch. Sydney had zero desire. To see cotton after what happened at

Steve:

Windsor Kala. So you don't think he even had her number in his

Stephen:

phone? All, I think that ghost face was going stretching,

Steve:

grasping at straws, trying to find Sydney

Stephen:

and goes faced stocks and attacks Christine while using a voice synthesizer to pretend that they're cotton. And which is really interesting. Christine is Kelly Rutherford. She had just finished her. Multi-season run on Melrose place when she filmed this. And this was before she became one of the stars on gossip

Steve:

girl. Yes. And when cotton gets home, Christina texts, him thinking that he was the one going crazy before it goes face, stabs her in the back and then quickly kills cotton

Stephen:

himself. So what I appreciate about this compared to the opening kill and scream too. So Jada Pinkett Smith. Is killed in the opening of scream to, by the person that she thinks is her boyfriend. And she dies without ever seeing that it wasn't her boyfriend with this, at least Christine realizes that the person stabbing her is not cotton. So it makes me feel a little better. I'm sorry. They're both dead, but at least she didn't die thinking that cotton who she had loved and trusted was doing this to her.

Steve:

Yes. And one thing that I find interesting that they set up here and it ends up being a theme throughout the movie is had this ghost face loves using the voice synthesizer. How do you feel that changes the game?

Stephen:

It is a huge game changer. And what was really interesting, this is the only one they did it and they didn't bring it back for four, which I'm, I'm fine with. But for this movie, it really, um, brought a new. Depth to what the killer could do. And I really enjoyed that. What about also one of the main characters of scream, two dead in the first 10 minutes of screen three. What are your thoughts? I mean, it

Steve:

was a very interesting way to say it and it was an interesting way to say it. Like, this is like all bets are off. Like you thought that all bets were off when Randy died in scream too. Like there's all bets are off here where he's, you know, cottons to the throw away murder victim and yeah. And he was in like all the posters and everything. Just like how drew Barrymore it. Wasn't the first leading you to think like, oh, okay. He's joined the gang. So to speak. Yeah.

Stephen:

I mean, even in the, um, poster for the first scream and you see like the, um, kind of see-through face up there with her hand over her mouth. I mean, that was drew Barrymore's face in that poster. So they're really good at letting us think, oh, this person's going to be a big star.

Steve:

Yes exactly. So then we get to see after his death, a little bit of where the are, where are they now? Are they now? Where are our friends from the original two movies?

Stephen:

Well, so Sydney is living as a recluse under a fake name, um, in, um, Monterey, California. And, um, she gets home from a walk on a beautiful ranch home in the Hills with a golden retriever. And she is very quick to lock the gate. Turn on the security system gets inside locks the door. There are no windows open. She sets another security system when she's inside. And then she hops online using the fake name to call in as a grief crisis counselor.

Steve:

Yes, she was working from home before it was all the rage in 2020 and 2020. It was,

Stephen:

I think she was doing it for a different reason,

Steve:

but yeah, I'm sure she thought she would have thrived in the past couple of years of the pandemic doing that hiding. I can do that. I can do that. I can work from home. I already have my whole base camp all set up. Now

Stephen:

Gail is an anchor for total entertainment.

Steve:

Yes, she is talking at a college campus about how to be a good reporter and author. And she's visited by mark and Kate who reveals that cotton was murdered and the killer left behind a picture of Maureen Prescott Sidney's mom.

Stephen:

And this is interesting that it came to her because. Of anyone in the franchise, Gail was closest to cotton because she wrote, um, a book from his, from his perspective, you know, saying, Hey, I think he's innocent. And she ended up being right. And so they really did develop a relationship during that time. So it's, you can see it on her face that she, that's not new. She was expecting.

Steve:

Yes. And you know who else wasn't expecting to see that on the news?

Stephen:

Was it Sydney, Sydney

Steve:

who drops our whole bag of dog kibble. And while it happens off screen, you hear it drop. And my heart just goes out. Cause it's dog Dez. We know how hard it is to clean up kibble off. Yup.

Stephen:

And you know how the best way to do it is vacuum. Oh, I was going to say, ran me. Come on, go get some kibble. Yes. True. So, but this takes us to what was happening. Is that they're filming stab

Steve:

three. Yes, we do know that stab is a franchise from the first movie they were from the second movie, they were making the first SAB movie. Right. Because that's

Stephen:

what they went to go see at the theater when Jayda

Steve:

died. Yeah. Yes. There was a SQL in between that. What happened off screen that we didn't hear about. And then now they're making stabs three and on the set of steps three, we meet our new mix of suspects and cannon fodder, as they're talking about their individual roles, as well as cut staff. So I love

Stephen:

whenever. Um, Milton's like, do you th you don't think that, um, cotton's role in this had anything to do with his murder and the throw away detectives, like he was making a movie called stab. He was

Steve:

stabbed. Yes. That would lead credence to the idea that they are involved. Now, what do you think of some of the new actors and actresses like, uh, Tom and Sarah.

