What should have been an explosive finale to the trilogy in Scream 3 ends up becoming something of a damp squib, with little of the suspense that made the first two so memorable. Kevin Williamson, creator of the original Scream, claimed he always saw the series as a trilogy, so it's a pity that he couldn't have had more of a hand in the last of the series, settling for a producer credit while the screenplay is penned by Ehren Kruger (ironic in itself, given director Wes Craven's most famous creation). When a crucial player in the first two movies is killed in the now obligatory pre-credit murder sequence, the attention switches to the set of Stab 3, the third in the fictional film series based on the original Woodsboro murders of the first Scream movie. Sydney Prescott, who has spent the last few years targeted by the Ghost-faced killer, is drawn out of hiding in the Californian hills to face the killer one last time. Along the way she is re-united with old friends, (both living and dead) and discovers more about her family history than she ever wanted to know.

Most of the players look a little bored with the whole thing now and Craven just doesn't inject any pace into the proceedings, happy, it seems to produce virtually carbon copy set pieces from the previous instalments. The film sags incredibly in the second act and when a convenient "pre-recorded" message from the late Randy Meeks turns up, it's not so much evidence of that character's forethought, more of the scriptwriter's laziness. It has its moments though: Jenny McCarthy hiding from the killer in a wardrobe room filled with Ghostface costumes, a great cameo from Carrie Fisher and the constant bitching between Cox and the wonderful Parker Posey, who plays Gail Weathers in the fictional Stab 3. Ultimately, though, as the closing chapter in a great horror series, Scream 3 fails to live up to its predecessors. --Jonathan Weir