10 Horror Movie Flops That Are Worth Revisiting

Scream 3 is often touted as the black sheep of Wes Craven's slasher saga, due to its formulaic and cliched plot. Although the gratuitous cameos and meta-gags are funny, they come across as desperate and distracting.

However, the threequel's so-called pitfalls can be viewed as strengths. When a franchise keeps pumping out sequels for the sake of it, it isn't long before studios rely on preposterous storylines and lame gimmicks. Being renowned for its meta-humour, it's fairly on-brand when Scream 3's Ghostface turns out to be Sidney Prescott's secret half-brother, Roman.

Also, revealing that Roman orchestrated the death of Sidney's mother in the first instalment is exactly the type of needless retcon a horror IP would cook up once the creative juices dried up. Basically, it's smart writing disguised as dumb writing to make fun of dumb writing, buttressed by the excellent Parker Posey, whose performance as actress Jennifer Jolie proves to be a franchise highlight.

Scream 3 has also proven to be disturbingly relevant in the way it explores the sleaziness of Hollywood, addressing the background of Sidney's mother and how she was abused by producers before her death.

Scream 3 isn't a masterpiece, but it's unfair to classify it as a dud - particularly when it also gives Sidney such a hopeful ending.