Upon further review.......

Rating: 9/10 (6 January 2000)

The first time I saw this movie, opening night, I couldn't have been more disappointed. After the opening scene, which was great, I thought Scream 2 spiraled downward and every scene was worst then the one before it, finally wrapping up with the worst ending ever seen on film. I hated this movie. That is, until I was able to see it again on video. Sometimes it takes a second viewing on video to really concentrate and pay attention to all the little details to really appreciate a movie. This is one of those movies.
While I still believe the ending was terrible, I thought the rest of the movie gets better every time I watch it. The opening scene is fantastic, and (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) I loved the idea of the killer sitting in the movie theater amongst hundreds of look-alike killers, with nobody knowing who the killer is or if he's even there. As Jada Pinkett finds out in a very clever scene, he is there.
I thought the best scene in the movie occurs when Randy, Dewey, and Gail are standing in the grass courtyard at the college, and the killer calls them on Gail's cell phone, playing games and watching them from a distance. I love the camerawork used while following Randy around as he searches for the killer. One shot in particular has the camera looking down on him from the sky, nobody else visible in the whole shot, which gives a feeling of me against the world, which Randy must have been feeling. The whole scene is great.
Is Scream 2 better than the original? No, but you can't compare a sequel to its original, because it will never compare (as they discuss within the movie.) "Sequels by definition alone are inferior films" Scream was one of the few horror movies I could truly call great, and Scream 2 is likewise one of those rare sequels that at least approach the quality of the original (such as with Lethal Weapon 3 & 4 and Die Hard With a Vengeance).

Now for the ending. (POSSIBLE SPOILERS) They hinted throughout the movie as to the killers identity "Mrs. Voohries was a terrific killer" But I never thought they would cop out and go for the simple answer of "Billy's mother?" She was terrible as the killer, and did nothing but annoy me the entire movie. Mickey at least was interesting, but his character was barely even developed and then, all of the sudden, here he is, your serial killer. I thought for sure going in that Stu somehow survived the first Scream and was coming back for part two, and when they introduced Debbie Salt as the killer, my heart took a dive. The ending was pathetic, and I still hold out hope of a decent killer in part 3 (maybe Stu), but I still give it a 9 out of 10, with the ending keeping it from a 10.