Review: Scream 2 (1997)

Stars: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox

Budget: $24million

Directed By: Wes Craven

The best received of the scream sequels was indeed part 2. Of course! I hear you collectively scream (hehe).
But bare in in mind that there have been rare occasions where the third films in a series have been the best sequel though never, atleast as far as I can see, a fourth
film being better.
That's cannon fodder for a different day though. Here we have the superior Wes Craven returning to once more stick the meta on its head. Its sometimes rare to get a director to return for sequels but it always helps a films quality in my books.
Using tropes used in sequel horror films for a sequel to his horror film. He does it as well as one as skilled as he his can. Don't forget Wes is one of original slasher
genre daddies too.

Do people we know and love make it in this
one?
Do survivors get killed?
Will Dewey stop getting stabbed in the back both realistically by killers or metaphorically by Gale?
All these answers and more are in the sequel to one of the best, certainly the revival of the horror slasher genre. Nearly all of the 'surviving' cast return in this film. Filmed and released just over one year after the last movie, though a lot of the actors had been given open doors by the first films success. In fact scream 2 had the effect of attracting more names from the bigger TV series's back then. Such as Jerry O'Connell and a very up and coming Sarah Michelle Gellar who wanted a part so much she filmed in between Buffy the slayer. She herself had also done I Know What you Did Last Summer another teen slasher flick around this time too.

Though this is sometimes touted as equal to or even better than the first (some say more original) rewatching these days you can certainly see some disjointed things from the frequent rewrites this this film got (some rewrites even on the day!) but thanks to the amazing Wes this was no where near as evident to a less skilled me back then. Hey I was 15!

I've been talking about this far to long let's get on with the main review. Since the infamy of the killings in the last movie have grown someone decided to make a film based on what went on.
Creating a pseudo film called Stab, within a film a weird 4th wall break within a film, of sorts.

2 students from Windsor College attend the premier of the film but end up getting killed, one in the restroom the other in front of the people in the theater. Though everyone thinks it is a publicity stunt for the movie until they realise otherwise.
The next day the media descend upon the college, Just so happens that one Sidney Prescott along with her boyfriend Derek (O'Connell) study in the same place too. Also Randy Meeks horror movie extraordinaire who survived the last movie too.
She immediately comes to loggerheads with another reporter this time too, one Debbie Salt.

Later Dewey and Gale show up too, Dewey to offer moral support Gale with her own agendas. She's trying to get Sidney to confront Cotton Weary who has been exonerated for the murder of Sidney's mother since the first movie. This amusingly ends up with Sidney socking Gale in the face on camera again. Cici is killed later on, at a sorority house party by ghostface.
Sidney finds out that Cici's real name was Casey which makes her think the new copycat killer is targeting people with the same names as the original murders. Randy gets killed later when he's rang by the killer and tries to keep them on the phone so the others can find them. When Gale and Dewey are viewing the campus security videos they get attacked by ghostface, this ends up with Dewey getting stabbed in the back yet again.

Two officers who are there to protect Sidney and Hallie try to get her to the local police station for protection, they are however killed. However in the ruckus the killer is knocked unconscious, but when it quickly regains consciousness they kill Hallie. Sidney manages to make it back to campus but finds her boyfriend tied to a crucifix in the stage area. We are then introduced to the two new killers in quite a great twist.

Now some people, well quite a large majority find scream 2 superior to scream I like to find myself in some sort of middling ground. I don't agree with the people who don't like it and poke holes at it for the reason it was rewrote due to early script leaks on who the killers were. I think for the quick rewrites it was actually very well handled and shows it.
I find it at the least on par with the first film, it's a very good sequel and has enough differences and new twists and turns to get it in league with it's predecessors. I can't however give it more than the film that actually revived the slasher genre.
In that respect THN awards Scream 2 with a great 5 out 5 score just like part 1!!!