Day 123: Scream 2

I like how my random topic generator gets me to the sequels before the originals. Scream 2 was the last movie I liked in the franchise and I can trace the exact moment I stopped liking them...the death of a specific character I won't spoil here in case you haven't seen it.

The plot is that Neve Campbell and the few survivors of the first movie have moved on with their lives. Campbell's Syd is in college and studying theater. The movie opens with two guest stars (Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett) getting murdered at the premiere of Stab, the movie based on the events in Scream. Everything is bigger, bolder and a little more fun as Randy (a never-better Jamie Kennedy) explains how sequels work as we watch those rules unfold. Neve once again finds herself locked in deadly combat with the Ghostface killer but is it one of the original survivors or one of her new friends doing the killing?

This is the series that brought meta-commentary to horror. While the characters don't go so far as to know they are movie characters, they do know they have movie characters based on them (which is super close). Like the superior Cabin in the Woods, these movies seem to want to clear the way for new types of stories. By pointing out the tropes and cliches, I have to believe Craven was saying, "Let's do better than this." Unfortunately, the only lesson learned is that, sometimes, the characters in horror movies make mention to the fact that it seems like they are in a horror movie. To be fair, Craven did hedge his bets by exploiting those same cliches he was calling out.

If you haven't seen the first one, for god's sake, don't watch this one. If you have seen the first one, watch this one and call it a day.