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"Scream 2" : My 17th Favorite Horror Movie
Welcome back to my countdown of my top 25 favorite horror films. You all know how this works by now, and I'm always especially eager to discuss movies in this particular series, so let's get right to my next choice. I now present my 17th favorite horror movie of all time:Scream 2
The Scream series makes another appearance on my countdown with its lively, unpredictable second chapter. When I say "unpredictable", I'm certainly not claiming that viewers who are paying attention couldn't posbly figure out the identity of at least one of the killers. But even if you guess that part right, you might still be surprised by who dies this time around, or how brazen Ghostface's attacks become. In part 2, the concept of the "Holy Trinity" of dney, Dewey and Gale had not yet been firmly established, and when the adorkable Randy Meeks bites it in broad daylight with no one the wiser (which I hope is no major spoiler by now) it effectively creates the feeling that anyone can die for the rest of the film. Later on, Dewey does "die", for a second time. Don't worry, he gets better. In an ironic and memorable twist, this new Ghostface stabs him in the exact spot where one of the originals stabbed him in the first Scream, and the thick scar tissue protects him to some degree against the new Ghostface's blade. It's these cool little touches in Scream 2 - the use of continuity, the savagery of Ghostface's attacks, the crackling tenon level of it all - that help it outpace Scream 3, which is number 25 on this list.Of the three sequels thus far, Scream 2 is the one that most effectively maintains its energy throughout the course of the entire film. As much as I love parts 3 and 4, they both have scenes where the tenon seems to be dispating from them, though both films always recover quickly enough in my estimation. This usually seems to happen during well-intended efforts to provide "downtime" for character development between stabbings, and many times, I like what is revealed about the characters in the scene enough to forgive a momentary lull in excitement. For whatever reason, though, the character development seems to be intertwined more effectively with the momentum of the plot in Scream 2, and I give the returning director, screenwriter and stars a ton of credit for that. A good example of what I'm talking about is the scene where dney (Neve Campbell) manages to t down for a quick, courage-inspiring pep talk with her drama professor, and Ghostface apparently uses that time to infiltrate the cast of the play she's in. This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series so far. It provides a new layer to dney's character, and a deeper level of tragedy to her story. It makes a valid comparison between her and the tragic character of Cassandra from the greek play Agamemnon, but it also shows that dney is quite good at acting, and even that it seems to strengthen her resolve after her talk with her professor, only for Ghostface to ealy deny her that pursuit and its comfort moments later by coming for her in the middle of rehearsal.
Ghostface is milarly unafraid to attack a cop car in the middle of a city street, or to make a try for dney after policemen are already swarming all over the campus due to the killing of Cici Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar) mere moments ago. In Scream 2, there was no moment where you were absolutely certain that the killer would not, or could not, strike. That's something which is sadly misng from many horror films.Speaking of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Cici, she did a lot with her relatively small role, truly making you feel for a character that you know is probably not going to make it. When her friend tells her over the phone that she can't believe Cici is alone in the sorority house, Gellar delivers the line "I don't think I'm alone." in precisely the right way to ratchet up the tenon. And when Ghostface slips into the house without her noticing before taunting her that she'd better set the alarm, the audience gets the joke, but Cici doesn't.
I kind of wished she would, even though I know that a slasher flick would be a failure without kill scenes. Gellar's turn is one of a surpring number of strong performances. Liev Schreiber is excellent as the self-promoting Cotton Weary, a character who always seems to be ready to pounce on someone even as he tries to maintain an air of good humor. Jerry O'Connell plays d's stalwart boyfriend, Derek, with clear-eyed resolve, making him so unyielding in his devotion to her that we wonder if he's too good to be true (kind of like Billy Loomis). Timothy Olyphant and Laurie Metcalf are both effectively mercurial in their roles as Mickey and Debbie Salt, transforming from a college student and a reporter into ranting psychotics in a fashion that is mostly seamless. Jada Pinkett gives it her all as Maureen Evans in the movie's opening, clutching her profusely bleeding wounds and casting a mournful, accung eye at a theater full of people who did nothing as she was repeatedly stabbed, before belting out a scream for the record books to send us into the opening credits. And yeah, I'm sure her scream was beefed up in the studio, but Pinkett really put in some effort here, throwing her head back and clenching her fingers in outrage before her character slumps dead in front of the movie screen. David Arquette and Courtney Cox bring back their fragile but undeniable chemistry together as Dewey and Gale, something that was no doubt helped by the fact that the two actors were in the beginning stages of a real life romance at the time. Neve Campbell remains the perfect person to play dney, giving in to self-pity for only brief moments before taking measures to isolate and protect herself until she can figure out how to fight back, and giving as good as she gets once she has a clear target for her rage. In the film's finale, when dney is cutting ropes that send set pieces and props tumbling down on her would-be murderer, Campbell peers at the results of her efforts through a bullethole in a door and lets out a satisfied exhalation that shows just how close to the edge of sanity her character has been pushed. Even Rebecca Gayheart and Portia De Ros manage to make their background roles as inpid sorority sters memorably chipper and vacuous.
Of course, everything I've said 'til now would still not add up to a successful Scream if part 2 did not retain the referential use of horror movie trivia and lore from the original film. Luckily, Randy (Jamie Kennedy) gets plenty of that in before he's offed, a responbility of his character that Kennedy always seems to take special delight from. He has some help in this regard from an inquitive Dewey, as well as input from fellow film students Mickey, Cici, and others. As usual, none of the cast's collective knowledge of horror movies turns out to be of much use in figuring out the identity of a couple of killers who know the rules even better than they do.
