THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Scream was a game changer for the horror genre by redefining and tributing the slasher sub genre simultaneously. With an impact like that, it made viewers wonder how could it ever be topped. To bluntly answer, make a sequel that respects the original and then some.
PLOT
Scream 2 takes place two years after Sidney Prescott defended herself against the duo of serial killers, Billy Loomis & Stu Macher. She now goes to Windsor College. She is friends with her dorm mate Hallie McDaniel, is dating her new boyfriend Derek and is still close with Randy Meeks. There is now a film based on the events of the first film called Stab. Her fear of danger worsens when two students named Maureen Evans (Jada Pinkett) and Phil Stevens (Omar Epps) are killed during a screening of the film. The killer appears to have the same voice changer used from the Woodsboro Massacre (voiced by Roger Jackson). The day after the murder, Sidney’s reunion with reporter Gale Weathers goes awry when she stages a reunion between her and Cotton Weary, who wants to gain fame from his exoneration of Maureen Prescott’s murder. Sidney retaliates by hitting her once again. Dewey Riley would also return to offer her protection, but appears to suffer from a severed nerve, as a result from his injury in the first film. Later that evening, the murder spree continues when Casey ‘Cici’ Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is murdered in a sorority house. When word spreads about this incident, Sidney makes the mistake of answering the house’s phone which results in being chased by Ghostface once again. Derek intervenes by chasing the killer away, only to get slashed in the arm. This makes everyone including Sidney feel suspicious as his wound was not so serious. The following day, Randy converses with Dewey about the rules of a horror sequel: Higher body count, elaborate death scenes and maintain the possibility of how anyone could be a suspect. At the local police station, Gale realizes that the new killer is attempting to recreate the Woodsboro massacre by killing that have similar names to the original victims. When she theorizes with Dewey that the next victim could be someone close to Sidney, Randy gets a call from Ghostface. When Dewey & Gale attempt to find the killer by looking around campus, Randy is pulled from the van of Gale’s cameraman Joel Jones, being brutally murdered in the process. Cotton does confront Sidney and hope to convince her to agree to do an interview with her on Diane Sawyer, which would help clear his name. She doesn’t agree at the time as she just got threatened online that she will die. Despite acting slightly aggressive towards her, there are no charges on him because there is no proof that he is a suspect. After Randy’s death, Dewey and Gale move forward investigating by looking over the tapes from the van, hoping to find the killer in one of the videos. Before they could seem to find out who is behind it all, they are chased away by Ghostface who stabs Dewey in a sound system room. Gale is able to save herself by blocking the way in, resulting in the killer to flee. When she eventually leaves to call for help, she finds Cotton in Dewey’s blood, who claims to have found him. When Sidney and Hallie are escorted to a police station by two officers, but the latter are killed by Ghostface and during the ensuing struggle, Hallie gets killed as well. Rather than heading to the station as planned, Sidney heads back to college and hides in the auditorium. She finds Derek tied to a cross, as a result of a hazing ritual. Ghostface reveals himself to be the latter's friend Mickey Alteri who shoots Derek in the heart. He then explains to kill her and simply blame movie violence once arrested. His partner appears to hold Gale at gunpoint, revealing to be Debbie Salt, Billy Loomis' mother. She met Mickey online and paid for his tuition fees in exchange for his killings. She then shoots her partner in the chest, who then shoots Gale in the stomach, resulting in both characters to collapse. Debbie plans to kill Sidney and frame Mickey for the entire murder spree, hoping to avenge her son. The final girl defends herself as long as she could but when Cotton enters the room, Debbie holds a knife to her throat. Cotton ends up saving Sidney by shooting Debbie in the heart when she agrees to do the Diane Sawyer interview. When she checks on Gale who is still alive, they shoot down Mickey together when he attempts to go for one last kill. Sidney then shoots Debbie in the head to avoid another return. When more authorities finally arrive, they discover Dewey to still be alive due to the knives puncturing old scar tissue. As Gale rides with him in the ambulance, the film ends with Sidney leaving campus after instructing the press to direct questions on Cotton, which awards him with the fame he's been chasing and removes herself from the attention.
