Scream 3 is a 2000 American slasher film and the third installment in the Scream franchise. Directed by Wes Craven and written by Ehren Kruger, the film stars David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley, Lance Henriksen, Matt Keeslar, Jenny McCarthy, Emily Mortimer, Parker Posey, Deon Richmond, and Patrick Warburton. It was released on February 4, 2000. The story is set three years after Scream 2 and follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell), who has gone into self-imposed isolation following the events of the previous two films but is drawn to Hollywood after a new Ghostface begins killing the cast of the film within a film "Stab 3". Scream 3 combines the violence of the slasher genre with comedy and "whodunit" mystery, while satirizing the cliché of film trilogies