Very good horror sequel

Rating: 8/10 (22 June 2000)

While its not as good as the original, "Scream 2" is for the most part a very entertaining horror-comedy. Director Wes Craven, writer Kevin Williamson, and stars Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, and David Arquette came back for this sequel. This time Campbell's character Sidney Prescott is away at college when murders start happening again. Cox (as Gale Weathers) and Arquette (as Dewey) arrive at the campus to find out what's going on and to try to find the killer (since the cops are no good in these movies). "Scream 2" isn't as good as the original because it's a little slow-moving at times which wasn't the case with the first film. Still, I was entertained for the most part, and the supporting cast of new actors do a good job. The only other actors to return from the original are Jamie Kennedy as nerdy Randy (the horror movie expert) and Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary, the man Campbell had put in jail for the murder of her mother but found out at the end of the first movie that he was innocent (Schreiber's part in the first movie was very brief; here he has a major supporting role). New cast members include Sarah Michelle Gellar (TV's "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"), Jerry O'Connell (TV's "Sliders"), Jada Pinkett (Mrs. Will Smith), and Laurie Metcalf (TV's "Roseanne"). "Scream 2" is violent like the original and also like the first film has a sharp sense of humor. Worth a look.
*** (out of four)