Scream 2 Movie Review:

The self referential teens return to college where a new batch of murders have started that coincide with the release of a movie based on the events which took place in Woodboro in the original Scream.

Can sequels better the original? Well, they debate it in this, when taking time out from all the pesky running away from a serial killer. Neve Campbell returns as Sidney Prescott who screens all of her calls, carries mace, and takes every precaution she can think of. Let's face it, she had a bit of a hard time in the last one.

Don't get me wrong, this is a fairly enjoyable movie but it does feel like sometimes it's purely a cash thing. Again, everyone does really well, in some cases reprising their roles from the original and of course there is the newbies. (I still say its weird seeing Sarah Michelle Gellar running and not throwing kicks left, right and centre), the direction is methodical and sometimes it does seem like Craven is going through the motions, except for a couple of very tense moments - in particular look out for the recording studio set piece. For a lot of it though, Craven sits at the back and lets his actors do all the work.
The script tries to expand on the first but it doesn't always pull it off. Again, Randy remains a favourite character of mine, and again Arquette does well in his goofish role as Dewey. Cox does deserve some credit for bringing some humanity to her role as Gale, which didn't really get given any room in the first movie and the romance is played quite well between her and Arquette.

The script does offer the interesting premise of showing the hero of the first outing and what state of mind they remain in due to the trauma of the events she witnessed. Usually, you will see the hero toss and turn in their bed and this is supposed to signal how troubled they are. The writing is well handled and Neve Campbell is more than up to the challenge as Sidney, who has been forced to toughen up to protect her friends and of course herself.

So Dave, I hear you ask, what's your big problem with this? Or not but I'm going to tell you anyway. The ending. I won't give it away in case you haven't seen it and to be honest, I'm glad I'm not going to have to write it out because it sounds more ridiculous every single time I hear it. To me, it seemed like Williamson put quite a lot of work into the rest of the movie then got bored and got so unbelievably lazy, he just put in the first thing that came to him. It was enough to spoil the entire movie for me the first time I saw this but, to be fair, it does bear repeated viewing. It is an ok addition to the series but if it is trying to prove sequels can improve on the originals, it fails.

David McCulloch

Site Contents Copyright© The Z Review, unless used with permission.This site has no intention to infringe on the rights of the film owners of Scream 2 and intellectual copyright holders of the movies mentioned herein & hold copyright over the movie, characters, merchandise & storyline.