Scream 2

Starring: Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jerry O'Connell, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liev Schreiber, Rebecca Gayheart, Omar Epps, Heather Graham (cameo), Joshua Jackson (cameo), Tori Spelling (cameo), Luke Wilson (cameo), Selma Blair (cameo)
Directed by: Wes Craven
Rating: R
Genre: Horror
1997

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: After a new killing spree begins, the survivors of the original murderers, including Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox), Dewey (David Arquette), and Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) come together to try to stop the killer before any more blood is shed.

Review:

Tim: After redefining the horror movie genre, I did feel some excitement about Scream 2. There is endless potential here to discuss the nature of horror sequels (they typically suck) while proving again that this franchise is significantly smarter than the average horror flick. Unfortunately, this film loses all the glamour and edge that the original film had. Scream was so important because of the way it changed the horror genre. It proved horror movies could be intelligent and take itself less seriously. This film could have continued that tradition brilliantly, commenting on the art of a sequel, and potentially revitalizing this part of the horror genre as well. While I do admit this film is better than most horror sequels, thats still not saying too much. The original film proved that it was better and smarter than your typical horror film. This one brings it all back closer to your average horror film. That makes me very sad.

That being said, Scream 2 is still pretty clever. You will have no idea who the killer is until the very end. However, the revelation of the killer (or killers) pales in comparison to the original shocking ending. This one comes as a surprise as well, but a more cheesy surprise. The other one made perfect sense, and we almost kicked ourselves for not seeing it sooner. This one felt like a much cheaper reveal. The backstory of the killer felt like it required a much larger leap of faith to believe. It wasn't the shocking reveal of the original- it was much more of a shrug- "oh" reaction.

The best part of the film is the nostalgia aspect. You get to see all (well, all the ones still alive) of your old friends- Sidney, Dewey, Gail, and Randy are all back for the sequel, and it is very interesting and entertaining to see them pick up a year or so after the original murders. The film also benefits from a huge pool of excellent young actors and some great cameos (Luke Wilson is great), however, entering into the film, you know they collectively are just fodder for the murderer. In the original, you pretty much had no idea who would live and who would die. In this one, everyone but the four survivors pretty much has a 'kill me' sign on their forehead. I thought the supporting characters were much more one-dimensional and forgettable here. I love that in the original, the characters are all intimately connected. Here, many of them don't even know each other.

I also thought the whole stage scenes near the end were just ridiculous. It felt so over-the-top and melodramatic. It was a bit ridiculous, with all the stage effects. I thought that was a pretty disappointing climax. It really hurt the film quite a bit.

All in all, while somewhat disappointing, I do acknowledge the difficulty in creating a decent horror sequel. Scream 2 is above average for the horror sequel, but still not up to par with the original. It's worth seeing once, though. That being said, I have to admit I was pretty disappointed with the end result. I thought that even though the film was flawed, there were opportunities here to really make a solid, entertaining horror sequel. Those opportunities were squandered. That is really too bad. I wanted so much more from this sequel than I got. Still, though, I would say this is one of the better horror movie sequels.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend:
Scream, Scream 3, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2, Scary Movie 3, I Still Know What You Did Last Summer