Review #54: Scream 2 (1997)

Cast/Notable Credits:
Wes Craven (Director): A Nightmare on Elm Street

Neve Campbell (Sidney): Sream Trilogy, The Craft

David Arquette (Dewey): Scream Trilogy

Courteney Cox (Gail): Scream Trilogy

Matthew Lillard (Cameo): Ghoulies 3 (1991), Wing Commander (1999), 13 Ghosts (2001), Scooby Doo 1 (2002) & 2 (2004)

Live Schreiber (Cotton): Scream Trilogy

Jamie Kennedy (Rande): Scream Trilogy

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Casey ‘Cici’ Cooper): The Grudge

Jerry O’Connell (Derek): Stand by Me (1986), Joe’s Apartment (1996), Jerry Maguire (1996), Mission to Mars (2000), Tomcats (2001), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Room 6 (2006), Sliders and Crossing Jordan T.V. series

Elise Neal (Hallie): Mission to Mars, SeaQuest DSV and K-ville T.V. series

Laurie Metcalf (Debbie Salt): Desperately Seeking Susan (1985), Uncle Buck (1989), Pacific Heights (1990), JFK (1991), Toy Story 1 & 2 (1995,1999), Bulworth (1999), Treasure Planet (2002), Meet the Robinsons (2007), Roseanne T.V. series

Timothy Olyphant (Mickey): Go (1999), Gone in 60 seconds (2000), Dreamcatcher (2003), The Girl Next Door (2004), Die Hard 4 (2007), Hitman (2007), and Deadwood T.V. series

Jada Pinkett-Smith (Maureen): Menace II Society (1993), Jason’s Lyric (1994), Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (1995), The Nutty Professor (1996), Ali (2001), Matrix 2 & 3 (2003), Collateral (2004), Madagascar (2005)

Rebecca Gayheart (Sorority Sister Lois): Urban Legend, Jawbreakers (1999), Urban Legends (2000), Santa’s Slay (2005), Earth 2 T.V. series

Portia de Rossi (Sorority Sister Murphy): Stigmata (1999), Dead & Breakfast (2004), Cursed, Ally McBeal, Arrested Development, and Nip/Tuck T.V. series...pictured right...who cares that she likes women? I like em'.

Omar Epps (Phil): Major League 2 (1994), Love & Basketball (2000), Dracula 2000 (2000), ER and House M.D. T.V. series

Other cameos: Heather Graham, Joshua Jackson, Tori Spelling, and Luke Wilson

Trailer:


Plot:

Years after the original murders of Woodsboro, a copycat killer…or killers…has/have returned to haunt Sydney and friends. A movie named “Stab” has been made based off a book by Gail Weathers and the Woodsboro Murders.

The movie is in its first week of premiers and teens at a local college are starting to die. Could there be an eerie connection? Hmm. It happens that Sydney is going to school at this college to pursue a career in acting. Rande also returns to the film, going to the same college as Sydney.

Once the murders hit the mainstream media, a buzz surrounding the film and Sydney takes place. The hoopla reunites Dewey with the two and shortly afterwards, Gail shows up looking for a story. Can you say...Bee-Yotch? After the success of her first book, Gail is a famous reporter now. Gail aslo helped exonerate Cotton from his murder conviction of Sydney’s mom.

Hounded by the media and memories of the first murders, Sydney struggles to stay sane as her new group of friends starts to die off one by one. But who is after her this time? Only the killer knows. Suspects include: everyone. It’s the same movie as the first one, but set on a college campus.

Villain:

The “Scream” Ghost costume returns for the sequel. The killer…or killers…are not the same as before. Billy and Stuart are dead, but a copy cat killer has taken on their legacy to torment Sydney and friends. Friends…get it…(Courteney Cox).

The movie still plays off the “who dunnit” style, and the killer…or killers…is/are finally revealed at the end. The “Ghost” still wields a sharp hunting (Rambo style) knife and taunts his victims over the phone. There’s actually a guy casted as the “voice” (Roger Jackson).

Cast:

It’s pretty much the same cast from the first movie that returns for this one. Neve/Sydney actually plays a “happy” person in this movie. Part 1 & 3 I hated her character because she played a stuck-up depressed chick. There was no life to her character. This movie does a better job to make her character someone you actually root for at the end. Unless you’re like me, and don’t care about whether or not the character survives and you just want everyone to die regardless.

Dewey miraculously survived the last movie, and now walks around like Bob Dole with a limp and a paralyzed arm. He’s not quite as Barney Fife-ish as he was in the first movie, but still I don’t care much for his character.

Gail returns as a famous author (wrote a book about murders in first movie), and also helped free Cotton from jail. She plays a news-hungry bitch, but later progresses into a person who cares. Just kill her already.

Rande returns for the comic relief and gives us more rules to live by. New key additions are the numerous amounts of hot chicks and celebs’ added. Buffy plays a small part in this movie, but I don’t care…it’s worth it. I think the best dude in the movie is the “new” cameraman (Joel) for Gail. He’s pretty funny, and knows the situation he’s in.

SFX/Gore:
Rande’s rules for a sequel:

1. Higher body count in a sequel…check. There were a total of 10 deaths in the film, 11 if you count Casey’s death in the Stab movie in the background.

