HALLOWEEN 2K23: A Review of "Scream 2"

"How's the record coming, Ghostface?" "Do you wanna die, Gale?" "No, Ghostface, that's track 1."
"Oh, what's your favorite scary movie?" "Nope, track 3... we've done these already."

Happy Spook-tober, 2023. We ain't following a release schedule, my batty friends! Another eerie season in which to explore some fright films. Get your fake spider webs, carve your Jack-O-Lanterns, get your favorite door-hanging ghost or witch decorations, and let's enjoy the fall weather as the silent chill of a serial killer on the... hang on... *checks notes* Geez this intro is just rambling nonsense. Who wrote this?! *checks notes again* Oh wait, I did.

"Hello Domino's, is your fridge running?"
"Guys, we did this joke in the first movie's blog post."

Well... side-stepping that. Let's just review some horror movies for 2023, shall we?

In 2019, I was let go from a position and found myself in most of October unemployed, and I had done a pseudo-esque Halloween 2k19 series of reviews in all the boatloads of spare time I had (aside from job hunting, obviously), and one of those was of the 1996 slasher classic Scream. A movie that took the slasher genre, by then having become old, stale, and tired, and masterfully produced a new tale in terror that breathed new life into it. You can read my 2019 review of Scream here. Since I've already done that review, I figured I would spend Halloween 2K23 reviewing the now FIVE Scream sequels that have come out since. Starting with of course what we're here to review today. Scream was such a sure-fire hit to writer Kevin Williamson that the last five pages of his Scream screenplay (Screamplay, if you will, heyooooo plz hire me) were a pitch/small treatment for a Scream sequel, and sure enough... with Wes Craven's direction Scream was indeed a major hit, and I do mean a major hit. So today, we're here to review the following year's big slasher cash-in hit, Scream 2. Did Scream 2 hold up to Scream's success? Does it still to this day? Let's take a look!

Two Windsor College seniors, Maureen Evans (Oscar punchline Jada Pinkett) and Phil Stevens (Omar Epps), attend a sneak preview of "Stab", a film based on the events of the Woodsboro massacre. Oh cool, a movie within a movie. If they pull that off in a non-tacky way, it's pretty nifty. Briefly exiting the theater to use the bathroom, Phil is killed by the masked killer now known as Ghostface. Ghostface sits beside Maureen in Phil's place and stabs her repeatedly, unnoticed by the crowd, leading her to climb up on stage in a cry for help, which the audience mistakes for a publicity stunt until she falls dead.

"Look Gale, the killer left us a clue above the door. It says
'Exit'. Maybe we should bail out of here, ey?"
"Dewey, you bonehead!"

The news media, including local journalist Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf), descend on Windsor College where Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is a student alongside her roommate Hallie McDaniel (Elise Neal), her new boyfriend Derek Feldman (Jerry O'Connell), fellow Woodsboro survivor Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) and Derek's best friend Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant). Two other Woodsboro survivors arrive: police officer Dewey Riley (David Arquette) to offer Sidney protection, and reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) to cover the case. Gale and her new cameraman, Joel Jones (Duane Martin), unsuccessfully try to stage a confrontation between Sidney and Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), who is attempting to gain fame from his exoneration for the rape and murder of Sidney's mother, Maureen Prescott (not shown on screen).

That evening, Sidney and Hallie attend a party at the sorority house Delta Lambda Zeta. At Omega Beta Zeta, another nearby sorority house, Ghostface murders student Cici Cooper (vampire slayer Sarah Michelle Gellar). After the partygoers leave to witness Cici's crime scene, Ghostface enters Delta Lambda Zeta and attacks Sidney. Ghostface injures Derek but flees when the police arrive. Later, after realizing that Cici is a diminutive for Casey (played in Stab by Heather Graham), Gale theorizes that the new Ghostface is targeting students with the same names as the Woodsboro murder victims. Randy theorizes that the killer is likely someone Sidney knows and is patterning the killings after a movie sequel, even introducing a new set of rules.

1. The body count is always bigger
2. The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore.
3. If you want your films to become a successful franchise, never ever under any circumstances assume the killer is dead.

"Please put the gun down, Liev."
"But I didn't do it, I did not rape Neve's mother and kill her."
"IT'S JUST A MOVIE, LIEV. AND WE'RE NOT EVEN
TALKING ABOUT YOU!"