Stephen:

Okay, so brutally honest and I apologize to Emily Mortimer. I hated her in this movie. There was never once where I liked the character of Angelina. And I couldn't tell if it was, um, from the actress. Yeah. Or if it was how the character was written and I wasn't sure. I knew Emily Mortimer these days from a show on HBO called the newsroom that she did with Jeff Daniels. And I really, really like her on there. So it turns out I do like the actress. So it must be that they made Angelina in such a way that I don't know if we were supposed to dislike her, but I truly did. And she was one of those. I was like, Nope, they can go ahead and kill.

Steve:

Yes. I mean, most of the group, like you feel are just. Either going to be suspects or they're going to be just killed. Like, none of them really strike me from the first impressions as like they're going to join the main group and they're just going to survive and be part of the next movies or whatever. Like they all clearly were like dead, dead, dead, dead, dead. The only one that I thought might have a chance of either being a suspect or being legitimately like an, a big person was Parker Posey his character, Jennifer, because she has such a big role on this as the fake Gail leathers.

Stephen:

No, I've always really enjoyed Jenny McCarthy. I, her personality, I find her enjoyable. I actually was rooting for her from the moment I heard that she was in the movie. I was thinking, yay, Jenny McCarthy. Yes.

Steve:

And speaking of the new faces and speaking of Jennifer Gale arrives and learns that duties, working as a technical advisor for the movie and has also close with her movie, counterpart Jennifer. Now we see that from their first interaction, that things are not good with Gail and Dewey, which is weird because it seemed like at the end of the second that they were going to give it a go

Stephen:

w well, we assumed that because at the end of the first, um, Dewey's hollering for Gale, but she's reporting on the murders that just happened at Stew's house. And at the end of the second one, instead of reporting, she hops into the ambulance with Dewey and we're like, oh, they do love each other. They're going to make a go of it.

Steve:

Yeah. So what are your thoughts on what happened between the two movies?

Stephen:

So, um, I mean, we do get into it in a, like between them and a bit that she does have a quest for fame and like doing new and advance, what type of person she was that she wanted to be a successful, famous reporter. It was 60

Steve:

minutes to do it,

Stephen:

but do we didn't want to leave Woodsboro at that time? Like the only reason he was at Windsor college was because of the murders. He wouldn't have left town if he had didn't need to.

Steve:

And so he does later on reveal that the reason why he's working on set is to try and protect Sydney's identity because the killer is trying to find her. But before we get there, we flashback back to Sydney's time on the road. Uh, dad is there and still alive and doing well and not locked in a closet. Um, and he warns her about isolating herself. Well,

Stephen:

dad psychos can't kill what they can't find.

Steve:

Yes. She then has a nightmare about her mom eliminating any question that Maureen is going to be playing a big role in the movie's themes and motive.

Stephen:

Yeah. Like we're hearing more about Maureen Prescott in the first half an hour of screen three than we did in the original scream in Woodsboro one hour, one year, past the day.

Steve:

Correct. Now going into the first posts, opening kill, we meet Sarah who, as you said, you had high hopes for her. I know. And she's at the office and gets a call from who appears to be Roman. And she's complaining about her role as the bimbo who, and who doesn't own a gun and dies naked.

Stephen:

And she delivers. Really really well. And I do admit that, you know, she gets there and Tyson leaves with the, um, practical effects guy. And she's there by herself. That office is creepy in the dark. Yes,

Steve:

it is. It isn't creepy, but I love like how she is. So self-aware of herself and her character in the movie named candy. Cause of course, but it almost made me like, like her more, cause I'm like, oh, she knows what she's doing. She knows why she got this role. Like, and 100% I definitely was rooting for her, but you realize real quickly, it's going to go south. When Roman uses a new school. Uh, and Sarah makes a comment, not just a

Stephen:

new script, it's a new movie.

Steve:

Yes, exactly. But one thing I love about that as we talked about in our scream two episode, how many different versions of the script were? How many rewrites there were all to try and throw people off. And I just love how frustrated she gets at it. Like, she's like another version of the script. God damn

Stephen:

it. Like we get a new version every

Steve:

day. Yes. And it was just funny how they're poking fun at themselves and breaking that fourth wall. Um, he then reveals that it's not Roman it's ghost faced or is it Roman? Yeah.

Stephen:

And we don't know. And what the tense thing there is, she's hiding and there's two racks of ghost faced costumes and she hides in-between. And you're looking and you're looking, and then one of the ghosts face leans out and you're like,

Steve:

fuck. Yeah, of course he was hiding there. Yeah. But before he comes out, we actually see a flash of the security guard, closing up shop when she saw his shadow, she initially thought it was the killer in the head from it. So she's

Stephen:

50 feet away from living. Yes,

Steve:

she certainly was. If she had just went outside towards the person or yelled for help, rather than just being quiet and hide, she might've lived, but that is not what happened instead they struggle and he kills her. Yeah.

