Review of Scream 2 (1997) by Chris H — 31 Oct 2012

Scream 2 is probably one of the best horror sequels, and movie sequels in general to ever be made. However, I find that it's missing something that I can't quite put my finger on. The original is better, but this one still has the same humour, intelligence, and satire that the first one had. If you haven't guessed already, I intend to see the three original films before seeing the new one and I'm very excited to do so. Also, I find that horror movies don't affect me much if I watch them during the day and with other people in the house. Anyway, enough jabber, onto the movie.

SPOILERS.

Scream 2 takes place a few years after the events of the first movie and Sidney and Randy, the two teen survivors of the Woodsboro murders are now at college. The Ghostface killer (or the Ghostface copycat) starts up again with the murder of two college students at the opening night of the movie Stab, based on Gale Weathers' book about the events of the first movie. The murders then continue to happen at the college and Ghostface is killing everyone and anyone who Sidney Prescott holds dear. The movie then takes the turn of a whodunit when the bodies begin stacking up and its up to Sidney, Dewey, and Gale ot figure out who's following in Billy Loomis' footsteps.

This unfortunate killing spree involves the death of Randy Meeks, my favourite character in the movie. This is one of the things that made the first movie so good, and carries over into the sequel well. It has intelligent characters and when they die, we actually care. Randy Meeks is no exception, as he died when he was back-sassing Ghostface. Good for you Randy, good for you. Of course I was sad when he died, but at least he was a smart character and didn't give up easily, especially after being shot in the shoulder in the first movie. Needless to say, his death was very sad and that's what makes Scream so good. Namely, the smart characters.

END OF SPOILERS.

The performances are good as always, another rarity in slasher films nowadays. Neve Campbell is good as Sidney once again, and the other two leading actors (AKA David Arquette and Courteney Cox) are solid as well. Courteney and David also have great chemistry in these movies, which should happen seeing as they got married. I have no idea whether they were married when this came out, but I know they met on the set of Scream. Jamie Kennedy is solid as Randy, and the new characters were great too. Liev Schreiber was in this movie more than he was in the first one, and he was solid but still kind of creepy. The actor himself has sort of a wolflike manner to him, and that carries into the movie well. Needless to say, all the performances were pretty good.

The satire and satirical dialogue is still there and still fantastic. This time, the satire is focused more on horror movie sequels and their conventions/cliches. Randy uses his knowledge of horror cliches to prolong his survival, at least for a little while, and help David Arquette search for suspects. I promise no more spoilers, so I won't give away the identity of the killer, but there's an obvious Friday the 13th reference and many more references as well. There are some cliche moments, more than the first film, but they didn't take away from the experience of the movie altogether. All in all, the script is still spectacular and you will marvel at just how well-written it is.

Scream 2 is a good movie overall, but I wouldn't recommend it before watching the first one, becuase the first one is better. However, this film still has everything that makes the first film great and is still a wholely entertaining movie. I can't call it the greatest horror sequel ever made because I haven't seen any other horror sequels but this one. However, I have seen a lot of sequels, and I can say with no doubts that this is one of the best sequels ever made and sidesteps a lot of sequel cliches. All in all, a great horror movie in a great series.