Soon after, Ghostface (voiced by Roger L. Jackson) calls Gale, Dewey, and Randy while they are together in daylight on the college campus. Despite their attempts to find him, Ghostface ultimately ambushes Randy, pulling him into Joel's media van, where he is murdered. Shortly after, Joel, fearing he will be targeted next, skips town. As night falls over the campus, Dewey and Gale go to a building to review tapes of footage shot by Joel, hoping to spot the killer in the vicinity of the previous crime scenes, but Ghostface attacks them, stabbing Dewey. Two officers drive Sidney and Hallie to a safe house, but Ghostface intercepts the car and murders them. In the ensuing struggle, Ghostface is knocked unconscious, but recovers and kills Hallie. Drawn to music playing in the campus theatre while seeking safety, Sidney finds Derek in the auditorium tied to a cross from an earlier fraternity hazing ritual. Ghostface arrives, revealing himself as Mickey, and shoots Derek, killing him.

Mickey reveals he intends to kill Sidney and allow himself to be arrested, so he can blame movie violence for the murders at his trial. Shortly after, Debbie arrives holding Gale at gunpoint and is revealed to be Mickey's accomplice, whom Sidney recognizes as Nancy Loomis, the mother of Billy Loomis (played in Scream by Skeet Ulrich). Nancy betrays Mickey and shoots him, affirming that she only used Mickey to frame him for their killing spree. Mickey fires his gun before collapsing, wounding Gale, and she falls offstage. Nancy reveals that she is seeking revenge against Sidney for killing Billy; Nancy also reveals she killed Randy in Joel's news van for criticizing Billy. However, Sidney points out the hypocrisy of her motives, considering that Nancy's abandonment fueled her son's psychotic tendencies. The pair fight until Cotton appears and holds them at gunpoint. Nancy attempts to manipulate Cotton into murdering Sidney, reminding him that her testimony got him arrested, but to her shock, he instead chooses to shoot Nancy in exchange for an interview with Sidney and Diane Sawyer. As Sidney, Cotton, and a recovered Gale look at Nancy's body, Mickey suddenly resurfaces but is killed by Gale and Sidney. Sidney then shoots Nancy in the head to ensure she is dead.

When the police arrive, Dewey is revealed to still be alive and Gale climbs into the ambulance with him rather than taking the opportunity to report to the returning Joel. Sidney then instructs the press to direct questions to Cotton to remove attention from herself and reward Cotton for helping her.

"Remember, we're college students. Blend in."
"Randy, you look like the twenty-five year old that dates and
parties with teenagers. YOU BLEND IN."

That is Scream 2. It's one of those movies that's more of an equal than just a sequel, in terms of quality. It does a fine job of living up to its predecessor while also being a solid freakin' movie. The dialogue is just as gripping as the first movie, the characters are just as entertaining, and the kills are indeed more gruesome per the rules Randy lays out. I like the twists at the end of this one, making Laurie Metcalf the murderer was a hilarious yet eerie surprise. She's got those crazy eyes and the acting was just so over-the-top that it belonged in a Scream movie. Neve Campbell even lays it all out in her mid-cry face just like the previous film. It really is a carbon-copy of the first movie in the best way. Like how some sequels are just the first ones over again (Looking at you Avatar: The Way of Water), this one is as well, but that's what it was supposed to be.

Being a Scream movie means that the movie is so self-aware in how it was made that there's so many in-jokes. When Randy is delivering the third rule about how to make sure your horror movie franchise is successful, he gets cut-off. The lack of a third rule in the film's final cut was a deliberate in-joke by the crew, referencing the fact that it is impossible to ensure that a horror franchise will be successful. On top of that, when we first see Sidney in the opening, she receives and answers a call and uses caller ID to determine whoever is calling her is not Ghostface. This is another in-joke/reference that since the release of Scream, the sales of caller ID landline phones in real life skyrocketed since people all of a sudden at the time stopped liking the idea that random strangers could call them and toy with them before killing them without really knowing who they were talking to, lol. Witty yet self-aware writing and filmmaking. Well done!

"I can't believe Ghostface is back!"
"I can't believe you got Jennifer Aniston's hairdo for this."

One fascinating fact is that this movie is notable for suffering one of the first major film leaks ever. One of the extras leaked the script to the internet, like a total dick or bitch. I mean seriously, who does that? As a result, the script was almost entirely re-written, with pages often being completed the day they were to be filmed. Security was tightened, with everyone required to sign non-disclosure agreements, and underwent many re-shoots. The script was reprinted on specialty paper to prevent photocopying, and was often destroyed after use. Additionally, Mickey was killed by the two Ghostfaces in the original script. Let this be a lesson that if you ever get a role in a Scream sequel, and you're just an extra, don't take your ire out by leaking the script on the internet and ruining it for everybody ya killjoy.

You can't watch/enjoy Scream this Halloween season without watching Scream 2. Make sure to add it to your watch list and enjoy the thrill ride!