Scream 2

Summary

“What’s your favorite scary movie?”

Sequels are tricky. Most sequels fail to deliver on the promise of the original film. I can only name a few sequels that actually succeeded in continuing the stories of their predecessors, but films like Godfather: Part 2, Aliens, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, the recent Top Gun: Maverick, and Scream 2 come to mind pretty quickly. Paramount understands that Scream was a cultural milestone for Generation X. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of Scream in 2021, Paramount released an excellent 4K UHD release of the film. This year marked the 25th anniversary of Scream 2, and Paramount has released a fantastic 4K UHD of the film in both standard and steelbook versions. This year also saw Paramount release of the enjoyable “re-quel,” Scream which was released in theaters and on 4K UHD. All in all it has been a wonderful year to be a fan of the franchise. The UHD release of Scream 2 arrives just in time for Halloween.

Scream 2 reunited legendary horror film director Wes Craven with screenwriter Kevin Williamson. Williamson was at the height of his career. He was riding on the simultaneous success of the cultural phenomenon Dawson’s Creek, easily the most popular show amongst teenagers at the time, and the overwhelming success of Scream. Scream had taken in $173 million dollars worldwide off of a $14 million dollar budget and was even at that time widely considered the defining horror film of the Nineties (at least the latter part of the Nineties.) Scream 2 aimed to continue the storyline in a clever way while slightly altering the rules from the prior picture. The film is similar to the prior picture due to the meta quality of the conversations, the murderous opening, and the mystery/slasher qualities, but Kevin Williamson had some surprises up his sleeve that kept the film feeling fresh and exciting. The response to Scream 2 was overwhelmingly positive from audiences and critics. The box office numbers reflected that. Scream 2 did $172.4 million against a $24 million budget. This critical and cultural response is even more impressive when considering that the script was actively being revised during the filming of the picture after an early leak of a script caused Kevin Williamson to retool the ending of the film. As a fan of the film, I was excited to revisit the picture in the 4K steelbook edition.

Spoiler alert: The opening paragraph to this review will ruin an early surprise. Skip past it if you have not seen the film.

As the film begins, Windsor College students Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Phil (Omar Epps) head into a movie theater to see the movie Stab. Stab is based upon a book written by Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) documenting the killings that took place in Woodsboro a couple years before. Maureen would rather watch a normal comedy or drama, but Phil insists on seeing the horror movie. As they enter the theater, they are given a complimentary ghost face killer mask to wear. As they begin to watch the film, with a fun performance by Heather Graham, Maureen feels anxiety from all the masked folks in the audience. She yells out at the screen repeatedly as she watches Heather Graham being stalked by the masked killer. When Phil heads to the restroom, he is stabbed to death in a bathroom stall. The killer then disguises himself and returns to the seat next to Maureen. Maureen, realizing that the person next to her isn’t Phil, is stabbed to death in the theater and the assailant makes an easy exit.

At nearby Windsor College, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) picks up the phone. A voice asks if she likes scary movies. When the voice on the phone asks who she thinks it is, she calmly lists off his name and number from Caller ID. She expects that once the movie dies down, her calls will relax. Sidney is informed by her roommate Hallie (Elise Neal) of the two deaths at the screening of Stab. Hallie is pledging a sorority with Cici (Sarah Michelle Gellar.) News reporters swoop in to interview Sidney, including a pesky reporter named Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf)  and Gale Weathers with her new camera man Joel (Duane Martin.) Also in town is Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) who would like Sidney to appear on television with him to help him to clear his name of the murder of Sidney’s mother. Sidney has a handsome fraternity brother boyfriend named Derek Feldman (Jerry O’Connell) who she begins to have trust issues towards due to her prior experience in Woodsboro. Also at the college with Sidney is Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) and Derek’s best friend Mickey Altieri (Timothy Olyphant.) Dewey Cox (David Arquette) arrives on campus to help protect Sidney and her friends. The masked killer begins systematically attacking and killing Sidney’s friends in a similar fashion to the Woodsboro murders.

Scream 2 can not quite match the generation defining horror film that preceded it, but it is still a very well made and enjoyable sequel. The film benefits from the continued collaboration between horror film master Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson. While the script is not quite as fresh or inventive as in the prior film, it still has plenty of surprises up its sleeve. Whereas the first Scream had characters discussing the tropes of horror movies, the sequel has the main characters discussing the tropes of horror sequels in their efforts to survive the killer’s attacks. This meta quality that worked so well in the original, still works in the sequel because of the clever ways that Williamson approaches the material. Scream 2 is gorier and more violent than the prior film, and I believe it delivers about as good of a scare as the original. As is the case with all sequels, the film is not as surprising as the original. That said, there is one scene in particular that caught me off guard when I first saw the film in 1997, that I still consider to be one of the best sequences from any of the films. Williamson had not lost his taste for humorous conversations from the main characters, and I liked the trajectory of characters like Dewey and Gail. The new characters in the film are not as well drawn as in the prior film, but that feels like a pretty minor gripe considering just how well everything works in the sequel. 

