Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, Patrick Dempsey, Scott Foley and David Arquette. Rated MA.

From the outset I have to admit I am not a slasher fan and I have only seen one of the preceding Scream and I did not particularly enjoy that one. I did, however, see it on video, which goes a long way to explaining why a lot of the atmosphere was missing.

I went along to see Scream 3 mainly because I knew a lot of you will want to see it and you obviously value my opinion. I am, after all, a martyr for the cause.

And guess what? I really enjoyed the experience.

Sure it's full of blood, gore, murder and mayhem and, yes, I did nearly hit the (very high) roof on several occasions, but the sense of humour and obvious spoofiness of the script makes for an entertaining, if somewhat convoluted, story.

Neve (spelt wrong i.e. not the Irish way) Campbell is back as the hunted and haunted Sidney Prescott, now living a solitary life as, of all things, a telephone trauma councillor.

Most of the action takes place on the set of Stab 3, a slasher movie based on the Woodsboro murders i.e. the story of her life so far. The hapless stars of the b-grade flick are being killed off one by one in the same order they do in the script. But to keep everyone guessing, we find out there are three different versions of the script and no one knows which copy the killer has.

Sidney is drawn back into the killing ground after ghostface phones her in her not-so-secret secret hiding place. For her, walking onto the set of Stab 3 is like walking back into her old life where nothing has changed. The same ghosts torment her and the same ghostface chases her through her old house trying to kill her.

It's the same for the other players as well, of course, but when ego meets alter ego, real bitchiness breaks out big time.

As the characters drop like flies, the who-dun-it factor plays on our minds big time. I couldn't pick it until all was revealed in due course. And if you don't want to know who it was, now is the time to stop reading and go make a cup of tea.

Just kidding. I wouldn't do that to you.

One of my favourite scenes is a cameo appearance by Carrie Fisher as Bianca Burnette, a bitter could-have-been actress who lost a famous and important part to a rival who, she claims, slept with Spielberg to get the part.