SCREAM 2 A review by David Wilcock (C)1998 David Wilcock
(MIRAMAX) RUNNING TIME: 122 MINUTES (2 HOURS 2 MINUTES) STARRING DAVID ARQUETTE, NEVE CAMPBELL, COURTENEY COX AND JAMIE KENNEDY DIRECTED BY WES CRAVEN
After Scream (1996) managed to pull in an over $100 million gross, it would seem obvious that a sequel would eventually arrive. And it's arrived quickly aswell. Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Wiliamson saw they were on a good thing, as just as Scream (1996) is enjoying success on video, the sequel, the imaginatively titled Scream 2 comes slashing onto our screens. And while Scream 2 has got a bigger body count, and a fair amount of jump scenes, this film is never as enjoyable as you would expect it to be. The film opens with two college kids at the opening night of the new horror flick that has just opened, 'Stab', based on a book written by Gale Weathers (Cox) about the happenings in the original Scream. A nice twist is that all the audience members are wearing the 'Scream' mask which was the killers trademark in Scream, so when the two college kids are viciously killed in the cinema, the amount of culprits is overwhelming. The news of the killing reaches Sidney Prescott (Campbell), one of the survivors from the prequel, and when Casey 'Cici' Cooper it killed by a guy in a 'Scream' mask, it looks as though the killings are starting all over again. Prescott, along with Weathers, Randy Meeks (Kennedy), and Dewey Riley (Arquette) join together to find out who's performing the killings. For a spoof, Scream 2 takes itself awfully seriously. The death scenes aren't funny, if anything that actually quite nasty. Scream 2 seems to poke fun at all the clichés in horror movies, then pulls off a whole load of clichés itself. Most of the time, it's pretty obvious what's going to happen next. Also, because the killer is a normal person, not some supernatural monster (like Freddy Kruegar) there's only a limit to what the killer can do, so most of the deaths are pretty boring (and as said above, strangely nasty.) The characters are also meant to be horror movie fans, and know the tricks of the horror movie trade, but some of the things they do are surprisingly stupid. For example, Campbell is stuck in a car with the unconscious killer. Instead of shooting him with a gun that's close to her, and then unmasking the killer, she goes out a window, and runs to a deserted theater, leaving the killer free to escape (when she/he wakes up) and chase her. Although the story may be flawed, the performances are fun, and the dialogue is funny. There's in-jokes about the movies, and there's also a funny scene where Randy and Dewey are discussing the culprits (although you've probably already seen this clip in the trailers.) While the scare scenes rely more on the killer popping out from nowhere and loud music suddenly playing, there's some suspenseful scenes, such as when Gale is being chased around a sound studio, and the first five minutes. But you don't feel scared throughout, and most of the time it's obvious when the killer is going to show itself, the film is so clinched. Wes Craven directs well enough, he handles the jump scenes well, and he isn't too bad with the 'serious' bits either. Kevin Wiliamson script, although predictable, is fun, and the film zips along like some demonic roller coaster. Two hours is a bit long for a horror movie though, and the ending is weak, and stretched out far too long (and, again, is entirely predictable.) The soundtrack is good, although if you've seen Broken Arrow (1996), the music will sound very familiar (the film uses the Broken Arrow soundtrack.) In Scream 2, there's a scene where a film class is discussing whether sequels are better than the originals. Randy points out that the prequel is always better. In the case of Scream and Scream 2, his argument is correct. OVERALL RATING= *** OUT OF ***** REVIEW BY DAVID WILCOCK ©1998 David Wilcock
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