Stephen:

A break throws her through a glass window and then steps her. And, uh, Galen do, we are having brunch in LA, which is what one is want to do. And, um, you know, they go into more of it. You know, he says you were just a fame whore, and he, and she's like, you wouldn't meet me halfway Woodsboro was where you were going to be. And one year in Woodsboro is seven years. Anyway. And at that point for what they were both wanting, I can see it not working out because they may love each other, but they want a different things out of their lives at that time.

Steve:

And I can also see how hard gal must be the fact that he put his foot down and said, I'm not going anywhere. And then here he is in Hollywood. Yeah.

Stephen:

Whenever when it was a big deal for her. And he could have gone with her at that point.

Steve:

Yes. Now with Sarah dead, everyone realizes the killer is killing people in the order. They die in the movie with Jennifer freaking out because Gail's character is next. And I love that

Stephen:

heal me. Third I'm killed third and stab three.

Steve:

Yes. And I love how upset she is about this fantasy version of herself.

Stephen:

And, um, Kincaid tells everybody that, you know, there's different versions of the script. We don't know which one the killer has.

Steve:

Yes, exactly. Uh, Roman is then pulled in for questioning since it was his voice. The killer used to alert Sarah to the office.

Stephen:

I love also that, um, Sarah was messing around with his music video award at the office, dropped it, broke the head off. And so Romans there holding it, and then he goes, obviously I'm next? And they're like, why would you say that? And he holds up the decapitated award. Obviously this was a message. So I enjoyed

Steve:

that. Yes, certainly. And I really just love now that we know, cause this is a fully spoiled podcast. We're proud to talk about the ending that he is the killer. I think that it was a very smart move of basically implicating himself from the get-go, but using like a burner phone or whatever. So he was able to, you know, cause at the time, I didn't think at first that it was going to be him no, until later when we found him dead off screen. Cause I was like, there's no way he would die off screen. Something's fishy there. But up until that point near the climax of the movie, I was like, it can't be him. He's already been cleared now.

Stephen:

Yeah. That's obviously they do a good job with this as well where you're like, is it someone that we see here or is it somebody else? Because watching it, I was also thinking maybe it's someone we don't know. Like, that's not involved in this. And I know the rules of screamer. It's one of the going to be one of the actors, but this one felt a little different than maybe we don't know who the killer

Steve:

is. Yes. And while the killer uses Marine's voice to call Sydney and demand, she watches the news where they announced the new murder and the movie's production is canceled.

Stephen:

So the call this time in what. Sid to answer the phone the first time, because nobody calls her landline except for her father. And she thought it was a work call and it wasn't until halfway through the call, she looks down and realizes it rang on her landline to her home, not her work phone. Yes.

Steve:

And I do love though that when ghost face tells her check on the news and I'm like, what if she went to the wrong channel? Like what if she flipped to the channel? And they were just like, stocks are rising in New York. Oh my

Stephen:

God. I need to sell my Intel stock. Exactly.

Steve:

Or like, you know, some other random person died and some other random states she would have been like, and

Stephen:

yeah. And, but

Steve:

no, it's a movie. So the news channel of course, is the news channel that the he's looking for her to see. Yeah.

Stephen:

Oh, at least in, um, the craft, whenever they're gaslighting her at the end of the movie, they're like turn on the news. It's on every station and they magically made it be on every station. So at least that one, they wrote it into the movie and I love that.

Steve:

I was like, cause I'm pretty sure even by 2000 news was, uh, you know, on multiple different choices now at Jennifer's home, they're having a rap party to commiserate. How can

Stephen:

my favorite sequence in the entire movie, this felt so new and so fresh and was so tense. Like this whole thing of Jennifer's house in the Hollywood Hills scene will be one of my favorite sequences in any of the screen movies. It's just so well

Steve:

done. Well then I'll let you take the lead on

Stephen:

it. My love. Okay. So, um, they're having a woe is us. The movie is done party, um, and you know, they're inside and, um, Jennifer's drinking. Angelina's pouting. Tom is really drinking and tearing up the script, Gail crashes it. Um, and, but she's there and she sees, um, Jennifer and Dewey talking in the bedroom. And at first he was like, you know, there's really good things about Gail. And then he's like, but then she's also backstabbing and cutthroat and, um, stone finds her and takes her inside. And that's when we find out that Maureen spent some time in LA, in her late teens, early twenties, stone is then patrolling, um, the yard and he's in Dewey's trailer and he gets a call. And whose voice is that? It's Dewey. His voice is Dewey's voice and stone. Um, you know, they're talking back and forth and stones like, oh, You know, I'm the professional, you know, maybe if you were better, you know, your sister wouldn't be dead and he goes, why would you say that? It makes me so angry. And then his face pops out in the trailer and stab stone. And you're like, oh, it wasn't doing, oh my goodness.

