Follows the first film's formula too closely to be effective

Rating: 4/10 (11 December 2016)

Wes Craven was quick to jump on the bandwagon he had created with his surprise hit SCREAM, delivering us a sequel barely months after the first. As expected, it's not as good as the original film, and in fact doesn't come close. This time around the emphasis is on comedy rather than horror. SCREAM 2 is witty, clever, and self-indulgent (as to be expected) and it's a bit of fun watching the original cast members go through their paces once again. But this is just not enough.
Courtney Cox and Neve Campbell both seem to be competing for thinnest female performer and they look a lot like zombies here. David Arquette offers up some suspect comic value with his limp (he was stabbed in the back in the first film) but the star of the show is Jamie Kennedy, who returns as geek Randy from the first film. Kennedy is the brightest star of them all and the best scene comes where he is being terrorised by the murderer in the park. Also appearing are Sarah Michelle Gellar in a typical pretty-faced role, and Jerry O'Connell who is good value as Campbell's boyfriend.
The gore this time consists of stabbing and shooting, there's a lot of blood but no real imagination to the killings (apart from the first death where a man is stabbed in the side of the head through a toilet cubicle wall). Also, again as expected, there are a lot of protracted stalk and slash sequences towards the end of the film, before the clichéd and disappointing finale which could have been a lot better - and more original - than it was. It's a fun film to watch but it's a sequel that covers no new ground and is merely a continuation of the first film. We could have done without it, because honestly speaking this came too fast after the first one and followed the same formula too closely to be as effective. And as for SCREAM 3...