The cast is rock solid. Neve Campbell once again won an MTV Movie Award for her performance as Sidney Prescott, which makes sense. There was not a Generation X kid growing up who didn’t want to woot for Neve Campbell in these movies. Jamie Kennedy returns as Randy and he is once again given some of the best lines, including explaining the rules of horror sequels. Courtney Cox is better defined in her role as Gale in the sequel and becomes a character that the audience will root for by the end of the film. David Arquette is a lot of fun to watch as Deputy Dewey. His character is given some great lines in the film and Arquette really nails the role. The chemistry between himself and his wife (at the time) Courtney Cox is easy to see onscreen and they made a nice couple in the film. Timothy Olyphant is great as Mickey. I had honestly forgotten he was in Scream 2, and loved seeing him in an early role. Liev Schriber is a great actor and brings a lot to the part of Cotton. Jerry O’ Connell, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Laurie Metcalf, Jada Pinkett, Omar Epps, and Elise Neal round out the cast well. The actors and script for the film would not have come to life properly without the wonderful director Wes Craven at the helm. Craven truly had a gift for delivering suspense and drawing strong performances from his cast. It is a shame that we won’t have the opportunity to see any more films from Craven.

The soundtrack features songs by Dave Matthews Band, Collective Soul, Eels, Sugar Ray, D’Angelo, Master P, Foo Fighters, Tonic, Everclear, Less Than Jake, alongside the previous entry from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Red Right Hand” used prominently in the first film. This soundtrack is a great reminder of what the music scene felt like in 1997.

Scream 2 is in my opinion one of the best horror sequels ever made. Fans of the original film owe it to themselves to see the next chapter in the series. Twenty five years later, the film definitely feels like a product of its time, and in many ways I consider that a compliment.

Video

The new 4K HEVC/H.265 transfer from Paramount Pictures, is a great improvement over the 2011 Blu-ray release. The 4K UHD brings out much more detail than the Blu-ray release and the source seems to be in great shape. Given the higher budget of Scream 2, the film has a slightly more refined work than the prior film. The film’s color palette has never looked better, and due to an abundance of sequences that take place in daytime exteriors, there is a little more to look at. Like the prior film, the nighttime sequences come across visually in ways that would not be possible without the extra resolution. This is yet another winning UHD presentation from Paramount.

Audio

Paramount Pictures have provided the same great DTS-HD MA 5.1 track for this release as was presented on the prior Blu-ray. Obviously, a Dolby Atmos track would have been a welcome addition, but the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is still surprisingly effective.  Clarity is very good and the track is immersive with strong surround and LFE channels support. While it would be easy to nitpick the release for not going the extra mile, this track still sounds very good overall.

Supplements:

The supplements aside from the audio commentary are only on the Blu-ray Disc. They are identical to the supplements found on the 2011 Blu-ray release.

• Audio Commentary: Director Wes Craven, Producer Marianne Maddalena, and Editor Patrick Lussier. Note that this commentary track is also included on the UHD disc.
• Deleted Scenes
• Outtakes
• Featurette
• Music Videos
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots

Overall Scores: 

Video – 4.5/5

Audio – 4.5/5

Supplements – 2.5/5

Overall – 4.5/5

Scream 2 is not the generation defining horror film that preceded it, but it is a very cleverly written and brilliantly directed sequel that stands as one of the best horror sequels ever made. The combination of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson’s writing proves to be a winning formula again. While the script itself is not quite the equal of the prior film, it still has some excellent ideas and a few surprises that I enjoyed. The cast is excellent and the script does a solid job of continuing to develop the characters that returned from the prior film. Fans of Scream 2 will be pleased to see that Paramount’s new 4K UHD presentation of the film is a big leap forward visually from the 2011 Blu-ray. The audio presentation is the same as on the prior Blu-ray release, but the DTS-HD MA 5.1 track is still a very good track. If you don’t own Scream 2 already, this is certainly the version to purchase. If you do own Scream 2, I think the visual improvement on the 4K UHD is worth the double dip. I would recommend purchasing the very handsome steelbook edition if you have any interest in collecting those.