THOUGHTS
After loving the first film so much, I knew that I had to see this one short after and thankfully, this was another blast. Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson gave the right amount of elevation this story needed by just digging deeper with the formula they already displayed. They give us what we want, just not the way we want it which I thought was really cool. Every trick they pulled still surprised me as much as it did the first time around. It's funny how it honors the first film by straight up remaking it within through Stab. I mean I can't ever have a straight face seeing Luke Wilson as Billy and Tori Spelling as Sidney. And seeing Heather Graham play Casey made me wish she played it first because she arguably looked identical to Drew Barrymore. The terror of Ghostface feels surreal here because this whodunnit perspective removes the trust almost completely. However you feel with familiar faces, you're definitely unsure of the new ones you see. With that in mind, they maintain the theme that the people behind the mask are scarier than the mask itself. The pairing of Timothy Olyphant and Laurie Metcalf as Mickey and Debbie shake up the question on who is to blame for violence: movies or bad parenting. Olyphant's Mickey may not be as psychotically smart as Debbie, but he was smart enough to have a plan that would've worked had he lived. Metcalf on the other hand made Debbie the most deranged she regrets not being there for her son, pushing her to the decisions that led to her downfall. She knew it was her fault that Billy went down the wrong path due to simply abandoning him for her own personal heartbreak with her husband. She won't say it aloud, but her actions definitely did the talking that she wishes things were different. It is a relief that she is out of the picture as well because I don't think she would've stopped killing if she was still alive. As the original cast returns, they do a great job showing real emotional impact of characters making it to the sequel. Neve Campbell shows Sidney to be on the brink of recovery from the trauma that haunted her for two years, only for it to return and scare her even more. This puts her on the crossroads where trusting people almost feels impossible. But in the end, she overcame her fear and defended herself once again to prove why she is the definitive final girl. It really sucked to kill off Randy because Jamie Kennedy made him speak him for the audience. However, it was great for him to be as useful as possible before his demise and at least he had a cameo in the third one. I also thought it was funny for him to not like sequels since he is in one. David Arquette is able to ensure Dewey as likable as last time because he maintains to be as protective towards Sidney as before. Due to losing his sister in the last film, there is no way he would risk losing someone else, even if he is injured. Courteney Cox finally gives the growth needed to turn Gale into a likable character because sometimes it takes the second time around to truly have a change of heart. The love of glory got to her again after freeing Cotton and it was these turn of events where she realized helping others naturally is more important than getting attention for it. She and Dewey become attracted to one another because they are polar opposites and the latter shows her a better path as a person. I thought it was good choice for Cotton to have somewhat of a central role in this story because it would've not made sense to ignore his exoneration. Liev Schreiber makes him pretty complicated because despite being an innocent guy, his newfound freedom makes him a little more arrogant as he unexpectedly found a path to fame. He may be selfish, but at least he ain't psychotic. Going back to the new characters, I totally dug Jerry O'Connell as Derek because he straight up loved Sidney thick and through. He knew about her baggage and was willing to put up with it because that is what fighting for love is all about. While it sucked for him to die too, at least she never forgot about him since she kept his frat necklace in the sequel. I'm not trying to hate on Tatum, but I honestly think I like Hallie more. I feel this way because Elise Neal makes her come off more thoughtful in comparison. She pushes Sidney to be part of a sorority because she truly believes socializing with others will help her put aside the trauma. It is a shame that she bit the dust as well because Sid really could've needed her positivity as things progressed. And lastly, I have a soft spot for Joel because Duane Martin made him the most realistic and sensible. The guy realized he was in a movie and chose to stay out of it because he was not risking getting himself killed, which I respect. Because of such a smart decision, I am disappointed he wasn't in the sequels neither. But I guess it was for the best because it would've been out of character for him to still be around. Even though I consider this film pretty enjoyable, there were still many things in the story that prevent it from being better than the first. Like for starters, why was there no security during the Stab premiere? There were at least two ushers checking people in for the tickets and one handing out the souvenir costume. And the movie being screened is based on something that actually happened. What I’m trying to say is that the theater should’ve been more cautious on how it would go in order to avoid the situation that would follow. The studio just really didn’t care to be a little sensitive about the topic and that’s just disturbing. And am I the only one to find hypocrisy when the majority of the audience is making a ruckus during the movie and they pick on Maureen for one comment. That ain’t right. I really didn’t want to pick on the movie Stab but I got to get it off my chest: There is no way that Casey would set up popcorn while taking a shower. It just doesn’t make sense because I don’t think she’d get there in time depending on how long she’d be showering. I dug Joel during this film, but how does he qualify to be Gale’s new camera man when his best credit was a bingo final. I know she needed somebody, but it should’ve been one with better credits than that. I know it was smart for Cici to push the bike down the stairs to avoid Ghostface a little bit, but who puts a bike there anyway? That doesn’t make sense because that is something you put in a bedroom or a garage. So if I’m being honest, thank god Scary Movie parodied this because it just didn’t make sense and I’m not sure if it ever will. And of course we need Ghostface to chase Sidney at least once before the second act, but Sidney really had no need to answer the phone to a sorority house she’s not even part of. Just spend the night with Derek and wait to see what happens. I also get that she needs to be vulnerable, but her drama teacher was in the wrong for convincing her to still do rehearsals where her character is chased by masked strangers? He knows what she is going through and doesn’t care, which I find very uncomfortable. Also, I know there has to be an excuse for Randy to die vulnerably, but splitting up? Really? Randy is a film buff and he should know that splitting up is a bad idea. And what would Ghostface do if he hadn’t gotten in the direction of Joel’s van? Because had Randy have been smarter, there had to be an alternative. And how Cotton even know Sidney would be at the library? Since he ain’t the killer, it’s so out of character for him to find her when she is in such a crisis again. I know he enjoys the attention and wants to continue being on television, but if he really wanted to avoid being creepy to her like at the library, he should’ve considered at least a phone call. She may have not answered, but at least he’d maintain himself an innocent look. It is pretty intense when Dewey and Gale get chased by Ghostface, but that could’ve been avoided if they just saw the tapes at a television affiliate in the police station instead of on campus. The biggest continuity error that I gripe over has to be how when looking at the footage, it appears as if the killer drove by the theater, passing by Maureen & Phil. It doesn’t add up for me because I didn’t see a car in the opening. I do enjoy the third act for what it sets up, but it has moments where it is wild for the wrong reasons. I mean it’s hella intense when Sidney & Hallie get out of the car when Ghostface in unconscious, but how did the killer get out of the car and go around the construction site in time to kill Hallie? Mickey should not have been that fast to pull it off because he is basically concussed at that point. And lastly, I want to laugh that Cotton worsens his image by having Dewey’s blood on him, but why was he on campus at night in the first place? I know we need him to save Sidney, but he had no reason to be there so late. Other than that, I'm still having a good time after ignoring said flaws. In conclusion, Scream 2 is the franchise's best sequel for doing things right as in being just as creative the first time around. If you the formula of Scream, see this now.
Comments