Sequel is not the original

Rating: 5/10 (14 August 2016)

The slasher sequel takes on the horror tropes of sequels and revisits the plight of Sydney Prescott (Neve Campbell) who is now in college. Many of the survivors return including Randy (Jamie Kennedy), Dewey Riley (David Arquette), and reporter turned best-selling author Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and a new killer is on the loose targeting students connected to Sydney. New characters are added to the victim or suspect list including Hallie (Elise Neal), Cici (Sara Michelle Gellar), Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), and Sydney's boyfriend Derek (Jerry O'Connell).
A movie was made within the movie making this sequel even extra meta. There is even more horror movie talk as the bodies start to pile up starting with a couple in a movie theater, Phil (Omar Epps) and Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith). The sequel does not hold back on the gore with plenty of killing as director Wes Craven both chides and embraces an audience that continuously shows up to view these brutal murders.
The mystery is even more complex as potential suspects appear including Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf) cameraman Joel (Duane Martin), and the exonerated former suspect of Sydney's mom's murder Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber). The movie pays homage to the original while at the same time referencing plenty of other horror movies sequels as inspiration while also taking on the challenge of making a sequel that is better than the original.
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