Finally, a worthy sequel!

Rating: 9/10 (23 July 2001)

!!!SPOILERS!!!
Although Scream 2 has its flaws and may not be as entertaining as the original, I found it to be just as scary, funny, enjoyable, clever, and even as original as the first Scream. The opening theater scene was just plain genius! Great dialogue, GREAT casting (Jada and Omar make one terrific team!), and of course, horror! It was very intense - I was VERY into it - and it was so clever how it was the complete opposite of Scream's opening scene (Casey was alone in a house, while Maureen and Phil were in a crowded theater/bathroom). Although Casey's opening scene was scarier because you're more likely to get killed at home then in a crowded theatre, (and it was weird and far-fetched how no one noticed that poor Maureen was being stabbed to death) it was still just as clever and intense.
Once again, Kevin Williamson delivers a script with witty dialogue and well-developed characters. It may not have as great a plot as Scream and Scream 3, but considering it's a sequel to a masterpiece, I'd say it's good enough. And, of course, Wes Craven is able to produce extremely intense, suspenseful death scenes, complimented nicely by another one of Marco Beltrami's magnificent scores. My favorite scene was the car crash. Completely terrifying! It's great how just when Sid (Neve Campbell) and Hal (Elise Neal - pretty good actress) get out of the car and you can breathe a sigh of relief, Sidney decides to unmask the killer, and, unfortunately for Hallie, it backfires and the killer pops out again!
I have to admit that guessing who the killer was wasn't quite as fun as in the first, but the identity of one of them (Billy's mother - played well by Laurie Metcalf) was a great twist and made up for it. Also, Mickey (Timothy something) was just as funny as Stu in the original.
I was heart-broken when Randy (Jamie Kennedy) and CiCi (Sarah Michelle Gellar) died (I'm a big fan of Buffy) but their performances were superb nonetheless. Jerry O'Connell was even pretty good as Derek, Sid's new sane boyfriend (my sister always goes ga-ga over his cafeteria singing scene) and Liev Schrieber was great in his biggest role of the Scream movies; he made a good possible suspect. Neve, David, and Courtney do great jobs as well reprising their roles.
It would be unfair to say that this is just as good as the original (after all, Scream is a masterpiece), but Randy was wrong: all sequels DON'T suck! I gave Scream 10/10, so Scream 2 gets a respectable 9/10.