Steve:

Yes. But I, I do love how, like, in that point I was like rooting for him. Cause I was like stone, such a Dick that for making a comment like that made me love Dewey sister in the first one. Yeah. So he gets what's coming to him.

Stephen:

Yup. And, um, Gail with that information that Maureen Prescott, um, was potentially in LA because they look at a headshot of Jennifer and it is the same backdrop ground as one of the photos that the killer left of Maureen. So they know that it was at sunrise studios and you know, they're starting to put some things together when the power goes off. Yes. And they all freak out and then they, um, are running outside and then the phone rings and they're all checking their cell phones and it's the fax machine. And all of a sudden these pages are coming in and it's a new script, you know, interior. Jennifer's home. Who's going to be, is it Gale dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And they're like, go inside, go outside. And then the, um, Tom runs and he goes, I have to know what it says. And so he's reading and it says the killer grant mercy to whoever, and then he can't read it. So he goes and he finds a lighter and he clicks it and he goes, smells the gas and boom, the house explodes people jump over the edge. We've not had an explosion in the screen movies before, so this was unexpected. It was exciting. Oh

Steve:

my yes. Now after the explosion duties, given the chance to go after Jennifer or Gail, cause they're both in different directions, both yelling for him to Dewey and he chooses Gail because of course he does. Yeah. But it's also a good thing because Ghostface was just about to get her. She was about to be the third victim ghost face gets away, even though we see that he is shot in the chest multiple, multiple times. And just as Galen, Dewey kiss, Jennifer storms in and punches Dewey. So Gail punches, Jennifer. And what does she say?

Stephen:

Jennifer says, my lawyer liked that. And Gail says not as much as I did

Steve:

now. Ghost face the leaves behind another picture of Maureen that says I killed her. What? Yes.

Stephen:

Stew mocker and Billy Luma's killed Maureen Prescott. What is this? Yes, it's a rat con. Oh my goodness. And what is a retcon for our fans that are listening?

Steve:

Well, they should go back and listen to our previous episodes, read, jump into it and listen to them all. But I reckon is when you go back and you change something that you thought was true and you find out it was false or different. Yeah.

Stephen:

Yeah. So I'm actually intrigued by this retcon, which we will go into more. Um, but I'm okay with this added wrinkle because it adds to the mystery.

Steve:

It's also, I'm okay with it because it's something that happened before screen even started. So it's not like we saw someone killer and then they were like, someone was like, no, that's not what happened. This is easily changed because we did. And even in the climax of scream, they didn't go too into the death. Other than saying, I killed your mom

Stephen:

because her mom was no, Sharon Stone said

Steve:

exactly. I'm down with it. Yup. So Kincaid is pressuring doing to track down Sidney justice. It enters the police station. So

Stephen:

can we also acknowledge that a lot of the movie has happened without Sidney? She hasn't had very many scenes at this point and no group scenes. That's a lot of the movie and a lot of deaths to happen before she even shows up.

Steve:

Well, don't worry. There's plenty of deaths to come. Meanwhile, they insinuated the station that the killer found Sid's number was through Dewey's phone, which was only held by himself. And of course it's not him. And then two other people, Jennifer or Kincade. Yeah.

Stephen:

So obviously, um, there's just something about Patrick Dempsey's portrayal of detective king in this. I immediately thought that he was one of the top suspects.

Steve:

Oh yeah. They made him out to be one of the likeliest suspects from the very beginning. Causing you to question him now?

Stephen:

Um, I didn't think it was Jennifer. Um, she may be, you know, an egotistical goal actress and stuff like that, but I definitely wasn't thinking her. I was thinking, um, potentially Angelina. I was thinking Kincaid. I was going okay. In the first two screen movies, there were two killers. So obviously there's going to be to this time

Steve:

as well.

Stephen:

Who were they going to be and how are they connected? So at that point, you know, I am, I'm always afraid. They're going to be like, okay, this time, Gail trying to find her fame is doing it. And, but I'm always like, no, Gail is not a killer. She may be, you know, morally ambiguous sometimes on things, but she's not a murder. And so my people that I was thinking of were Angelina and Kincade, but I couldn't figure out a connection between them yet. Yes,

Steve:

me either. Meanwhile, after this Randi's little sister brings a video of Randy explaining the rules of the, uh,

Stephen:

and I was glad to see Randy, because, you know, in the first two movies where he took the time to explain, um, you know, the rules of a horror movie to survive, or the rules of SQL, it was nice to have him find a way for him to be back and bring about the rules of a horror trilogy.

Steve:

Well, he explains that, you know, you're in a trilogy with when lots of unexpected backstory and exposition, I was like, yep, we're in a trilogy. Those two things are happening left and right with Maureen,

Stephen:

the killer is going to be super cute. Um, in terms of strength and also, um, he says you're pretty much going to have to cryogenically freeze them or decapitate them. And we've already seen that the killer can take a bullet and keep going.

