Scream 2 (1997) Review

Scream 2 (1997) Review

Normally, a slasher sequel is a pretty straight-forward thing, and rarely better than the original. But, for Scream 2, director Wes Craven returned, and so did screenwriter Kevin Williamson, having outlined some ideas for sequels before the original even came out. After the breakout success of the first movie, Scream 2 rushed into production, and amazingly, came out in less than a year. When I found that out, I was really amazed it didn’t suck.

 The first time I saw Scream 2, I thought it did suck, but having seen it again a couple times over the years, I’ve come around on it somewhat. Doing a sequel to an already meta, self-aware movie meant it had to go even further in that direction, and while it gets a bit grading sometimes with all the talk about sequels (“they’re never as good!”), there’s still some fun to be had with the idea. 

Sidney is back, now attending college with a bunch of new friends, but also, our old pal Randy is back, and he’s not the only movie geek this time. Also returning is Gale Weathers and Deputy Dewey. Gale and Sidney still clash, and Dewey and Gale still flirt. It’s in these moments that Scream 2 feels a bit repetitive, but actually, it’s more different from the first movie than I originally thought, both in good and bad ways. 

It begins with a similar sort of prologue as the first movie, only this time, an African-American couple are on a date to see the premiere of Stab, a film-within-the-film that recreates the Woodsboro murders (in other words, recreations of the first movie) and things play out in a predictably horrifying way, but then there isn’t anything scary again for quite a while. Scream 2 knows it can’t be as scary as the first movie; Ghostface became so iconic so fast, and by the nature of it being so anonymous that it could be anyone, it didn’t feel like they tried as hard to make this one scary. The pacing is much slower than the first, and I find it actually drags at points. 

The most intriguing parts, for me, are to do with Liev Schreiber’s character Cotton Weary and Sidney. After the reveal that Billy and Stu were the killers, Cotton was found not guilty and released from prison, but he’s still a shifty dude and unsettles Sidney anytime they interact. An aspect I didn’t care for was Jerry O’Connell’s role as Sidney’s new boyfriend Derek. As it turned out, Sidney’s previous boyfriend Billy was a killer the whole time, just like I figured, because he’s so creepy, but then they play up the mystery of Derek maybe being the copycat killer this time around, and I just found this annoying. To me, it’s obvious how clever Williamson is with his screenplay that he wouldn’t stoop to the level of repeating that same twist, so every time they tried to draw mystery out of the situation, I just wanted to move on to something else. 

The actual mystery of the copycat killer doesn’t come off quite as original or as convincing as before, but it’s still entertaining to try and figure out along the way, and satisfying enough in the reveal. Unlike the first movie, knowing the twist ending makes it a little less entertaining to watch over again. I find Scream is still fun to watch over and over, but Scream 2 feels more tedious, for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s because of the fewer scares and greater emphasis on comedy. 

This time they go for broader humour, and more of it. There are some dated jokes, like when Dewey asks when Gale started smoking, and Randy says it’s since nude pictures of her leaked, to which Gale says, “It was just my head. It was Jennifer Anniston’s body.” An obvious reference to Courtney Cox’s role on Friends. One funny callback to the original I really like is when they show an interview with the actress who portrays Sidney in the Stab movie. In Scream, Sidney suggests if it were all a movie, she’d be played by Tori Spelling. Sure enough, Tori Spelling portrays Sidney, and they even show a clip from Stab, with Luke Wilson portraying Billy. It’s these moments of the meta humour that I really like—less so all the talk about sequels being inferior and the rules being different.  

The cast is even more stacked than before. I won’t even bother listing all of the standouts, there are just too many, but it’s funny to see so many actors who would go on to bigger and better roles (or already had) give such inconsequential performances. Neve Campbell is reliably great, David Arquette is actually funnier than before, all the returning cast members are good again, and really, there are few performances overall that I find to be lacking.

Scream 2 is a good sequel, but it isn’t as good as the original. Even for all the self-aware humour regarding the nature of second films, it doesn’t capture the same blend of horror, humour, and mystery, but does further develop the characters in interesting ways.