A terrific sequel that lacks the punch of the first film, 21 Dec 2002

By	Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews

The original Scream was a pretty original take on slasher films, and I was a little surprised to find the plot of this sequel equaling if not bettering that of the original film throughout the first two-thirds of the drama. To some extent, we have seen all of this before—the killer calling his victims on the phone and then jumping out of nowhere with that familiar mask and sharp knife, individuals trying to escape the killer’s grasp and usually failing to do so; Sydney facing up to her fears and trying to survive. It all works well here, though. The killings are not quite as violent or gory this time around, but the suspense is palpable throughout the entire movie. The killer even made me twinge a time or two, and that rarely happens. The only criticism I would have of Scream 2 is the ending. It is much too long and drawn-out, for one thing. It is also somewhat weakened by the fact that we know what kind of revelation to expect; it was well nigh impossible, even for as talented a script writer as Kevin Williamson, to top the power and surprise of Scream’s final moments. Even though I was unsure who the bad guys were in the first movie, in retrospect I could go back and analyze the clues to see that it made sense. While the identity of the killer(s) did surprise me somewhat in this sequel, this was largely because the evidence I needed to figure out the mystery was not there for the most part; too much of the truth is hidden from us until the climaxing moments of the movie.

Scream 2 is a remarkably good sequel, one that does not fall victim to the curse of progressively bad follow-up films the horror genre is rife with. Its additional comedic element, such as can be found in the interaction between Dewey and Gale as well as in Randy’s theories on horror sequels, does help to offset any disappointment to be found in the film’s ultimate revelations. Of course, it is all but impossible for it to achieve the same effect on the viewer as the original Scream did because, while you may not know exactly what is coming, you can be reasonably sure that you know the form in which it will appear.

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