Steve:

Yes. He also warns you that anyone can die in a trilogy, including said,

Stephen:

that means you said, and Hey, the past will come back to bite you in the ass. The past is not at rest. And I think all of these are very true. Obviously the past is coming back because of Maureen Prescott. Um, anyone can die. We're seeing because of cotton weary already and, um, tons of backstory, killer superhuman. Yup. We are officially in a horror trilogy.

Steve:

Yes. And one thing I like in the climax that originally was not in the alternate ending was the, in the climax where Sid gets. And like, I remember in that moment being like, oh no, she really did die. And like, it ends up, she's wearing a Bulletproof vest, just like her brother, but you know, at the time, like I remember it like in that moment, that first time I saw it and you should get two shots to like the chest and one was like upper chest. I was like, oh no, she's gone.

Stephen:

Uh, and it's just, this was really, really well done. Now the next section is one of my favorite, um, comedy bits.

Steve:

Yes. Jennifer

Stephen:

working together. Yep. And so they're looking, um, they're going down into the records area of sunshine studios, where they're going to run into Carrie Fisher, but before they go in, Jennifer goes off on this really great rant, no house, nobody guard, no movie. And I'm being stocked because someone wants to kill me. No, because someone wants to kill you. So now starting now I go. So that way, if someone wants to kill me, I'll be with you. And since they really want to kill you, they won't kill me. They'll kill you. Makes sense. Not at all. It makes sense to me. And just her performance in this is really great. It is nice over the top. Um, but they go downstairs and they go around the corner and they see Carrie Fisher. And, uh, but it turns out it's not Carrie

Steve:

Fisher, babe. It's Bianca Burnett. And

Stephen:

she

Steve:

looks like Carrie Fisher and she was even up for the role of princess layout, but who got the role? The one who slept with George Lucas, Ooh,

Stephen:

shade against herself. Um, Bianca Burnett because of, you know, never really going anywhere. Um, knows all about all the forgotten actresses. And, um, Gail tries to give her$50 and Jennifer's like, who do you work for? Woodsboro hot. And she gives her, here's a ring it's worth 2000 bucks. You're going to help Gail weathers or not. And they find out that Maureen Prescott, isn't the, um, person they're looking for. They're looking for Rena rentals.

Steve:

Yes, she, and she, back in the day, that was her stage name. And she worked on a couple horror movies and worked with

Stephen:

John Milton. So because John Milton, the horror producer doing the stem movies used to be John Milton, the horror director. So it's really interesting than in this third one that there's kind of a west Craven character in the movie. Yes.

Steve:

And he does not only reminds me of west Craven a little bit, but Harvey Weinstein. We'll get to that in a little bit though, because first Sydney runs into Angelina in the bathroom, which sets up. This is like very similar to the bathroom stall seen from scream one with the boots. Yep.

Stephen:

And, um, this Sydney is different than scream one Sydney because, um, she kicked open the door and Angelina was all like, oh my goodness, your Sydney Prescott, I'm sitting in, there's a whole thing there. And you know, I already told you my feelings about Angelina and Emily Mortimer, but, um, I like to see the difference and growth in Sydney as a person between the first and the third movie in the same

Steve:

situation. You see her even more in that because she finds her way onto the Woodsboro movie set and the model of her bedroom, which is virtually identical to the one in real life,

Stephen:

except that there's a poster for. On the fake wall. And there was, um, a pick a poster for the indigo girls in her real bedroom. Okay.

Steve:

And she finally comes face to face with a killer and they have a little face off. What do you think of the face off? It was really,

Stephen:

really well done because a lot of the things that happened in the first face off with ghost face in scream, one happened in this where she's looking out the window and ghost face comes out of the closet behind her, which happened. Sidney goes up, the stairs happened in the first one. She threw things at them. Now this time there's a production cart that she's able to push after him. And, but, um, you know, there's even the section where her closet door opens and you can't open the bedroom door when the closet door is open. So that was really a callback to the original. That was. And then it all ends with her being haunted by her mother's voice under a bloody sheet. Yeah. Yes.

Steve:

And so, uh, I remember being like confused and frustrated that time. Cause I wasn't sure whether that was the killer fucking with her the entire time or if she was also like literally hallucinating like she did in her nightmare.

Stephen:

Well, and I also kept wondering, like, there was so much with her mom and, um, we hadn't seen proof that the killer could change the voice yet. And so, you know, I started even thinking, oh my God, is her mother alive? And what's going, like, I don't know the way they did it. It, that confused me as well, but it was more of like, what's happening now? What's going

Steve:

on? Yes. Now, while after this Gail, Jennifer and Dewey confront John Milton, who admits that he knew Maureen Prescott and that she was taken advantage of at one of his parties. You want to get ahead in Hollywood, you gotta play the game or go

Stephen:

home. She knew what she was doing and what she was in for. And unfortunately things got out of hand. Um, they don't say the R word, but she was raped. She was impregnated because of the rape. And, um, that led her to leave Hollywood. Now in the scene, you can see, um, gorgeous, like behind him, but right outside of his window, there's a diving board. Oh, I never noticed that. Oh, it's one of my favorite details of the thing. And, um, you know, he's a horror producer, but also it's one of those things where it kind of sets up, you know, um, you know, if you fail at and you're going to be run out of Hollywood, it'd be easier just to take a flying leap than it would to be a failure. And so that's kind of how I read it. What else is this bringing up in terms of movies and things, this scene

Steve:

in particular, but the themes of scream three really ended up being put under a new scrutiny a couple of years ago with everything that happened with Harvey Weinstein. Cause he is cope founder of Miramax, which is produced all of these movies. So he had a big hand in the screen movies.

