SCREAM 2
1/2
WenQing
Written by : Kevin Williamson
Directed by : Wes Craven
Main Cast : Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott), Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers),
David Arquette (Dewey), Jamie Kennedy (Randy), Jerry O'Connell, Laurie Metcalf
Length : 120 min approx
Rating : *1/2
SHLOCK SHLOCK HORROR HORROR ... IT STINKS
Oh the horror horror (apologies to Conrad), here we go again delving into the heart of darkness created by writer Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven. Sorry to say, SCREAM 2 stinks, and it's a pathetic sequel to something as inventive and entertaining as the first SCREAM (this is arguable of course).
![[ Poster of Scream2 ]](/film/images/scream22.jpg)
What's the problem? Well basically SCREAM 2 gives you nothing to be excited about or enthralled by. No fear, no real shocks, just lots of blood, killings and a very tired and twisted copycat of the first movie. If anything, the central attraction of the first SCREAM, its self-referential parody of the horror-slasher flick collapses on itself because SCREAM 2 makes the fatal declaration from the first quarter of two overly long and desensitising hours of killings, that "sequels are never as good as the original." The overhead title of one the SCREAM 2 posters is pretty succint in proclaiming "someone is taking their love of sequels too far". And that really hits the spot as far as I'm concerned.
What happens in SCREAM 2? Well Sidney goes to college, gets a new boyfriend who seems to be absolutely devoted but ends up being a suspect (remember her last boyfriend Billy?). We get the return of Gale Weathers (again I ask, what kind of name is that?), who is still a vicious broadcast journalist/reporter obsessed with sensational news of serial murders and such. Jamie Kennedy's Randy comes back sporting a befuddling leprachaun-like goatee with more movie wisdom to spout (it's Williamson's mouthpiece for showing off his own film buff knowledge- but Randy is still my favourite character). And we have Dewey (who didn't die as we saw in SCREAM!) who survived a painful backstabbing experience with only a severed nerve and a Keyser Soze limp as a result (Kevin Spacey and Oscar material he's not!). So some fellow or fellows (remember SCREAM's horrific cop-out ending that sort of screwed-up the menace of the movie?) go and start killing people who have the same names as the victims in the first film... well, okay. So our heroes band together against the killer with the mask, sharp blade and the throaty voice on the phone... some people die along the way and as usual everyone is a suspect.
So here's why it stinks. SCREAM 2 repeats all the mistakes Williamson made in SCREAM and I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER, and amplifies them tenfold. Our killer is all too human again, he is still getting doors slammed on his nose, bicycles, flower pots and bookshelves hurled at him to deadly effect, and being punched and kicked where the sun doesn't shine. He's this pathetic and still kills all the nameless extras anyway (and some main characters too, which is another grouse of mine). And when he or she or they are revealed at the end of the movie, they turn out to be only people from your neighbourhood, with motives and habits that are quirky not scary and laughable not frightening.
Also when we get to the end of the movie, it's another protracted finale which stretches the climax too long and weary. It's no fun at all. At least in SCREAM the finale was in a house watching a horror film fest, but in SCREAM 2 we watch the climax in a theatre in college where a Greek Tragedy is being staged... it's so bizarre that it doesn't fit in with anything in the show.
Next, Randy tells us some rules of sequels (the fount of film wisdom), the main idea being "carnage candy". But I've seen enough blood, and our killer sticking people like Thanksgiving turkeys is nothing new, and lacks inspiring innovation. In fact just about the same number of people die this time, and some who shouldn't do, and some who deserve to don't. Most of all (my main grievance), Randy dies. I thought the main idea was to keep the gimmicky theme of a self-referential film going... but with Randy abruptly
snuffed out (and I was in denial from the moment he was being diced), the whole film spirals into a slasher flick with no distinctive character to make it special. It doesn't even feel worth watching anymore. None of the leads are compelling or even remotely interesting compared with Randy. Neve Campbell is nothing but "Party of Five plus blood and more tears than TV can handle", Courteney Cox is an anorexic looking "Friend" who's so difficult to watch I don't mind if she gets cut up, David Arquette is trying to copy a Bill Pullman in INDEPENDENCE DAY (butching up with a gravelly voice neither actor has and squinting a la Clint Eastwood... bah humbug!), and Jerry O'Connell, the sometimes charismatic lead of TV's "Sliders" is pretty wooden (yeah I'd blame the script for that too).
