As Good a Sequel as There Ever Could Be

Rating: 7/10 (4 January 2011)

Where Kevin Williamson's screenplay drew upon the rules of slasher movies as an inspiration for a teen killer in "Scream", his script for the sequel in turn recognizes the rules and traditions of popular horror sequels and references itself constantly as being aware of this status.
"Scream 2" isn't as well put together as the first but director Wes Craven manages to make a pretty scary and intriguing horror romp out of Williamson's script, cleverly mixing scares and in-joke humor together to rush out a sequel to one of the greatest teen horror satires ever. There are real moments of terror in the story, which finds Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) once again dealing with a psycho slasher in a ghost mask who is stalking her and her close friends in a pleasant Ohio college town. Courteney Cox reprises her role as reporter Gale Weathers, who turned out to be an unexpected hero in "Scream" and returns to gain more fame, capitalizing on the murders taking place at Sidney's school. David Arquette also returns as the funny Deputy Dewey and his scenes with Gale are some of the best comic moments in the film. The cast is better in this sequel, and besides the main trio of Campbell, Cox and Arquette, Jamie Kennedy returns as movie buff Randy, and you've also got appearances by Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jada Pinkett Smith, Jerry O'Connell, and even the always delightful Laurie Metcalfe (of "Roseanne" fame) in a hilarious cameo role as an aspiring reporter.
Where the film is overlong, it proves itself to be an ultimately entertaining and clever retread of the first. "Scream 2" still takes the time to establish its characters and environment before people start getting picked off by the killer. Wes Craven has an eye for scary chase scenes and these are the highlight of the film. Among these are a jolting car chase, a clever revamp of the opening from the first film set in a sorority house, and even a surprise moment of horror in a crowded movie theater at the premiere of "Stab", ironically, a film within a film gimmick based on the events of the first film. It's touches like this that keep "Scream 2" above routine slasher material, but not for long. The twist (that is to say, who "Ghostface" actually turned out to be) was genuinely unexpected, even more so than the first, and echoes some classic twists from earlier films in the genre that inspired "Scream" itself. Craven is still at the top of his game stylistically but it doesn't get much better than the original "Scream".