Stephen:

He was responsible over the years for a lot of truly amazing films, Chicago, the musical, um, that won an Oscar that was Miramax.

Steve:

Yes. And yes. And October of 2017, following sexual abuse allegations dating back to the late seventies, he was dismissed from his company expelled from the academy of motion, pictures, arts and sciences, more than 80 women have made allegations against him.

Stephen:

And there are some, and you know, over the years people will say, oh, you remember so-and-so after. They were impressive. I wonder why we never saw anything more from them. And a good number of them are because Henry Weinstein blackballed them in Hollywood because they wouldn't put out. Yes.

Steve:

So that's gross. It's disgusting. I'm glad the me too movement happened, but it is interesting that, that you do see, like, I wonder, like how much the creators of this movie, like even Wes Craven were like aware of what was happening or like it's almost, uh, mirrors real life a little too much. And I don't think that they handled it delicately enough. I mean, with comments, like, you know, you got to play the game or go home. It almost feels like.

Stephen:

And they like, there's a comment later where they're like, oh, maybe Milton killed her. And somebody says, Milton's a creeper, Milton's a perv, but he's not a killer. And I was like, I think he got off too easy with that generalization.

Steve:

I know we've talked about it. You can't judge old movies by today's standards. And I feel like that's kind of falls into it, but it is just also a little too similar not to acknowledge that there are definitely Harvey Weinstein feelings with John Milton in this movie. 100%. Now, speaking of Milton, um, he's having a party and what could possibly go wrong at this party?

Stephen:

Well, and we all know, thanks to the first screen movie. The best way to end a movie is to get all of your main characters. In the same place in a party atmosphere. Yes. And

Steve:

so sit in, Kincaid are talking and we see with like the horror movie posters all around the office and like the direction the conversation goes, the movie definitely wants us to think. And Kate is one of the killers. Yeah. And then we switched to, uh, Gale, Jennifer and Dewey driving and they got a call from Sid that she's heading to Milton's party may arrive and various pair split up to explore the house. Yup. Now my question for you was what party would like, what kind of people would go to a party that they're invited to in a wealthy person's house, just to go off and just explore their home Willy nilly.

Stephen:

And then I was like, babe, we did

Steve:

that. Oh no, it is me. I was like the first, like how rude. And then you were like,

we've

Stephen:

done this before we got invited to a party in. Um, 2014 and it was in a gorgeous home here in Manatee county, a mansion. It was a mansion kind of looked like the one out of the TV show revenge. And, you know, we found their screening room. We found gorgeous bathrooms, this, um, the outside of area by the pool also had walking stones across a lagoon type of thing. Like it was an impressive house and we did explore every nook and cranny, but we weren't the only

Steve:

ones to say yes now, Jennifer and Roman go to the basement with all the prompts from past

Stephen:

movies and Jennifer stopped pretending I wasn't the best you ever had. Stop. Pretending. I even remember stop pretending. I just she's fantastic. I love

Steve:

Parker Posey. Yes. Meanwhile, Galen, do we find a cell phone with a device that lets the killer change their voice to anyone they have Gayle's voice. They have Dewey's voice. They have all our voices,

Stephen:

all of their voices. And which that finally answers the question for us? How they've been doing it?

Steve:

Yes. Uh, Gail finds what appears to be a dead Roman in the freezer, in the basement, although we didn't see it on screen and that immediately raised red flags for me. What about you?

Stephen:

I did. And I was, but then the way they do it is, um, all of a sudden you're like, well damn, the only person he was with was Jennifer. And are they trying, you know, right at the end to be like, maybe it was Jennifer because they can't obviously show us having her kill him. And so it gives you the question of, well, they were the only two together. So maybe it

Steve:

was, and the answer that about 10 minutes later, in the meantime, they go upstairs and tell Angelina what happened

Stephen:

and she's getting out of here because she didn't fuck

Steve:

that pig. Milton, Justin. I die without

Stephen:

ever appearing in a movie. Yeah.

Steve:

And as she's running away, she basically runs right into the knife

Stephen:

and she stabbed and, um, the two gales see her being dragged away and they scream and, um, they, you know,

Steve:

Tyson starts yelling like police police. And if you want to get the killer to focus on you more than anyone else, number one way is to start yelling police.

