Scream 2 (1998) is once again directed by Wes Craven and written by Kevin Williamson. It stars Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Liev Schreiber, Jerry O’Connell, Elsie Neal, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalf, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Duane Martin, David Warner, Portia de Rossi, Rebecca Gayheart, Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Joshua Jackson, and Heather Graham. The film follows Sidney Prescott (Campbell) and fellow Woodsboro survivor Randy Meeks (Kennedy), now attending college in Ohio, as they’re targeted by a new Ghostface killer. With the help of past allies, Deputy Dewey Riley (Arquette) and tabloid journalist Gale Weathers (Cox), Sidney and Randy set out to unmask the killer before it’s too late. However, the situation becomes more complicated due to the arrival of Cotton Weary (Schreiber), the now exonerated man Sidney initially implicated in her mother’s murder. 

The returning cast is great once again. The only issue with their characters is that they sometimes feel a bit too stagnant. For example, Randy is the exact same person; the only difference this time around is his goatee. It feels like a missed opportunity not to explore how the events of the first film have affected the character, but I guess a stagnant Randy is better than no Randy at all. The most egregious example of this, however, is Gale Weathers (which will be an issue throughout the franchise). The first interaction between her and Sidney is just a shameless repeat of how they met in the first film. This completely undermines everything that happened between the two previously, putting them in the exact same place they started. It’s not stagnant; it’s worse; it’s regressive. Thankfully, this does maintain tension between the two, which is probably a more interesting dynamic than them being friends who implicitly like each other and agree on everything.

Thankfully, Sidney and Dewey are developed in a handful of satisfying ways. With Ghostface’s return, Sidney is once again forced to deal with her past trauma. This could’ve easily felt like another retread, but instead of simply dealing with the trauma of a loved one being murdered, she this time has to deal with her newfound inability to trust the people closest to her. Because her previous boyfriend turned out to be the killer, she can’t bring herself to fully reciprocate the romantic gestures of her new boo, Derek (Jerry O’Connell). Her inability to trust Derek is eventually one of the factors that lead to his death, but also confirms that her trust was warranted and his love was pure. Once again, Sidney is portrayed as someone defined not by her trauma but by her ability to confront and overcome it.  

As for Dewey, the first film mostly just portrays him as a man-child police deputy defined almost entirely by his and Gale’s charming romantic subplot. This time around, he’s a bit more serious and jaded. It’s clear that the death of his little sister has made him overly protective, now treating Sidney as his surrogate sibling. He sees the world in a much darker, less trustworthy light, but the script doesn’t take it so far that he feels unrecognizable from the character we originally fell in love with. This is best exemplified in his relationship with Gale, which is mostly another shameless retread but helps maintain his softer side. Despite being more mature, the script maintains the character’s dorkiness by highlighting that he’s one step behind in understanding the horror genre. In the first film, Dewey never really knows what’s going on, mostly being used as a tool to help Gale. This time around, he’s in the center of things, but the script never forgets he has some catching up to do. Here, he essentially works as the opposite of Randy in the sense that he knows almost nothing about the slasher genre. It’s like watching a grandparent learn how to use a smartphone. I also appreciated that the injuries he sustained in the previous film are shown to have had lasting consequences, forcing him to spend the entire film with a dead arm and a limp. 

As I’ve hinted at before, the film’s biggest misstep is that it includes too many scenes and story elements that are far too similar to ones in the first installment. It follows a similar pace, and even a lot of the new characters aren’t unique enough to avoid feeling like replacements. For example, Mickey (Olyphant) parallels Stew, Cici (Gellar) parallels Casey Becker, Derek parallels Billy, Hallie (Neal) parallels Tatum, etc. Granted, their individual quirks are unique, but they fill similar archetypes. This could be explained as Williamson commenting on the uninspired nature of sequels, but my question would be: What comment are you trying to make? That sequels are unoriginal, so this one is too? This similar structure isn’t all bad, however. The film often uses its similarities to set up expectations, which it then subverts in a funny/meta/intelligent way. This, along with a few other key choices, keeps the film from being predictable.

The decision to kill off Randy, a fan-favorite, still hurts me to this day. Unlike many fans, however, I think it was an extremely intelligent choice. It maintains the illusion that anyone could die at any given moment (such as a busy college campus in broad daylight), even the guy who supposedly knows the rules of survival. One aspect I love about the lead-up to his death is how the film subtly suggests he’s not as much of an expert on film as we originally thought. For example, Randy incorrectly corrects a fellow film student, stating that Sigourney Weaver’s iconic line from Aliens is, “Stay away from her, you bitch!” as opposed to “Get away from her, you bitch!” Although his classmate was correct, Randy is blinded by his overconfidence, which foreshadows his eventual death. It also simply reminded me of my own experience attending film school for the first time. Even if you were your high school’s resident movie buff, college quickly makes it clear that you’re not half as knowledgeable as you once thought. 

I don’t particularly love that they give Dewey another fake-out death, once again wheeling him out on a stretcher right before the credits roll. It feels necessary in terms of providing Gale with a believable reason to reconsider her questionable morals, but strips it away in favor of pure, meaningless fan service. All this does is leave the two in the same place they were at the beginning of the first film, as if that’s more interesting than, God forbid, seeing a character other than Sidney deal with the trauma of being stalked by a masked killer two different times. 

In terms of the killer reveal/climax, I think this is one of the better installments in the franchise. Once again, the film borrows a bit too much from the original, but it doesn’t make things any less exciting. Timothy Olyphant, as a psychotic Stew-adjacent serial killer who simply wants to get caught so he can have a televised trial, gives arguably one of the more underrated performances in the franchise. However, the mastermind behind it all is his accomplice, reporter Debbie Salt (Metcalf), who’s revealed to actually be Billy’s mother, a subtle nod to/inversion of the first two Friday the 13th films, arguably the biggest slasher franchise in history prior to Scream itself. Metcalf is perfectly vengeful and zany, but the element that brings it all together is the character of Cotton Weary. He’s the kind of gray character who’s simply irresistible, equally scummy and sympathetic—the perfect red herring. It’s tough not to feel bad for a guy wrongfully accused of murder, especially when Sidney doesn’t even seem interested in giving him an apology. On the other hand, it’s clear that he’s much more interested in leveraging his story for fame rather than getting some personal closure. In the climax’s final moments, Cotton is forced to choose whether to prove he’s the innocent man he claims to be or pursue stardom at the expense of his morals. In the end, he realizes that being a good person and pursuing fame need not be mutually exclusive. The franchise needs more characters like him, in my opinion. 

Overall, this is a flawed sequel that ultimately feels a bit too similar to its predecessor. Most elements here feel like a step-down, but this never stops the film from being a satisfying whodunnit slasher experience. If you enjoyed the first film, this is a lesser, yet consistently entertaining watch. It ups the ante in terms of stakes, and once again displays Craven’s masterful balance of humor and horror. I wish it weren’t so formulaic, but the Scream formula is a fun one, so it works a lot better than it sounds. It’s not as good as the original, but that includes about 95% of the genre. Flaws and all, I love Scream 2. B