Scream 2
The first time I watched Scream 2 when it came out I let a couple of small nitpicks cloud my judgment of the movie. I’m glad I’m doing a rewatch because I have a new respect for this movie. I still find Derek breaking out in song in the cafeteria cringe inducing. And not the good kind of cringy.
Photo Credit: Dimension Films
Released: Dec 12, 1997
Runtime: 2 hr
Director: Wes Craven
Writer: Kevin Williamson
Actors: Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox
PLOT
It has been two years and Sidney is now in college with a new boyfriend and friends. A movie about the prior murders is released, and a new killer starts stalking her and her friends.
MY THOUGHTS
There are about 10 kills. The opening kills are Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett Smith, a couple at the movies to see Stab, the movie based on the original kills. They went all out for their kills. But Drew Barrymore’s murder will always be my favorite. My WTF kill is Cici’s death. Come on. Buffy…I mean Sarah Michelle Gellar, deserved a better death than just thrown off a balcony. The kill that hit me in the gut was Randy’s. He was our lovable geek.
As far as acting, we get a good group of actors. We get the original survivors of course, but we get some other well known actors too. We get Sarah Michelle Gellar as Sorority sister Cici (from Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Jerry O’Connell as Sidney’s boyfriend Derek, Rebecca Gayheart (from Urban Legend and that Noxema girl, yes the ad) as a Sorority sister are just a few. We have Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett Smith as the opening kills. Timothy Oliphant as Derek’s best friend and film freak, who plays a pretty good “is he or isn’t he the killer” role.
Randy at least told us who the killers were before he died. His scene with Dewey he told him the rules. I’m seeing a pattern. The first Scream, Randy told Stu at the video store that it was probably the boyfriend. This time Randy mentions Mickey but doesn’t totally dismiss him. But they also talk about female killers and Randy mentions Mrs. Vorhees, Jason’s mother. This is just my opinion and since I’ve only re-watched the first two Scream movies I can only guess, but I think someone does give away who the killers are in a discussion. I think it’s Randy the first two movies, and we’ll see who for the rest. Dewey also mentions that if there is a killer, they are already in Sidney’s life.
Randy, Randy, Randy. As much as I like him he did get a little arrogant. And yes, I’m talking about him being wrong about the Aliens quote. Joshua Jackson says a quote from Ripley: "Get away from her, you bitch!" and Randy corrects him by saying: “"Stay away from her, you bitch." I still love the character, even if he was wrong. LOL
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My two main issues and they are just minor gripes I guess. I didn’t like the lunchroom debacle with the singing and all that. I just found it too cringy. Also, and I know I’ll get hate for it, but I didn’t like the whole rehearsal scene and of course Ghostface shows up amongst the dancers. It just felt pointless. I know the whole play about Cassandra is supposed to be a metaphor for Sidney and what she’s going through. I don’t know. It just didn’t do it for me. But again, it’s a minor nitpick for me. The rest of the movie I was cool with.
I do like Scream 2, even though it’s not as good as the original. I like how we get to see how Sidney evolves throughout the series, and we get to see how she reacts and how these events take a toll on her psychologically. First we see her as a young, naive teenager, and now we see her as a college student who is more reserved, and who has a hard time trusting herself and other people.
And now for your Forever Final Girl Exclusive…Did you know?:
Paulette Patterson plays the usher who hands the masks to Maureen and Phil. She won her role in a contest by MTV.
All the scenes from “Stab” were directed by Robert Rodriguez.
Chief Hartley was played by Lewis Arquette, David Arquette’s real life father.
As in the first movie, there are a few cameos in Scream 2. Selma Blair plays the voice on the phone talking to Cici before the killer calls. Matthew Lillard is in the background at the frat party. You can see him hug Mickey in the distance. Kevin Williamson interviews Cotton on TV. And Wes Craven can be seen as a doctor in the hallway of the hospital.
We get another shout out to A Nightmare on Elm Street. You can see a red and green striped sweater in Hallie and Sidney’s dorm room.
Randy mentions Gail’s nudes and Gail says it’s her head on Jennifer Aniston’s body. This was inspired by fake images of Courteney Cox that appeared on the web prior to production of the movie.
When we see Randy’s dead body in the van, you can see a red lipstick print on his hand, between his finger and thumb. This gives away that his killer was a woman early on.
Another subtle hint about one of the killers is the beer bottles. They are little, fat and round and called Mickey’s beer.
Jada Pinkett Smith had a lot of input on what her death scene was to be, like asking Craven to make it as sensational and violent as possible.
Apparently the script was leaked online before they finished filming so they had to change who the killers were. Originally Derek and Hallie were the killers.
If you want to see my other Scream reviews, click here: Scream Franchise.
Let’s get into the rankings:
Kills/Blood/Gore: 4/5
Sex/Nudity: 0/5
Scare factor: 3/5
Enjoyment factor: 8/10
My Rank: 3.75/5
IMDB: 6.2/10
Rotten Tomatoes: critics: 8.1/10 audience: 5.7/10
Letterboxd: 3.3/5