Stephen:

So he gets stabbed and thrown off the balcony.

Steve:

Yeah. And I honestly also don't, you know, stereotypically black people are the first ones to call police, help police help.

Stephen:

Alright. I think that the moment that you're being, um, stopped by a serial killer, I think any help is award to the point. True.

Steve:

True. So he ends up yes. Getting. Stabbed and then thrown off the second story, killing him, um, before the killer then goes after Jennifer in the secret passage by the one way mirror window.

Stephen:

Yep. And Jennifer's like, you can't kill me. I was the killer in step three, but too late. And she stabbed and like whenever I first watched the movie cause, um, Galen, do we see the mirrors moving? And so he starts shooting at the mirrors. And the first time I saw it, I didn't realize he was shooting high on the mirrors. Cause I was so intent on watching what was happening. And so he finally hits the mirror. Jennifer was behind and she falls out and I was like, oh my God, he shot her. And it wasn't until subsequent viewings that I realized he shooting the top where it was too tall for anybody. And she was just slumped against the mirror. And that's how she fell out.

Steve:

Yeah. Yes it was. And so she is dead. Um, now Ghostface is about to kill real

Stephen:

Gale. What about, what do you think of, um, they, um, what do you think?

Steve:

And I also find it interesting that she was going to be the killer in step three, because it didn't earlier. She say that she was the next victim. Right.

Stephen:

Which I guess they would have, um, been, you know, the easiest way to throw people off Roman is to have your character killed off. If you're dead. No, one's going to be thinking you're the killer. That is true. Um, what do you think of them making Gale be the killer in step three? Do you think they lost the plot at that point?

Steve:

That it's a joke of a movie anyway. So who's to say, I know you don't like the idea of her being a killer because you already shared in this. It was just a bad idea. So I would say no. And I think you would agree. Yep.

Stephen:

Um, Gale's running ghost face catches up with her, um, and he grabs a hold of her and she kicks them and they both fall down the basement stairs where goes, faces semi knocked out. Yes.

Steve:

And

Stephen:

he wakes up just about as Dewey is to save, um, And he throws the knife. And as you see the knife flip through the air, I was

Steve:

like, no, yeah, I was totally expecting it to go knife first into his

Stephen:

forehead at that point, because you know, we'd already been warned third act

Steve:

main character bloodbath. Yes, exactly. But no, instead it was the butt end of the thing and it knocks him unconscious and he falls down the stairs, leaving him in Gail at ghost faces, mercy.

Stephen:

But what Gail do, whenever it goes, faces approaching, she puts her body in front of duties to protect him from Ghostface that says a lot about Gail and what she thinks of doing yes.

Steve:

Now Ghostface uses them as bait to Laura, said to the mansion, uh, makes her use a metal detector and makes her throw out a gun into the pool, into the pool. And he's about to kill one of the three when Sidra reveals, she hit it a second gun and shoots him multiple times in the chest again. Yeah.

Stephen:

Five more times. And he falls down. Gail or sorry, Sid thinking, oh, it's overturns around and Gail's looking, she's like Sydney, he's going.

Steve:

Yes. And then right from where he disappeared, appears Kincade being suspicious again.

Stephen:

And with a weird look on his face and he has a gun pointed at her and he's like, okay, Sidney put down your gun. And he puts his hands up and I'm like, oh, I don't.

Steve:

Yes. But moments later, ghost face appears. And he actually takes a knife wound to protect said, um, and then said he ends up using herself as bait to deter him away from the

Stephen:

others. Yeah. So at that point, um, the only characters we have in this movie that aren't involved right now are the other detective that was, um, Kim Cade's partner, who we had just seen a little bit of. It's still at the station when they were like, where's Kincaid. And they're like, ah, he left a while ago. So at this point we don't have any suspects. Everybody's dead, except for these four in the killer.

Steve:

Yes. And said, says, you, you know, you want me coming? Get me motherfucker. Yeah. She finds the hidden screening room where all the sex used to happen back in the seventies, the killer locks her in and then monologues at her about how Marine turned them away. When they came to meet their mom and reveals that he's Roman her brother. And he was the one who told Billy about Maureen's affair with his dad and helped train Billy on how to find a partner, how to kill Marine. And then everyone in the first movie,

Stephen:

I mean, I'm a director. Directing is what I

Steve:

do. Yes. And I do find that this is a interesting rec how we kind of hinted at the idea of how the killer would have done it before. And I feel like this evens up. I mean, while he didn't physically kill. Maureen he did. He was the one who orchestrated it, everything that happened in the first movie. So it doesn't really take away from any of the characters, motives or actions in that first one. Billy is still guilty as sin.

Stephen:

It does make a little bit more sense because they're kind of dipshits. So having someone that's a little bit smarter and more calculating be the mastermind puppeteer of it all makes more sense. Yeah.

Steve:

Yes. Now it doesn't make sense. In my opinion, is that his plan is to pin them in or murders on her. Like she just went unhinged. Do you think that she would ever do that so, or that people would believe it?

