Wes and Williamson do it again.

Rating: 8/10 (25 October 2009)

Wrongly imprisoned and almost executed for the murder of town bike Maureen Prescott, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) could be forgiven for being a little bitter towards young Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), whose false testimony resulted in his incarceration. But is the recently released Weary responsible for the spate of copycat killings taking place at Sidney's college? With so many candidates for campus maniac to choose from, it's anyone's guess...
Scream 2 is definitely a case of 'more of the same', but when 'the same' is of such a high calibre, this really isn't much of an an issue: the film is still an absolute blast and a worthy successor to the brilliant original.
This time around, writer Kevin Williamson abides by most of the rules of the horror sequel, as defined by the film's very own movie nerd Randy: the body count is bigger and the death scenes are more elaborate, and definitely messier. Fortunately, Williamson doesn't stick to the notion that sequels have to be inferior: the superbly constructed script, masterful direction from Wes Craven and great performances from an excellent cast (several of whom reprise their roles from the first film) ensure that Scream 2 works like a charm, providing fans with another satisfying dose of fear laced with laughter.
In addition to the expected scenes of stalk and slash, the well executed jump scares, and the usual quota of red herrings, there are in-jokes aplenty for film buffs to spot, and umpteen 'guest' stars who pop up in blink-and-you'll-miss-'em bit parts (familiar faces include Heather Graham, Tori Spelling, Luke Wilson, Portia de Rossi, and Jada Pinkett, plus Sarah Michelle Gellar, Rebecca Gayheart and Joshua Jackson, who would subsequently appear in Scream-alike slashers I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend).
If you loved the first Scream, then the chances are you'll have loads of fun with this one too.