Scream 3 is another fine slasher movie, it shows that Wes Craven truly did have a sense of humour, almost a parody of the first, it's not afraid to like fun at the characters, and it really does deliver the scares and thrills. Always great to see the original cast lineup, and all are on form, some of the newcomers are great here, I'm sure we all have our favourites.

I do wonder if it had been better if the franchise came to an end here, Scream 4 isn't bad, but it's not a patch on this one. Trouble is, us fans always wanted more.

The usual slick production, it's very well put together, with great use of music.

Such a good watch, 9/10.

SCREAM 3 is one of those nauseating horror sequels made to cash in on the success of the films that have come before. The sole reason for these sequels is to make a quick buck and they're often poorly written, happy to bring back characters the fans already know and love so the hard work is done already. SCREAM 3 is a case in point: the only characters dwelt upon are the three returning stars from the first two films. Everyone else is interchangeable and clearly set up as victims just waiting to be knifed.

The plot is pretty nonsensical and has far too many characters involved. In essence, yet another mystery killer is on the loose, this time murdering cast members of 'Stab 3', a film based on the supposed true-life killings surrounding Sidney Prescott. Yes, it's all about self-referencing once again, and although the in-jokes are thankfully cut down this time, it's still confusing, lazy, and pretty boring, to be honest. I had no idea who the director was which why I was utterly surprised that Wes Craven made this – it bears none of his trademark suspense, wit, or atmosphere, elements that made the first film in this series so good.

I'm really not a main fan of the actors involved and that didn't really help me. David Arquette reprises his role of the bumbling cop, a character so annoying you want to fillet him yourself. Courtney Cox, skeletal and frightening, isn't too bad, but Neve Campbell is on auto pilot here and seems immensely bored with everything. The only actor I appreciated was Lance Henriksen, who's wasted in a minor red herring role – it's still great to see him and he ends up acting everyone off the screen anyway.

Everything here seems to be toned down – from the gore (we're left with a series of moderately bloody stabbings that bear absolutely no imagination) to the suspense (non-existent) to the will-it-never-end twist ending. I really only bothered sitting through the whole thing in the interests of completeness, and to be honest I wish I hadn't bothered – SCREAM 3 is just as lacklustre as its predecessor. By now, the whole extended chase scenes involving the ghost-face killer are completely laughable and reminded me of the same year's SCARY MOVIE. Why they just didn't go ahead and make this one an out-and-out comedy I don't know.

Scream 3 has some major problems but I didn't think it was that bad. The production values are great, the score and sound are still effective and the direction and performances are credible. Not to mention GhostFace returns and is still as iconic and creepy as ever. However, the story is unoriginal and rather pedestrian, and the script is weak with too many unfunny and clichéd lines. When it comes to the scares, there were moments but too many weren't as strong or as genuine. The ending is also silly and predictable, and apart from GhostFace the characters are not as interesting. All in all, not bad but disappointing. 5/10 Bethany Cox