Review of Scream 2 (1997) by Cheryl L — 15 Jan 2013

Throughout the entire scream series, several critics told me that Scream 3 was the film where the series became the type of film it was satirizing. I don't know how they transitioned to that from Scream 2, because Scream 2 was just a massive semi-unintentional comedy.

The worst part is the screenplay. The dialogue goes beyond satirical and becomes relatively unintelligent, turning from a satire into an unintentional comedy.

The horror movie cliches become a lot more obvious and weakly placed, and there is no intensity in the horror and the death scenes a fairly poorly executed. This is notable because the whole opening scene is pretty pathetic and more comedic than scary. Wes Craven really failed as the director of Scream 2 and really should stick to creating ideas rather than milking them.

The quality of the cast is rather weak with a few exceptions, especially in Jerry O'Connell who was stroke wooden in Scream 2 and David Arquette who's talent seems to have largely decreased after the first Scream.

The 3 key exceptions are:

1. Neve Campbell manages to act her way through Wes Craven's poor direction and succeeds in recreating the emotional strength she gave to Sidney in Scream.

2. Courtney Cox managed to Gale Weathers to the best extent we could ask of her again in Scream 2 so there is some strength in here.

3. Lastly, the best performance of the film comes from Laurie Metcalf who turns from a tedious local reporter into a killer reminiscent of Pamela Voorhees in the original Friday the 13th in her evil and her facial gestures. She makes the end scene a highlight in the film, as do the aforementioned 2 standout actors.

I hoped that I'd enjoy Sarah Michelle Gellar's performance, but she wasn't given enough screentime or appropriate situations for her to display her skills as an actress until she dies in an unimpressed death scene.

The entire plot of Scream 2 seems to be a rehash of Scream, and even though it's apparently a satire of sequels it just doesn't seem right.

Scream 2 is also poorly edited and full of a horrendously weak screenplay and stupid themes. Also, the soundtrack is utterly off-key and irregular with the plot, and in the end Scream 2 is just too predictable if you've seen it's predecessor.