Scream 2 (1997)
There's a killer on campus, making more calls, making more kills.
The phone is ringing off the hook. You might want to check the caller ID before picking it, you never know who it is! I said we would continue and that’s what we are going to do gosh darn it. Most would say sequels are what kills a good horror movie, but in the fields of horror we find thing frequently returning from the grave - so let’s see if our little ghost faced killer can keep his knife up or not, it’s time for Scream 2.
The story picks up some time later from the first - our surviving characters have gone on to college and picked up some new lives. A new movie is hitting the theaters too - Stab! A movie based on the events of the previous Scream movie thrown out there by none other than the last movies breaking reporter. Unfortunately for the college town the movie is airing in though, a murder is amongst the crowd and has found the perfect time to practice his copy paste skills. Just so happens a familiar few faces go to school here - and it isn’t long before chaos abruptly cuts in on the dance of life to bring back some painful memories - memories that can’t be as painful as the acting in the Stab movie…
So look, the movie has some commentary about stuff much like the last. Amongst this commentary is the point that sequels, in the horror genre, tend to be worse than what comes before them. Here this could easily be argued that it’s not wrong. I mean let’s be honest here - we haven’t hit the bowels of a franchise where it’s “in space!” or made-for-TV yet, but it is a step back from the practically in-argueable classic nature of the first. Whereas in the first we didn’t find ourselves questioning character decisions, by the end - in fact, particularly at the end - there is a good number of dropped-ball choices, regardless of how they may choose to try and write them off. Oh look, a gun? We don’t need that to defend ourselves! Whole place is on lock-in because it’s night? I’m sure someone decided to ignore that and go to the theater! I’m more forgiving of these in a post pandemic-year than I was before, but it’s still something that’s noticeable.
The actors still do a good job though, so you needn’t worry about that. Yes, some are stronger than others, but all are pretty good for what they need to be. You will find some really hamming into the “I’m a killer” play whether they are or not, which feels a bit unnatural, but at the same time it’s not really hurting the movie at all when they are that way. That’s said, some of the background characters are just lame background characters, and there doesn’t feel like it’s quite as well connected a group as before even though being well done. On the flip of that, I can say that the returning characters all play up well and feel they have had some time and things pass between them.
Who dunnit?
The movie’s effects take a step up. You get some pretty gnarly deaths in here - although most are in fact still of the stabbing variety. It’s not entirely It’s not shy about showing them happen - much like it isn’t to be found wanting in the blood category. You won’t really find any that are unintentionally funny, although you can find some that are certainly not as impressive as others. Only one of them is particularly grisly, but that one also doens’t really hang around on screen as long as the others despite technically being in the scene for a good while. It feels like the success of the first was well spent in increasing the budget for effects - and it’s not like the first had poor effects.
You do also still get some humor in this one - and a good portion of it if not all of it is intended this time around. There’s even a musical moment, which could be entertaining or dumb depending on how easy-going and prone to outbursts of songs to impress you are. A lot of the lines deal with movies this time around - it would seem that despite there being so many sororities and college professions on display at this school, almost everyone is familiar with movies enough to drop a reference as the scene calls for it. You could also get some laughs out of how sneaky the new ghostface is when they aren’t constantly getting slap-sticked by the victims with potted plants and whiffed swings.
Hows it hold up directly? Good, by itself. Yes, it’s a sequel and should be seen as such - needed details from the first are recapped and the likes, but the character dynamics of the ones that return have a lot more insight. As a sequel? Well, it could be better but it’s really not bad at all - at least not to the extent of being a real franchise killer. Sound design does well, and it feels like it had the same vision behind it - it just feels like it might be getting the weight of expectations struggling with how to keep it going at this point. I should also mention that for one reason or another it feels much longer than the first, even though it’s in reality just a mere 10 minutes longer or so.
The scoo-B gang.
I still enjoy this one, but I’d rather watch the first. It still has many of the DNA elements of the first, but something about it - be it that it’s not as new or novel after the first, or just the composition of it - really stops it from standing out as excelling over what was already there. When it boils down to it, it still at least sticks with a story and hasn’t started playing itself for complete laughs - that might get stored for the next movie for next week. I’ll be honest, I don’t recall most of it - be it a good or bad thing - but so far we definatley the first is the best, and the second is only a step back instead of a total failure.