Stephen:

Well, if everybody's dead except for she and Roman then yeah, because at that point there's no one to, um, break his story. And as we saw an H 40 Halloween, 40 years later, the 2018 version. Yeah. PTSD is a bitch. We saw what it did to Laurie Strode. Maybe they use this and be like, look, she's been stocked twice. She finally, she'd been living as the Unabomber in the Hills. She finally snapped. Like I could see it as a believable thing and with nobody to refute the story, what are they going to do? And so

Steve:

he takes Milton out from a hiding spot. Very similar to how Bailey did it with her dad from the first one. And, but this time he kills Milton right in front of her saying he's already made the final

Stephen:

cut. Okay. You know, whatever you want, script approval budget, final cut. I already have it.

Steve:

Yes. they struggle and he ultimately shoots Sydney. However, she took a page out of his book and is wearing a Bulletproof vest. She stole from the police station. And as I mentioned before, when I first saw her get shot, I was like, no. Oh

Stephen:

yeah. And it, it was one of those things where it's like, well, they told us the whole time it could happen. And I was like, our, do we engage is really going to be the survivors. Maybe this is the way that it's supposed to be, but are they going to survive? If Sydney, the hero Sydney, the victim, Sidney, the star dies. Who's going to save them from the, the killer.

Steve:

Yes. But we find out she was wearing a Bulletproof vest. She distracts him with a phone call before stabbing him twice. And then finally a third time in the chest.

Stephen:

Yup. And, um, You know, and then make a joke about he wasn't super human. He wasn't super human at all. And then he jumps up and Dewey starts shooting at him and Sydney's like head, head, Dewey, shoot him in the head. And do he takes a step forward with his right foot? Turns the gun with one hand only and boom, right between the eyes. Yes.

Steve:

And he is dead.

Stephen:

Yup. And I'm, I'm good with that ending. Yes.

Steve:

And so we find ourselves, uh, flash forward to a couple of weeks from now, Dewey is at the ranch since ranch and ask scale to sign her book for him. But surprise the book was hollowed out and it's an engagement rate. Oh.

Stephen:

And she's like, you know, it didn't work out before. Like, um, what are we gonna wa like, why would we try it this time?

Steve:

It's like the worst proposal ever in my book. He's like, I know it's not going to work. You know, it's not going to work, but let's just try. Yup. And I'm like, how would I have felt if when you proposed, you were like, this probably is going to be a garbage, dumpster fire, but let's give it a go anyway.

Stephen:

Let's be garbage people together and just flame out.

Steve:

Yes, no, but, um, you know, even though it's the worst lines you do kind of believe their love at that time.

Stephen:

Yeah, I do. And I, you saw it, you saw during the movie that they still did care about each other, a great deal. And that it was never about the little. It was about what they wanted out of life.

Steve:

Yes. Uh, Sydney gets home from her walk throws, open the gates. Doesn't lock the door, doesn't set the security showing she has a sense of closure and they are watching a movie with detective Kincade.

Stephen:

So, um, obviously they were showing that there was some chemistry between the two and he stuck around a little bit to maybe explore the chemistry with. What do you think of that? I definitely

Steve:

think that they had sex after this. Yeah,

Stephen:

I do too. Now what happened between screen three and four? Because obviously it must not have worked out because Sydney is alone and signal and no mention of Kincaid by the time she's doing her book, I

Steve:

can only imagine he went back to being his Hollywood detective job. And she just was not into that career or that life much the same way that do Dewey tried. And it didn't work out between two and three, you know, they had three to bring them back together. They had nothing to kind of bring these two characters back together. So I'm assuming that's what happened. Hi, Maya. Yes. You know what else I would

Stephen:

buy? I don't know, darling, a sequel. I would. How about two more sequels or how about three?

Steve:

If everything goes well with the scream five. Oh, yes,

Stephen:

please.

Steve:

Yes. So we are all caught up. Be prepared after we do a month full of Christmas movies that we will be sure to revisit screen for it before we jump into scream

Stephen:

five. Oh, which I can't wait January 22nd.

Steve:

Exactly. And as I just mentioned, we are getting into a month full of Christmas movies. So this will be a lifetime of Christmas.

Stephen:

Oh. And I have a feeling. Um, our good friend, Ronnie diamond may be joining us for a movie or two.

Steve:

I can't wait. And if you can't wait, either, let us know what you thought of this episode or what Christmas movies you hope we cover by emailing us@happylifepodatgmail.com.

Stephen:

I can always get involved with the conversation with everybody else on the socials, whether it is Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, or Tik TOK at happy life. And until

Steve:

next time everyone stay happy.

What's Making Us Happy?
Scream 3: Production and Release
The Opening Kill
Stab 3
Whoever smells the gas...
Sid's Return
Milton v. Weinstein
Act 3 Bloodbath
Siblings Reunited
The End?