Scream 2 (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(Dimenson)
Directed by Wes Craven
Written by Kevin Williamson
Cast Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie
Kennedy, Liev Schreiber, Jada Pinkett, Sarah Michelle
Gellar, Laurie Metcalf, Omar Epps, Jerry O'Connell,
Timothy Olyphant
MPAA Rating "R" (presumably for violence, gore, and language)
Running Time 120 minutes
Reviewed at Six Forks Station Cinemas, Raleigh, NC (10DEC97)
==
The fact that I survived a packed preview at the stinky Six Forks-- with a few hundred gabby teens and not a damn bit of hi-fi sound to drown 'em out-- is an accomplishment unto itself. Too bad the film wasn't better. SCREAM 2 is a hip, hair-raising, self-referential snore. Series' creators Wes Craven (director) and Kevin Williamson (writer) have relocated their smash franchise ($39M!) to a sleepy college town, where the survivors of the first film (Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox, etc.) are being stalked by a copycat killer. (In the in- spired but overlong opening, the killer makes his/her debut at a rauc- ous, ROCKY HORROR--like premiere of STAB, a movie based on the book based on the fictional events of the first film.) Though the number of in-jokes ends up far higher than any body count, the boo bits are act- ually the *more* successful component of the movie. Only intermittenly does Williamson's script crackle with enough electric wit to make you forget that you're watching a bunch of good-looking bad actors being put through the standard slasher motions. (Or, in the case of the godawful ending, an apparent live-action update of "Scooby Doo, Where Are You?") With Omar Epps, Rebecca Gayheart, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Jerry O'Connell, Jada Pinkett, Liev Schreiber, and play- ing Drew Barrymore in the opening of STAB, Rollergirl herself, Heather Graham.
Grade: C+
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell
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