Scream 2 Review

Scream 2 review.

Scream hit in 1996 like a lightning bolt. Revitalizing a dying slasher genre immediately. What people leave out is that most of what it inspired in the following few years was…well…trash. Its own rushed direct sequel Scream 2 being one of the best movies to come in Scream’s wake is a minor miracle. It really shouldn’t be as good as it is. This review of Scream 2 will try to figure out why it is.

Classic movie reviews will contain spoilers.

Scream 2

Directed by Wes Craven

Written by Kevin Williamson

Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Liev Schreiber and Jamie Kennedy

Scream 2 Review

Scream 2 feels like it shouldn’t work. At least not to the degree that it does. Scream caught lightning in a bottle less than a year earlier…its sequel lacked some key changes needed to innovate the way its predecessor had. With the help of the characters established in the original and a bloodier, more beautiful, film…Wes Craven doesn’t fully recapture the lightning…but he does manage to ride it a while longer.

Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is off to college following the Woodsboro massacre. Hollywood has already adapted her story into a major motion picture…and, of course, the killings begin again. Dewey (David Arquette), Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and Gale (Courtney Cox) are all on hand to help figure out who is behind the latest Ghostface murder spree.

Scream has a lot of advantages that its first sequel couldn’t match. This isn’t for lack of cleverness, Scream 2 has plenty of that. The problem was time. There wasn’t enough time for this sequel to have new topics to discuss. There wasn’t a massive technological change in the short period between films. It’s pointed at the same generation of viewers who the original had already skewered both literally and figuratively. No new set of movies to reference.

Scream 2 handles this by sticking to a simple mission statement. Sequels are bigger…sequels are bloodier. More victims. More suspects. The movie is overloaded with characters both new and old. Having the four survivors of the previous film all on hand for the sequel provides it with an immediately earned connection for the viewer. Even Cotton Weary is here to pay off his blink and you’ll miss it cameo in the original. The rest of the cast is fine…but no one stands out the way the perfectly cast original did. But we need those victims. We need those suspects. We need more.

There are, however, the same number of killers. The killer reveal in Scream 2 can’t compare to the original…but it eventually carves out a nice spot for itself. Mickey (Timothy Olyphant) is a pedestrian choice as one of the Ghostface’s running around the college. We get little character development or interaction with him before he’s revealed. His motive is more funny than effective. He’s a means to an end…and the end justifies the means.

The second killer is far more interesting both for what it says about the ongoing storyline of the franchise…and for the message of Scream 2. Billy Loomis’s mother is revealed as the second killer, on a mission of revenge after Sidney killed her son in the original. This is where part 2 earns its ending. Her motivation being so simple and relatable in a movie that pours on the mantra that bigger is better makes it incredibly effective. It effortlessly ties things to the first movie in a way the next sequel would botch completely. It also allows the movie to go out on a great message. Don’t blame the movies. Blame the parents.

Scream 2 also has a hell of an opening. Living in the shadow of the iconic original opening scene,Craven and company go…get this…bigger with the sequel. Set in a crowded movie theater where the movie based on the original killings is having its premier…Scream 2 gives us a chaotic, bloody and oddly moving opening sequence. Jada Pinkett is in the Drew Barrymore role and she’s fantastic here. Watching her die in front of an audience that initially believes it is part of the show is one of the most effective things a Scream sequel has done. Possibly the second-best opening in the franchise.

Fan favorite Randy does not survive to see further Ghostface adventures. You can tell very quickly in Scream 3 that the series regrets the decision. Randy served as the audience’s representation in the first and second movies. He’s saying aloud what we are supposed to be thinking. He also points us almost directly at the killers in both movies. He is sure it’s Billy in the original. Although he whiffs on Stu’s involvement until its too late…he’s still right. Here he immediately points at Mickey and even drops a reference to Mrs. Voorhees, foreshadowing Mrs. Loomis’s reveal. The series would miss Randy guiding us to the point where other characters (and once himself via prerecorded video) had to fill in for his exposition anyway.

Dewey and Gale do survive, however. Dewey, once again, assumed dead only to be wheeled out on a stretcher for a second time. Unfortunately, it won’t be his last stretcher ride in the series. Their relationship progresses here, as it was done in real life. Their characters mirroring their lives is a fascinating aspect of the series. They met in 1, fell in love in 2, ended up together in 3, were having problems in 4 and were separated by 5. That sequence is the same for the characters and the actors.

The returning characters get their time to shine…but this is, as it should be, Sidney’s story. She’s a tougher version of herself here. As you’d expect from a young woman who has survived what she has. She has trouble trusting the new people around her…but that’s just a smartly written character given the circumstances. She is far bolder in the aftermath of the killer’s reveal than she was in part 1. Campbell is even better with the added complexities of the character on display than she was in the original. She cements Sidney as an all-time great final girl.

One thing you’ll be sure to notice while watching Scream 2 is that it is kind of gorgeous to look at. I don’t think a Wes Craven movie ever looked nearly this good…including later movies in this same series shot by the same director of photography. There are beautiful shots in this movie that the series wouldn’t match until the 2022 requel. Epic staging of a Greek tragedy play…engaging exterior shots of the campus in daylight…the original never had this scope. Even the next two sequels fail to.

The best sequence in the movie takes place in a crashed police car. Ghostface is unconscious in the front seat and Sidney (and roommate Hallie) are forced to climb past him to escape. Craven gives us a masterful display of building suspense. You oscillate between being sure he’s about to wake up to yelling at them to unmask him already. It’s a standout sequence in both the series and in Craven’s legendary career.

Kevin Williamson brings his bag of sharp dialog and witty references to the table, once again. Part of what helps Scream 2 stand out is that it’s just so much better written than the other movies trying to ride Scream’s wave of popularity in the era. It’s also the only sequel that feels like a pure extension of the original, main character-wise. 3 is written by someone else and feels like it. 4 sees Williamson return but time had, correctly, changed these characters. 5 has seen the characters change even more…and they’re no longer the focus of the story anyway.

That’s not to say that Scream 2 is better than all those sequels. It is still unable to do the things that a Scream movie should do. 1, 4 and 5 take place far enough apart for those films to have fresh commentary on the state of movies, and of the world. If Part 2 was afforded the ability to have something new to say…it would easily stand as the best sequel.

For many it is anyway.

Scare Value

Scream 2 is saddled with a lot of handicaps. Following a cultural phenomenon is hard enough…doing so without the benefit of time feels impossible. Still, this review of Scream 2 finds that it manages to work in spite of everything. Without a new generation to target or new movie trends to comment on…the movie relies on its established characters to provide another fun slasher whodunnit.

4/5

See where Scream 2 ranks in our full series rankings.