Dimension

Everybody's seen Scream, and everyone who cares already knows the plot details of this sequel. But is it any good?

Scream 2 begins in a movie theater. The events of the first film have been made into a movie called Stab. In the theater the audience is rowdy, they yell at the screen, and they criticize the film until the scary moments shut them up. And this is basically how the audience reacted to Scream 2. The setting are slightly different than the first film, but the formula is pretty much intact. The phone calls, the chase before each kill, etc. The deaths are all around gruesomer, and the body count is, in fact, higher. And if you had a problem guessing the killer(s)'s identity the first time, you're going to have a headache sifting through the suspects and the red herrings. At first I was uncomfortable with the 'bigger and better' mentality of this movie. It seemed for part of the film that the film was, in its efforts to outdo its predecessor, falling into some of the genre cliches it roasted before. All those fears were destroyed by the end of the movie, however, and the film managed to pull off a rare feat - it is at least at par with the original (whether or not it is better will have to be decided when it comes on video and if it passes the multiple viewing test). The film also manages to mock sequels while reveling in the fact that it is one, much as the first did with the horror genre in general. If you are part of the minority that hated Scream you probably won't find much in its sequel, but for the rest of you this should live up to your hopes.

A