Review of Scream 2 (1997) by Lanky Man P — 16 Apr 2011

Much like the first, Scream 2 takes the idea of a slasher and bends them to its own needs. This time, of course, there's a twist. Sequels have different rules to those in a one-off or opening of a franchise.

Unlike in the first, this one is all about who the killer is. Is it one of the survivors of the original, finally snapped and off the deep end after all that went down in Woodsboro? How about the local sorority house, whose interest in Sidney may go deeper than simply wanting her as the poster girl for survival within there ranks? What about the boyfriend, who's clearly way too good to be true? And then there's the film studies class; with the release of Stab, the movie documenting the events of the first film ("It's life, imitating art, imitating life") there's plenty of material to create a perfectly good real life sequel at Windsor college, but if they're a suspect, I'm a suspect, so let's move on...

While the casting for this film wasn't as well done as the original (Jerry O'Connell? Seriously?) that's really the only area that the film lacks in comparison to its predecessor. The dialogue is witty, the kills are more shocking, and you have the added bonus that you've already formed an emotional attachment to a large chunk of the cast because of the first film.

It's well put together and it even leaves it open at the end with the possibility of an unidentified "helper" to the killer, but that's a whole different story...