Movie Review - Scream 2

Scream 2 (1997)

Starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Liev Schreiber, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jerry O'Connell, Elise Neal, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf, Omar Epps, and Jada Pinkett Smith

Directed by Wes Craven

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

I always thought that Scream was a solid horror film and, watching it years later, that fortunately still held true upon a recent revisit.  In that review, I mentioned that I didn't remember the next two films in the series with any fondness and I wondered if there was a reason for that.

Well, I'm pleasantly surprised to say that Scream 2 is also a pretty decent horror flick.  Yes, it's essentially the first film rehashed (but that's the point of the story in that a copycat killer is still enacting hell on Sidney Prescott's [Neve Campbell] life after she moved on to college), but it's a solid thriller.  Granted, there aren't as many nifty death scenes, but what keeps the flick afloat is the very game cast.  The return of Courtney Cox's Gale Weathers, David Arquette's Dewey Riley, and Jamie Kennedy's Randy all jump right back into things, expanding upon their characters and actually proving to be more enjoyable in some cases than in the first film.  The addition of Elise Neal as Sidney's best friend, Jerry O'Connell as Sid's boyfriend, and Laurie Metcalf as a podunk local newspaper reporter fascinated by the well-known Gale Weathers are all nice new faces.

Granted, the big reveal at the end is silly and the series loses some of its charm since it somewhat abandons the "poking fun at other horror films" premise, but it was still an enjoyable two hours, so I'll take that.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-