9 Reasons Why Scream 3 Is Not QUITE As Bad As You Remember It

9. It's Aware Of Its Flaws

One of Scream’s most distinctive features is its self-awareness and not being above taking shots at its characters, their mistakes and the franchise in general. Look no further than the film studies debate on the declining quality of sequels in Scream 2 for proof of this. This trend would continue into the third instalment of the franchise.

In the first two movies, film fan and former video store clerk Randy Meeks supplied much of the meta-commentary. Having met his demise in the second film, writers came up with a way of shoe-horning Randy back into the film; a video of him pointing out the many flaws and potential pitfalls of trilogies. At this point, Miramax was still using the original "spec" scripts by Kevin Williamson, which was for a self-contained trilogy and not the franchise the Scream movies would later become.

The film is littered with broad attempts at humour and stuffed full of cameos, some of which work, like Carrie Fisher, and some that completely miss the mark, like Jay and Silent Bob. A few lines either break the fourth wall and call out how ridiculous the situation the characters find themselves in, or make subtle winks to the audience about the diminishing returns on ongoing film franchises.