There's something else I learnt about SCREAM 2 while watching AmericanTV hype about it. It seems even the stars didn't know who was the killer until the final scene was being filmed and the script thrust into their hands. They enthuse about how this is a cool way to make a movie, but I know it's because Craven must have rushed Williamson and Williamson (bright though he might be in film trivia) just hasn't got enough juice to churn out quality stuff on time. Also, there probably wasn't anywhere left to go with SCREAM 2. When I found out who the killers were, it was unfulfilling and frighteningly hilarious because of how badly the script had twisted. To me, one of the killers seemed like a none too ornamental buddy-cum-extra on the set.
All things said, SCREAM 2 did start off promisingly. The first hour is pretty creative in blurring the lines between film and reality even better than the first film. The ceremonial opening sequence of a double kill (SCREAM had Drew Barrymore and a nameless piece of chopped liver killed in about 8 minutes) is in a film screening of STAB, a movie based on Gale Weathers' book about the events in the first film. Everyone's dressed up like the killer, and they watch a real life murder and think it's a publicity gimmick... not too bad I guess. There's also a classroom scene of a discussion about the influence of movies on reality; but the fun part is the discussion of whether sequels ever get better than the originals (sequels posited as betters also included ALIENS and T2... and EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was disqualified because part two of a trilogy technically isn't a sequel... pretty entertaining I thought). Even Courteney Cox being interviewed about the killings while trying to interview others herself gives a pretty witty sense of how mediafied life is, making news so close to reality that it isn't clear which is which anymore. But that's as good as it gets... Randy dies and then in minutes so does the film- and there is almost a whole hour left.
So sad to say, SCREAM 2 is a tired, jagged and badly woven together film. It's as if we're always just waiting for someone to die, and in the meanwhile no one has anything to do but look bored to tears. It makes it somehow quite clear that horror sequels barely live up to the originals (although I thought NIGHTMARE(s) 3 and 4 were pretty good, but number one was the best). And one last thing, they killed the pretty girl really early (Sarah Michelle Gellar from I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST SUMMER), which didn't make much sense. After all, Neve and Courteney aren't drop dead gorgeous as far as I can see, and without beauty (gentlemen prefer blondes I am told) or brains (death of Randy!), SCREAM 2 is a sequel that wasn't worth making. See what happens to poor copycats?
The Flying Inkpot's Rating System
* Wait for the TV2 broadcast.
** A little creaky, but still better than staying at home with Tonight With Gurmit.
*** Pretty good, bring a friend.
**** Amazing, potent stuff.
***** Perfection. See it twice.
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From: Wayne (Wayne@WAG.com)
doesn't anyone want to defend SCREAM 2? where are all the mindless SCREAM fans who think the first film was godsend and watched it 30 times over because they didn't have an inkling of what "having a life" meant? ha ha... i felt SCREAM 2 was pretty absurd myself... a very stupid movie with too many dead people who didn't matter and too much killing which was totally not fun or inventive... it was boring and Neve Campbell should have been killed off in the first film... she's not pretty, no fun to watch and can't act either. Courtney Cox should have bled to death from the gunshot in SCREAM 2... and yes I HATE "FRIENDS" too, and I think everyone on the cast needs to be killed by the Grim Reaper except for Jennifer Aniston... Ross is too wimp, Phoebe is too stoopid, Joey is even stoopider! Chandler is just an ASS... but Jennifer is the true godsend to this generation of common males... oh yeah, once more... SCREAM 2 sux
