Not quite as good as the original, but possibly funnier...

Rating: Null/10 (3 June 2003)

(*** out of *****)
This sequel is even more of an homage to late-70s and early-80s slashers than the first one. It borrows generously from such college-campus-killer classics as "Black Christmas," "He Knows You're Alone" (the opening scene) and "Final Exam" (the hazing scene) as well as the original "Friday the 13th." This is not quite as good as the first, and parts of it are a bit tedious (for example, anyone else notice how the killer(s) is always getting his ass kicked by Neve Campbell, but then seems to have no trouble taking on TWO burly police detectives?), but it still has enough clever twists, amusing dialogue and suspenseful set pieces to make it enjoyable. I love how this movie even satirizes itself by having the movie-within-a-movie storyline ("Stab," with Tori Spelling, Luke Wilson, and Heather Graham!) Along with Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Liev Schreiber, and Jamie Kennedy (from the first film), we get new victims Jerry O'Connell, Jada Pinkett Smith, and `Buffy,' herself, Sarah Michelle Geller. Rebecca Gayheart and Portia de Rossi are also pretty funny as airhead sorority girls, but Arquette and Kennedy are the two funniest ones to watch this time around (there scene together in the diner is the comic-highlight of the film.)
HIGHLIGHT: Well, either the above-mentioned diner scene or the scene where Campbell and her friend (Elise Neal) have to squeeze past the unconscious body of the killer from the back seat of a wrecked police car.