After the abysmal Scary Movie 2 the original creators, the Wayans brothers, jumped ship. The crew to replace them includes the director/ writer of the Naked Gun films and Airplane! as well as Kevin Smith. While 3 is much funnier than 2 it is not quite as funny or clever as the original Scary Movie.

The delightful Anna Faris returns as Cindy Campbell. A Naomi Watts-esque news anchor in Washington D.C., Cindy is responsible for looking after her pale nephew Cody who spews prophecies at everyone he sees. One night, she attends an MC contest with her friend Brenda. After the show, Brenda tells Cindy about a video tape that kills the viewer seven days after they see it. While Cindy is in the other room, Brenda scuffles with the creepy girl from The Ring video and eventually dies. Cindy is alarmed by the event and wonders if it could be related to the strange appearance of crop circles in a nearby town. After obtaining and viewing a copy of the tape, Cindy's search becomes desperate as her seven days run down.

Scary Movie 3 uses the splatter gun approach to humor. Every two minutes someone falls down, gets hit in the head, or kicked in the crotch. When the main characters aren't taking a battering, they're spoofing a recent popular film. The main targets include: The Ring, Signs. 8 Mile and both Matrix films. Pot shots are also taken at Verizon Wireless and Coors Light commercials.

There are a few laugh-out-loud funny moments in Scary Movie 3. Topping my list of favorite scenes: the spoof of those abominable Coors Light ads, Cody's prophecies, and The Oracle fighting the hair-brushing woman from The Ring video. Scenes I could have lived without: the wake scene where George's "hood rat" buddies tear apart Brenda's body, all the scenes with Leslie Neilsen (who I generally like) and the running gag of Cody being hit by blunt objects (cars, bats, hammers). The Cody scenes were just too derivative of "Ohmigod ,they killed Kenny" and I was surprised when "You killed Cody" didn't turn up. I was also surprised that the scene where Queen Latifah says, "I'm gonna prophesize my foot halfway up your..." wasn't in the film either. It seems weird that a scene would be considered "funny" enough to be included in the promotional push, but not in the film.

Scary Movie 3 is the kind of film that is much more suitable for renting. A few beers or some lively friends will go a long way to increasing the funny factor of this film. Clearly the producers think there is life left in this movie franchise as a Scary Movie 4 is already in the works. Next time around: it's superhero spoofs.

-Megan A. Denny

P.S. There aren't any outtake scenes in the credits.