Scream 2

Director: Wes Craven
Writers: Keven Williamson
Starring: Neve Campbell, Elise Neal, Liev Schreiber, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jerry O'Connell, Jamie Kennedy
Length: 120 min
Released: 1997

Scream 2 is one of the many sequels in the oh-so-popular series, Scream, that began in the 1990s about a psychotic serial killer named Ghostface.

I remember going out to trick-or-treat for Halloween when I was really young, seeing about 75% of all the trick-or-treaters dressed in some sort of Scream costume. Even I, who had never seen the movies, dressed up in the Scream mask a few years in a row. This is why, when I got the opportunity to go out and see Scream 2, I had to do it. However, I probably shouldn't have watched it 15 years too late.

The movie itself has a typical plot to it; a guy in a mask who continuously makes anonymous phone calls, then kills whoever the unlucky person is that answers. On top of the cliche story line, the acting and effects were mediocre at best. The movie begins in a movie theater with a couple seeing Stab, which is based on the the events of first Scream movie. Everyone in the audience is dressed up in the Ghostface costume, so when the real killer appears, no one notices that he completely mutilates a woman in the audience (after cutting up her boyfriend in the bathroom). The woman dramatically acted out her death in front of the movie screen in the theater, and the scene ends. It doesn't take long to figure out that Sydney (Neve Campbell), who survived the killings of the last movie, will be the new target. Ghostface, though, is ready to kill whoever he comes across in the process of getting to her. Eventually, after about ten more gory, dramatic deaths and a long, drawn-out search for the killer, Ghostface reaches Sydney, and she kills him.

Overall, this movie had a predictable plot, too much over dramatization, and was somewhat disappointing to watch after remembering the hype about it when I was younger. However, I don't regret seeing it. It's one of those movies that, although it wasn't horrifying like it was intended to be, it was really entertaining. There were parts of the movie that may have been scary twenty years ago, but just make you laugh now. At some points, the audience was actually bursting into laughter because of how terrible the effects were or how bad the acting was. There was also a ghetto black guy, who was supposed to be a comic relief character (not that this movie really needed one) who was hysterical.

If you're looking for a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat thriller, or a movie that keeps you up at night, this is definitely not for you. If you want a movie that is unintentionally funny, a little bit gory, and is somewhat predictable, I'd highly recommend Scream 2.