Scream 2 (1997) Review

Scream 2 was directed by Wes Craven (who also directed My Soul to Take, New Nightmare, Vampire in Brooklyn, Cursed and Red Eye) and stars David Arquette (from Bone Tomahawk, Orion, The Tripper, Ravenous), Neve Campbell (from The Dark, The Craft) and Courteney Cox (from Scream 2, Scream 3, Scream 4). It’s about another guy in a mask who runs around slashing teens.

Someone has taken their love of sequels one step too far.

Scream 2 is pretty much the same movie as Scream 1, it’s about a Ghostface copycat following in the footsteps of the killers from part 1. This sequel even starts off with a theater showing the original Scream, which is supposed to be based off the real-life events of Scream, only this one is called Stab. And when the killers in this one are revealed, the similarities with the killers from the first is uncanny.

Like Scream, this sequel is very meta. One of the first scenes shows a class of film students discussing whether or not sequels suck. There’s a lot of humor and a lot of movie references, as expected. This one referenced horrors including Alien, House, Nosferatu, Candyman, Friday the 13th, Final Exam and Splatter University. And for some reason, whenever Deputy Dwight Dewey is on camera a song very similar to Twin Peaks starts playing.

One thing that immediately jumps out about this one is the all-star cast, which is uncommon in horror. This Scream had more stars walking around than the first by far.

Overall a good movie, but it does turn into more of an action flick toward the end, complete with a typically dramatic Hollywood orchestra. Close your eyes and you could just as easily be watching Indiana Jones.

But, like Scream 1 there’s a lot of jump scares and plot twists which kept things interesting.