Scream 2

 “Hello, Sidney.”

The big debate in the Scream fandom is which film is the best in the franchise, the first or the second (although the fourth is finally starting to get the praise it deserves and there are, inexplicably to me, some hardcore defenders of the third). While I maintain that the first is superior, its sequel more than holds its own.

Scream 2 was written by Kevin Williamson (The Faculty) and directed by Wes Craven (The Hills Have Eyes). After the massive success of its predecessor, the sequel was immediately greenlit and was released on December 12th, 1997 (less than a year after the original). Scream 2 was made on a budget of $24 million, made $32,926,342 upon opening, and went on to make $172,363,301 worldwide. It received largely positive reviews upon release.

Following the events of the first film, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell, Wild Things) is now attending Windsor College. Soon she, the other survivors of the “Woodsboro Massacre”, and Sidney’s new classmates find themselves targeted by a copycat killer with a surprising connection to the original killers.

Like the first film Scream 2 lovingly lampoons the slasher genre, sequels in particular. The body count is bigger, the set pieces more elaborate, the blood flows freely, and the film takes every chance to poke a little bit of fun at itself and its genre. Case in point: a fun scene in a film class discussing whether sequels can ever be better than the original (for the record, Aliens and T2 are excellent but the originals are better and The Godfather Part II is legitimately better than the first).

That’s not to say that the film doesn’t have effective scares. The scene in which Sidney hallucinates the killer (or does she?) during a rehearsal of Agamemnon is visually striking and nicely highlights Sidney’s emotional state. In fact, the entire film does a great job of showing the scars, both real and metaphorical, that the survivors of the first film are carrying.

Of course, the big things that we expect from a Scream film are the opening and the killer reveal and both deliver. The opening mixes things up by changing the setting from an isolated country house to a crowded movie theatre. The murder of Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith, The Matrix Reloaded) going unnoticed by the rowdy crowd is extremely unnerving.

As for the killer reveal, it’s my favorite part of the movie after the Agamemnon sequence. While the revelation that Mickey (Timothy Olyphant, Justified) is one of the killers is pretty obvious, seemingly minor character Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf, Roseanne) aka Mrs. Loomis being revealed as the second killer is a doozy of a twist. Metcalf’s delightfully unhinged performance cements Mrs. Loomis as my favorite killer in the franchise (I’ll do a ranking when I get to the fourth and a revised ranking after the release of the fifth).

Scream 2 is a worthy sequel to the original and, while I don’t share the opinion, I certainly see why it’s some people’s favorite. I don’t think that it is quite as tight as the original, but it’s still great.

Rating: 4.5 Greek tragedies out of 5

Other Observations:

• Does the Dog Die? Nope!

• Harrison’s Favorite Scare: The Agamemnon scene for sure, but honorable mention goes to Sidney and Hallie’s (Elise Neal, Hustle and Flow) tense escape from the crashed police car.

• The Cici (Sarah Michelle Geller, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) chase scene is great!

• Also Gale (Courtney Cox, Cougar Town) in the sound studio! This film really has spectacular set pieces!

• Unpopular opinion in ‘97 that seems to be more popular these days, I’m glad Randy (Jamie Kennedy, Ghost Whisperer) was killed. He’s the worst type of film gatekeeper and his fixation on Sidney is creepy.

• This is a good Gale hair movie. Love the streaks.

Next Week: We continue the countdown to Freddy vs. Jason with A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.