( dimension films , " scream 2 " 's distributor , has asked press to say extremely little -- if anything -- about the film's twisty plot . 
that's no easy task considering the wit that deserves to be mentioned here , but i will do my best to be vague ( now , there's a first ) . ) 
 " the first one was [good] , but all the rest sucked , " said a cinematically-savvy teen in last winter's wes craven thriller " scream , " her statement referring to the films of the " nightmare on elm street " series but really putting down franchise overkill in general . 
the comment certainly carries clout : for every truly great sequel , there appears to be a couple of duds , making one wonder if writers are better off sticking solely with fresh ideas . 
but like it or not , along comes " scream 2 . " and believe it or not , it's a doozy -- a slick , sinister , madly subversive good time at the movies , as intent on sending up hollywood's sequel syndrome as much as its prequel poked fun at slasher conventions . 
 " scream 2 " is definitely that rare movie thing -- a follow-up that can stand along side its original with pride . 
it's been two years since a pair of overzealous horror movie fans clad in edvard munch-esque get-ups carved their way through the young populace of woodsboro , california . 
those surviving the ordeal have gotten on with their lives . 
plucky heroine sidney prescott ( neve campbell ) is a drama student at the midwestern windsor college ; her pop culture-whiz pal randy meeks ( jamie kennedy ) has tagged along . 
trash tabloid reporter gale weathers ( courteney cox ) has written a best-seller based on their ordeal , the basis of which has been turned into a ( very bad ) movie called " stab . " 
and dewey riley ( david arquette ) , still suffering from wounds inflicted during " scream , " has left his job as a police officer for a while . 
life is tranquil . . . 
at least for a while . 
several sudden murders bring sidney , randy , gale and dewey together again , but with suspicious eyes cast on each other and most of those in their surroundings -- if these four people learned anything from the past , it's to trust no one . 
thus , the possible victim/potential killer list includes said quartet , as well as : derek ( jerry o'connell ) , sidney's new beau ; cici ( sara michelle gellar ) , a chatty sorority gal ; joel ( duane martin ) , gale's cameraman who's not too thrilled with her blood-soaked past ; hallie ( elise neal ) , sidney's sassy roommate ; debbie ( laurie metcalf ) , a local reporter who gives gale some not-too-friendly competition ; and mickey ( timothy olyphant ) , randy's good friend and fellow film student . 
cotton weary ( liev schreiber ) , the man sidney wrongly accused of her mother's murder in scream , also shows up on campus -- but why ? 
like the first scream , craven and screenwriter kevin williamson inaugurate things with a bang . 
this time , it's an extended sequence that finds an african-american couple ( jada pinkett and omar epps ) attending a sneak preview of " stab , " making sly references about everything from sandra bullock to the lunchmeat non-roles of blacks in slasher cinema . 
before tragedy ensues at the screening , the movie-within-a-movie setup allows for plenty of jokey moments , including a scene from " stab " which turns scream's now-famous drew barrymore prologue on its ear . 
 ( " b---- , hang up the phone and star-69 his a-- ! " 
pinkett yells at the screen . ) 
it's funny , creepy stuff ( i don't think i'll ever feel safe in a movie theater again ) that effectively foreshadows the ratio of smart scares and spoofy laughs down the road . 
another flawless example of this is a riotous cell phone-assault of the killer on randy , dewey and gale in broad daylight ; it builds comedically and ends with genuine terror because of the emotional investment made on these delicious characters . 
there are other superb set pieces , but explaining them risks ruining their effect . 
there are more players this time around as to provide both a higher number suspects and a staggering body count . 
it's something of a trade-in -- the new characters are too large in number to be as fully-developed as the original " scream " gang , but this movie packs in knowing performances ( especially by kennedy and cox ) and more death for your dollar . 
it can be argued that , while the original might outclass it by a tad , scream 2 is both scarier and funnier . 
it certainly doesn't skimp with shocks -- a major one being the killing of one cast member very near and dear to my heart ( i actually questioned craven and williamson's judgment here , considering how much this person has added to these films ) . 
sometimes you wish that more could have been done with stab -- the two scenes we're shown are dead-on -- but for film fans , there are plenty of subtle nods to movies like " the usual suspects , " " aliens " and " the empire strikes back . " 
still , " scream 2 " does so many things right , it's petty to quibble . 
its penchant for parody is irresistible , discussions of the merits of film sequels and all . 
the attractive , solid cast is a definite bonus . 
and the denouement ( while not as shocking as " scream " 's ) is priceless ; the film's final revelation incorporates bits of a particular horror film prominently referred to in " scream " with one of the best bad guy motives ever put on paper . 
all this and a " scream 3 " is in the works . 
knowing the series' tendency for self-reference , perhaps one of its characters will again discuss the concept of sequel justice . 
mentioning " scream 2 " 'll help them in their argument .