Like Most Sequels, Nowhere Near the First

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2000)

For some reason, Scream 2 seems like a movie that was forced to be made just because of the huge success of the first's original formula, that is, to overtly reveal the cheap tricks of the horror movie. It doesn't seem fresh, has a thin storyline, contrived characters, plays like a rehash, and concludes with an ending that seems patched on and is completely unsatisfying.
Scream 2 starts up with a fantastic shocker of a scene, where a murder takes place in a movie theater showing the film "Stab," a spinoff of the events in Woodsboro in the first Scream film. It's a terrific opening, as we see that Neve Campbell is now in college and is unnerved by the killing, suspecting it could be the 'sequel' she was warned about in the first installment.
While the movie may start with a fantastic, twisted scene, it's all downhill from there. The survivors from Scream are back, and their familiarity helps bolster the sometimes slow, plodding scenes. There's also much more gore here, but while Scream used it sporadically, Scream 2 certainly seems to rely on it to shock its viewers rather than the clever, manipulative scripting of the first. The device of revealing the horror movie convention doesn't seem as fresh anymore; instead it seems like a cheap convention itself.
Not to say there aren't some scenes in Scream 2 that aren't wonderfully shot by Wes Craven, including a thrilling (if not too short) car chase, a frenzied search for a cell phone, and a poignant death. But it's ending is much too farfetched and strikes the viewer much like the killer strikes with his knife: completely out of nowhere, without warning.
Scream is by far the superior of the trilogy, feeling much more inventive than this sequel. When a film student in the movies remarks that "the sequel destroyed the genre," you can't help but feel it's true at the end of this movie. Fans of the first will be certainly be disappointed with this film's lackluster script and contrived ending.
6 out of 10