20131111: Horror Review--Scream 2

Scream 2

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American live action feature length film, 1997, rated R, 120 minutes.  Crime, horror, mystery.
2. IMDB: 6.0/10.0 from 95,628 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 23 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 82% on the meter; 55% liked it from 409,047 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.2/5.0 from 1,906,917 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Wes Craven.  Written by: Kevin Williamson.
6. Starring: David Arquette as Dewey Riley, Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers, Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, Elise Neal as Hallie, Sarah Michelle Gellar as Casey (Cici) Cooper, Laura Metcalfe as Debbie Salt, Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks, Heather Graham as Stab Casey, Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary, Joshua Jackson as Film Class Guy #1, Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks, Jerry O'Connell as Derek, Omar Epps as Phil, David Warner as (drama teacher) Gus Gold.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Since the happenings of the previous film, Gale wrote a book, The Woodsboro Murders, which becomes a movie called Stab.


2. We follow a black couple into a showing of the film, which reminds me of showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show that I've experienced.  The audience is largely costumed, the theatre operates some props, and the audience brings some 'required' stuff.  The couple get knifed to death, separately, which establishes the context of the rest of the picture.


3. So, we're in the self-referential environment of Scream, but with the passage of time, and an evolution in the setting.


4. The film class discussion of original movies versus sequels went on too long.  Like Scream, this is just over the top self-regarding nonsense, with too much discussion of particular movies within another movie.


5. Gale arranges a meeting between Cotton and Sidney, without telling Sidney.  Even Cotton thought that was a bit much.  Sidney hits Gale again, during filming.  Dewey is displeased with Gale for her characterization of him in her book as Barney Fife.  Ish.


6. Sidney might pledge at Delta Lambda Zeta, so we have another mini-universe of cliches to exploit.  Cici is at the Omega Beta Zeta house, and becomes the next victim in the cycle.  Back at the mixer, Portia di Rossi's eyebrows were hideous.  The attention quickly shifts from the mixer to Cici's death and the swarming of cops and reporters.


7. The costumed assailant attacks Sidney in the DLZ house after the crowd has left.  Derek gets stabbed, but far from fatally.  The next morning, there is a lot of assessment and not enough facts.  Dewey, the Sheriff, and Gale notice a pattern in the names of the new victims versus the principals in the earlier case.


8. Sidney gets invited by Gus Gold to play Cassandra.  The costumes in the play are more than a bit reminiscent of the murderer's Halloween get up.  Also, they have knives, so this was not such a great idea.


9. Randy gets killed in Gale's van while it's on the quad; Sidney gets a death threat in the library.  Goodness.  Cotton has a talk with Sidney in the school library; she wants to leave, he won't have it; he starts yelling like everything while still in the library.  The cops take him in for an alternate discussion.


10. Dewey and Gale pore over footage from recent crime scenes, looking for the culprit.  That worked out fairly well for the killer.  Dewey has a more than rough spot; the killer rushes off to go after Sidney and Hallie.


11. The picture wraps up hard and fast after that.


3. Conclusions
1. PC hatred from the initial scenes: could have done without that.
2. One line summary: Gale from Scream writes a book that becomes a movie; the well of revenge is not empty yet.
3. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 10/10 Good-looking picture.


2. Sound: 10/10 Fine, no problems.


3. Acting: 7/10 Not as good as the original.  Liev Schreiber was an improvement over Matthew Lillard, but he did not make up for the presence of Pinkett-Smith or Jerry O'Connell.  Sarah Michelle Gellar was a plus in her short performance, but Tori Spelling was the gaping black hole of non-acting one expects.


4. Screenplay: 6/10 The endless references to cliches in other films drags this down a bit.  Some of the acting is sufficient to carry the story forward.