2. Death scenes more elaborate/bloodier/gorier…check.

The special effects were pretty good in the film. I thought the *Spoiler *(Buffy death was kind of crappy. A simple stab wound and then tossed off the balcony. Boo! That’s the death you make the “best” or most “memorable” for the audience). The death scene that disturbed me the most…(Phil in the beginning). He gets stab while taking a dump. No one should go out that way. Come on’ have some dignity!

TNA:

Well if you’re not gonna show nudity or sex scenes, then you better make it up with “eye candy”. And that’s what they did. Approximately ten hot chicks (more if you count extras in the background for sorority house and party scenes) in the film. Including Buffy and Noxzema girl.

Will Smith’s piece of ass (Jada Pinkett-Smith...pictured right) shows up in the film for a brief time. I know it sucks having all these popular hot chicks in the film. We all know they’re not gonna show us anything. Maybe some day…when their careers are just about over and need a jump-start or pay day.

T.Gun's Take:

Let’s make this thing into a trilogy! Yeah. Scream 2 was a typical throw-together-at-the-last-minute-rush-into-theatres-because-the-first-was-a-success-movie. But that’s the horror industry folks.

Within less than a year since the original has been released, this one was fast tracked to the theaters. I considering how fast they packaged this one…I’m impressed. Yeah, it wasn’t good nor was it horrible, but at least it was okay to watch. It was a super thin plot surrounded by many deaths…wait a second…that’s a formula I like. Throw in a lot of hot chicks and whola!

Unfortunately there were many things I hated. First of all, this happens towards the end…Sydney and her roommate, Hallie, are being escorted out of town by two police in an unmarked cop car. They are sitting in the back seat while parked at a stoplight when the killer decides to “ambush” them at the light. So the killer runs up to the window and kills the first cop by slashing his throat.

Okay, I can buy that. But then he jumps on the roof and slides over to the other side as the other cop fumbles away looking for his gun. This leads to a fight between the killer and the cop, which somehow leads to the killer driving the car with the cop on the hood of the car. All this time Sydney and Hallie watch in horror “locked” in the backseat of the car.

Recap: a knife wielding masked man takes out two cops (with guns) in a matter of a couple minutes while two chicks look on. Odds: four on one. Guns vs. “a” knife. After all said and done…Sydney vs. killer.

On top of that, the killer crashes the car into a construction site. Every one is temporarily knocked out or dead. Sydney and Hallie pry themselves out of the backseat (because the doors are locked) and into the front seat. Passenger door is conveniently wedged up against the wall leaving the only true option is to crawl to the driver side and over the top of the killer.

This becomes suspenseful because we do not know whether or not the killer is conscious (because the mask hides his face). Sydney and Hallie both crawl over the killer one by one until they get out. They both bolt from the scene. Not once do they decide…hmmm…let’s unmask the killer…or hey, he’s knocked out, let’s kill him or beat him to a pulp. No they act like scared little school girls, at least until they get a block down the road and Sydney decides it’s time to stop running. Now she grows a pair.

Sydney goes back to take on the killer and guess what…he’s not there any more. Ahhh! Idiots! After seeing the killer’s gone, Sydney turns to look at Hallie down the street and guess what…the killer pops out and kills her. Okay, Sidney escapes the car ordeal, and where would you go it you were in her shoes?

A. Flee to a local mall to barricade yourself in just in case of a zombie attack

B. Flee to your dorm room where you can lock yourself in and call the cops

C. Stop by class in the middle of the night during a college wide curfew. Particularly the theatre stage where you have class at.

D. Maybe…the police station, after all, your two cop escorts were just whacked

For me, I would accept all answers except one. Sydney, well she happens to pick that answer…C. So a killer is after you and you just got in a car wreck where two cops and your roommate has died, and you decide to go to class. And why is the theatre doors unlocked at the middle of the night? During a college imposed “curfew”. Doesn’t make sense…except that it makes a great dramatic ending scene.

Staying with the topic of college classrooms…Gail and Dewey decide to review camera footage of everything that Joel captured while working on the case. So where do they go? Of course…they use the college’s state of the art film editing rooms. Not like they ask to do it. They just stroll down the halls of a vacant college building to use their equipment.

Not that the equipment is expensive…and on any normal college campus is locked behind closed doors. Or the fact that not even a janitor pops up in the building. I went to college, and every building that I went in…there was at least someone in the halls. Nothing’s totally vacant on a college campus or left open for the public to use. And why not use a normal VCR in…let’s say…Sydney’s dorm room?

Another thing that I'm sick of are the dumb twists and turns the film makes to get you guessing who the killer is. I think it's a little over played by this point.

And by the way that lunchroom scene where Derrick sings to Sydney…PLEASE...take a gun to my head. Dumb idea. It was painful to watch. That dumb sing a song to your lady thing only worked in Top Gun…kind of.

Misc. Movie Trivia:
-Film opened December 12, 1997 and made $101.3 million at the box office ($33 million opening weekend)
-Film opened in less than a year since the first film
-Cast not informed of identity of killer until last day of shooting
-Freddy’s sweater can be seen in Sydney’s closet
-Many references to T.V. shows “Friends” and “Party of Five”; Courteney Cox and Neve Campbell’s shows
-Rule #3: “Never, ever under any circumstance assume that the killer is dead,” never appears in the movie, but it does in the trailer