Continues the momentum from the original

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2010)

Scream 2 came hot on the heels of the original, with Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson signing on again to direct and write and all of the surviving original cast returning. And they are able to churn out a movie almost as good as its predecessor. While lacking the unique feel of the original, this movie picks up the ball and runs with it, crafting an entertaining film from the still fresh approach used in the original.
The story here is that Gale Weathers has written a best selling book about the events of the first film, which has itself been turned into a film "Stab" (starring Tori Spelling in a nice little reference to a throwaway line of dialogue from the original). Sidney is now at College with a new boyfriend (played by Jerry "Kangaroo Jack" O'Connell) trying to move on with her life, but of course, it all starts to happen again. Two students from Sidney's College are found murdered at the "Stab" premier. She herself is attacked and she finds herself living once again in a real life horror film where everyone's a suspect.
Scream 2 does have some welcome additions to the cast, with Sarah Michelle Gellar, Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett signing up to be slaughtered, and Timophy Olyphant showing some early promise as Mickey, the freaky Tarantino film student. Liev Schrieber's extended role is another nice addition.
The script tends to be more an in joke on the original film rather than the horror genre, but there are still plenty of laughs to be had. The kills are more elaborate than in the original, which has the downside of also making them more absurd. Omar Epps death in particular bends logic.
Overall though, while not as good as the original, Scream 2 is still far more entertaining than many movies that came out in the same period and is far from a bad way to spend two hours. Well worth a look.