By Lars Lindahl (c) 2000 Lars Lindahl
Lars Attacks! http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/larsattacks
"Scream 2" (1997)
Directed by Wes Craven Written by Kevin Williamson
Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Scheiber, Elise Neal, Jerry O'Connell, Laurie Metcalf, Jada Pinket, Omar Epps, Timothy Olyphant, Duane Martin, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rebecca Gayheart, Portia de Rossi, Joshua Jackson, David Warner, Lewis Arquette, Heather Graham, Luke Wilson, and Kevin Williamson.
Grade: **1/2 (out of four)
Similar to the release of Scream, I was skeptical about how good this movie would turn out. As this sequel so blatantly proves through its horror - buff college students, sequels are never better than the original. In fact, they could not only be terrible, but they could also make a viewer doubtful of how good the first one was. Scream 2 is certainly not better than Scream because it lacks the perfect setting from the original. The teenagers living in your traditional suburban neighborhood who attend your classic chaotic house parties is a horror movie's dream setting. In Scream 2, the surviving kids from the first one have grown up and now are attending a larger college. However, they are still being attacked by a mysterious murderer in a "ghost face" mask. The question is: who is the killer? Most of the characters have matured and now share a stronger connection with adults living in the same town as them. The maturity is what Scream 2 should have avoided. The fact that the kids were nothing but "stoned dudes" in the first film made it so funny. The only real contact the kids had to the adult world in Scream, besides the cops, was their authoritative principal (the ubiquitous Henry Winkler) who didn't really care about any of his students' safety. This is what was so funny about Scream, it had your stereotypical trouble-maker teens and your basic adult who harshly reminds these kids to behave. This is something we've seen many times before at the theaters and can now laugh at how embarrassingly bad it is in this parody of a horror movie. In Scream 2, the only real adult introduced, besides cops and reporters, is main character Sydney's drama teacher (David Warner). They share a few pointless bonding scenes together that show that these once no good kids are now respectable young adults. Who wants respectable young adults to be your main characters? Not me.
Now that the kids have grown up and hold more responsibilities, the jokes just aren't as funny as the original. The only amusing sections are when Randy (Jamie Kennedy) recites the rules of a sequel; there are more deaths, they are bloodier, and anyone can be a suspect, and even these parts seem tacked on and unnecessary to the plot. I thought screenwriter Kevin Williamson could have added more lines about how black characters never survive in the sequel. He had the perfect opportunity with a cameraman (Duane Martin who shines in every scene that he is in) but unfortunately is underused. The fact that the sequel has a lot more violence could have diminished its script from completely shining. Williamson has the potential of a witty screenwriter but whenever he seemed to launch a grand punch line, an outburst of violence suddenly interrupted his train of thought. When thought over a number of times, it could be possible that Williamson made a dissatisfactory script on purpose to prove that sequels are always worse. Intentionally bad or not, the script is still overwhelmingly disappointing.
Wes Craven still makes Scream 2 a pleasing attempt. The violence that he uses may hurt the script, but it is still incredibly intense, particularly a scene involving a police car crash. The film never drags on, its quick pace, very similar to that of Scream, never hits a bump in the road allowing for edge-of-your-seat action throughout.
Scream 2 is a decent film placed at the middle of the Scream trilogy. Those looking for mindless violence will find it, however those looking for a clever script like the first one, may be let down.
Grade: **1/2 (out of four)
Lars Attacks! http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/larsattacks
by Lars Lindahl (c) 2000 Lars Lindahl
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