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Random Movie: Scream 2 (1997)


It is notable that for the duration of the Saw series, production company Lionsgate was able to keep banging out a new movie in the series less than a year apart with only two major duds out of seven. After the success of the first Scream, Dimension Films surely was quick to retain writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven for a follow-up that incidentally is set two years after the first. If real time had followed the story time, Scream 2 potentially could have been the best of the series but it comes off feeling rushed.

Scream 2 does have the distinction of being one of a select few movies where the sequel mostly measures up to the first, albeit in different ways. In fact, some notable people (either Siskel or Ebert*) found this movie more likable than the first. The first film of course was packed with references to horror films throughout but Williamson takes the story of the survivors from the last story and interjects it with clever reminders of why this movie should be pretty bad: it is a sequel to a horror movie after all.

From the almost grandiose opening scene featuring Jada Pinkett Smith as an unlucky movie-goer and the obligatory sequel “rules” from Randy, it is easy to tell that Scream 2 strives to be bigger, meaner, and weightier in its commentary on the talking points from the first: horror films and their effect on the viewing populace. Unfortunately, bigger does not always mean better, especially when the original benefited from a tight cast of characters, a rock solid story and some level of restraint in the proceedings. Now, the sequel suffers from the classic detriments of sequels before and after, namely an excess of everything.

Almost all the issues I had with the film would have been corrected by a bit more editing, either on the script or the movie itself. The main problem is that there are too many characters to deal with. Of course we have the returning survivors Sidney, Gale, Dewey, and Randy but there are also far too many new characters vying for limited screentime from Sid’s new boyfriend Derek (Jerry O’Connell), her roommate Hailee, Randy-esque movie geek Mickey (the even then awesome Timothy Olymphant), and on and on. Even the bit part Cotton Weary (Liev Schrieber) has an expanded role that is effective but still extraneous other than as a potential suspect.

While I enjoyed that the character dynamics were essentially reset from the first with a new group (Randy, Gale, or Dewey could easily be involved this time), it also throws more potential poorly established “suspects” in the mix. And due to the larger cast (even though I enjoyed Sarah Michelle Gellar in her brief role), the reveal of the responsible individual(s) seem very random and haphazardly chosen among the available characters. The killer(s) from the previous film worked so well because they were easily suspected and dismissed several times during the film.

Even though the story is a bit lacking, almost everything else is near perfect. The shots are beautiful, the editing is snappy, and the scenes themselves play out with ease, even if the script tries to undermine that. The overstuffed cast had no bearing on the actors who shined with their somewhat limited roles. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, and Jamie Kennedy all click back into their respective roles. Even though she struggled in some places like previously, Campbell plays Sidney as strong, yet broken as she attempts to deal with tragedy around her which leads to an excess of guilt and self-doubt.

I read a review that said Wes Craven directed the hell out of this movie and I couldn’t agree more. I would probably have ranked the production of Scream a solid 7 or 8 but this one gets a full 10. You needn’t look any further than some of the incredibly tense scenes such as Cici in the sorority house or Gale in the recording studio at the end. I have seen this movie countless times and I was on edge during some of these moments. Composer Marco Beltrami returns as well with a sometimes traditional, yet sometimes odd score to accompany the similarly bifurcated tone of the movie. Even Hans Zimmer’s Broken Arrow theme emerges in a distracting but still awesome motif for Dewey.

For most, it seems to be a pretty close race between Scream and Scream 2 for superiority in the franchise thus far. The original sits at an 82% rating on Rotten Tomatoes while the sequel is at 81%. Clearly, it is not as steep of a drop in quality such as Nightmare on Elm Street 2 or Hatchet 2. While there was a lot of potential in the follow up, it did not gel for me as much as the first.

*I would verify which but the site for archived Siskel & Ebert videos has apparently been taken down.

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