Scream was an unexpected box office smash, and a critical darling upon its 1996 release. Taking the tired tropes of the horror genre and turning them on their head, with revered horror director Wes Craven at the helm. Miramax were so happy with how well Scream performed at the box office that a sequel (that had been pitched alongside the original film) was immediately put into production with a release date of less than a year after the first film’s release. The development of Scream 2 was notoriously difficult, with script rewrites happening until the minute the cameras were rolling, creative differences between writer Kevin Williamson and the executives at Miramax, and the first ever case of a script being leaked over the internet. Yet, despite all of these difficulties and setbacks, Scream 2 released on time, to massive box office success, and an even better critical reception than the first film got. Is it the perfect sequel?
Two years on from the Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is attending college but still haunted by the press and public about the Ghostface killings. With release of ‘Stab’, a fictionalised take on the killings based on the book written by Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), a wave of copycat killings appears. Better prepared, Sidney along with Dewey (David Arquette), Randy (Jamie Kennedy), Gale, and new friends Cici (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Hallie (Elise Neal), Derek (Jerry O’Connell), Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), and a recently released Cotton Weary (Live Schreiber) must work out the killer’s plan by understanding the tropes of movie sequels and unmask the new Ghostface.
Two years on from the Woodsboro murders, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is attending college but still haunted by the press and public about the Ghostface killings. With release of ‘Stab’, a fictionalised take on the killings based on the book written by Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox), a wave of copycat killings appears. Better prepared, Sidney along with Dewey (David Arquette), Randy (Jamie Kennedy), Gale, and new friends Cici (Sarah Michelle Gellar), Hallie (Elise Neal), Derek (Jerry O’Connell), Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), and a recently released Cotton Weary (Live Schreiber) must work out the killer’s plan by understanding the tropes of movie sequels and unmask the new Ghostface.
Sequels naturally must go bigger and harder than its predecessor, it’s what the audience expect, and Scream 2 certainly doubles down on everything. More murders, more gore, and more self-aware in-jokes; and it really ran the risk of either becoming a parody of itself or becoming too similar to the many horror sequels it’s making fun of. Yet Scream 2 just offers up more of what made the first film so beloved, and it does so in even more convention breaking ways.
The opening scene sets the film up perfectly as two teens, Maureen & Phil (Jada Pinkett & Omar Epps) attend a screening of Stab, only to find themselves the first victims of the new Ghostface. The middle of a packed movie theatre is the last place you’d expect to see a murder quite as physical as a stabbing in full costume, but with the audience all being dressed up in costumes and wielding fake knives as well as being generally rowdy, it plays out so perfectly with great tension and atmosphere.
All of the killings in fact feel more ambitious than anything seen in the first film, and the characters are well aware of this. With this being a copycat killer, they know that they’ll want to go bigger than the original Ghostface killers, being in line with any horror film sequel. They’re appropriately self-aware of each other’s roles in the story, and how that’ll affect their chances of survival, and yet despite this Williamson & Craven subvert those expectations by either going against the grain or by playing into established conventions in new and interesting ways. Even once you do know who the killers are, it’s still enjoyable to watch this game of chess play out as one by one the group is picked off.
Some critics argue that Scream 2’s increased gore detracts from the overall experience, but personally I didn’t find it too much of an increase from the original. The kills themselves are more elaborate and larger in scale, with the drama rehearsal scene being one of the best examples of that (as well as one of the most gripping scenes in the film), but the actual blood and gore isn’t all that much more than the first film when looked at side by side.
Every component of Scream 2 just meshes together so well, similarly to the original film, and it creates a sequel that lives up to the necessity of sequels, whilst also subverting expectations of what a sequel should be. When you get down to it, if you love the original then you’ll also love the sequel, because it does everything just as well, if not occasionally better. It’s crazy to think that one of the first post-modern horror films managed to spawn a film that is just as post-modern when looking at it's own predecessor, and it cemented Scream as a horror franchise not to be reckoned with.
The opening scene sets the film up perfectly as two teens, Maureen & Phil (Jada Pinkett & Omar Epps) attend a screening of Stab, only to find themselves the first victims of the new Ghostface. The middle of a packed movie theatre is the last place you’d expect to see a murder quite as physical as a stabbing in full costume, but with the audience all being dressed up in costumes and wielding fake knives as well as being generally rowdy, it plays out so perfectly with great tension and atmosphere.
All of the killings in fact feel more ambitious than anything seen in the first film, and the characters are well aware of this. With this being a copycat killer, they know that they’ll want to go bigger than the original Ghostface killers, being in line with any horror film sequel. They’re appropriately self-aware of each other’s roles in the story, and how that’ll affect their chances of survival, and yet despite this Williamson & Craven subvert those expectations by either going against the grain or by playing into established conventions in new and interesting ways. Even once you do know who the killers are, it’s still enjoyable to watch this game of chess play out as one by one the group is picked off.
Some critics argue that Scream 2’s increased gore detracts from the overall experience, but personally I didn’t find it too much of an increase from the original. The kills themselves are more elaborate and larger in scale, with the drama rehearsal scene being one of the best examples of that (as well as one of the most gripping scenes in the film), but the actual blood and gore isn’t all that much more than the first film when looked at side by side.
Every component of Scream 2 just meshes together so well, similarly to the original film, and it creates a sequel that lives up to the necessity of sequels, whilst also subverting expectations of what a sequel should be. When you get down to it, if you love the original then you’ll also love the sequel, because it does everything just as well, if not occasionally better. It’s crazy to think that one of the first post-modern horror films managed to spawn a film that is just as post-modern when looking at it's own predecessor, and it cemented Scream as a horror franchise not to be reckoned with.