Scream 2 is a worthy successor to the original, and it quite handily disproved the doubts of those who claimed that the first film had mply left nowhere for a sequel to go (gee, why does that claim sound familiar?). Aided by a good script from Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven's palpable love of the whole premise, it provides more depth to dney, Dewey and Gale, and truly puts all of them through the fires. It isn't that big of a trick to survive a horror movie once, but to do it twice makes people stand up and take notice. For good or ill, Scream 2 turned Dewey, Gale and especially dney into the battle scarred yet relient survivors we all know and love today. As much as people complain about predictability setting into the franchise if all three of them continue to survive movie after movie, it's understandable for any screenwriter to be reluctant to kill off such well-developed and likable characters. dney, Dewey and Gale are all of a higher pedigree than the vast majority of other characters in the genre, and Scream 2 had a big part of establishing that.Stay tuned for my next installment!
The Scream series makes another appearance on my countdown with its lively, unpredictable second chapter. When I say "unpredictable", I'm certainly not claiming that viewers who are paying attention couldn't posbly figure out the identity of at least one of the killers. But even if you guess that part right, you might still be surprised by who dies this time around, or how brazen Ghostface's attacks become. In part 2, the concept of the "Holy Trinity" of dney, Dewey and Gale had not yet been firmly established, and when the adorkable Randy Meeks bites it in broad daylight with no one the wiser (which I hope is no major spoiler by now) it effectively creates the feeling that anyone can die for the rest of the film. Later on, Dewey does "die", for a second time. Don't worry, he gets better. In an ironic and memorable twist, this new Ghostface stabs him in the exact spot where one of the originals stabbed him in the first Scream, and the thick scar tissue protects him to some degree against the new Ghostface's blade. It's these cool little touches in Scream 2 - the use of continuity, the savagery of Ghostface's attacks, the crackling tenon level of it all - that help it outpace Scream 3, which is number 25 on this list.Of the three sequels thus far, Scream 2 is the one that most effectively maintains its energy throughout the course of the entire film. As much as I love parts 3 and 4, they both have scenes where the tenon seems to be dispating from them, though both films always recover quickly enough in my estimation. This usually seems to happen during well-intended efforts to provide "downtime" for character development between stabbings, and many times, I like what is revealed about the characters in the scene enough to forgive a momentary lull in excitement. For whatever reason, though, the character development seems to be intertwined more effectively with the momentum of the plot in Scream 2, and I give the returning director, screenwriter and stars a ton of credit for that. A good example of what I'm talking about is the scene where dney (Neve Campbell) manages to t down for a quick, courage-inspiring pep talk with her drama professor, and Ghostface apparently uses that time to infiltrate the cast of the play she's in. This is one of my favorite scenes in the entire series so far. It provides a new layer to dney's character, and a deeper level of tragedy to her story. It makes a valid comparison between her and the tragic character of Cassandra from the greek play Agamemnon, but it also shows that dney is quite good at acting, and even that it seems to strengthen her resolve after her talk with her professor, only for Ghostface to ealy deny her that pursuit and its comfort moments later by coming for her in the middle of rehearsal. Ghostface is milarly unafraid to attack a cop car in the middle of a city street, or to make a try for dney after policemen are already swarming all over the campus due to the killing of Cici Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar) mere moments ago. In Scream 2, there was no moment where you were absolutely certain that the killer would not, or could not, strike. That's something which is sadly misng from many horror films.Speaking of Sarah Michelle Gellar as Cici, she did a lot with her relatively small role, truly making you feel for a character that you know is probably not going to make it. When her friend tells her over the phone that she can't believe Cici is alone in the sorority house, Gellar delivers the line "I don't think I'm alone." in precisely the right way to ratchet up the tenon. And when Ghostface slips into the house without her noticing before taunting her that she'd better set the alarm, the audience gets the joke, but Cici doesn't.I kind of wished she would, even though I know that a slasher flick would be a failure without kill scenes. Gellar's turn is one of a surpring number of strong performances. Liev Schreiber is excellent as the self-promoting Cotton Weary, a character who always seems to be ready to pounce on someone even as he tries to maintain an air of good humor. Jerry O'Connell plays d's stalwart boyfriend, Derek, with clear-eyed resolve, making him so unyielding in his devotion to her that we wonder if he's too good to be true (kind of like Billy Loomis). Timothy Olyphant and Laurie Metcalf are both effectively mercurial in their roles as Mickey and Debbie Salt, transforming from a college student and a reporter into ranting psychotics in a fashion that is mostly seamless. Jada Pinkett gives it her all as Maureen Evans in the movie's opening, clutching her profusely bleeding wounds and casting a mournful, accung eye at a theater full of people who did nothing as she was repeatedly stabbed, before belting out a scream for the record books to send us into the opening credits. And yeah, I'm sure her scream was beefed up in the studio, but Pinkett really put in some effort here, throwing her head back and clenching her fingers in outrage before her character slumps dead in front of the movie screen. David Arquette and Courtney Cox bring back their fragile but undeniable chemistry together as Dewey and Gale, something that was no doubt helped by the fact that the two actors were in the beginning stages of a real life romance at the time. Neve Campbell remains the perfect person to play dney, giving in to self-pity for only brief moments before taking measures to isolate and protect herself until she can figure out how to fight back, and giving as good as she gets once she has a clear target for her rage. In the film's finale, when dney is cutting ropes that send set pieces and props tumbling down on her would-be murderer, Campbell peers at the results of her efforts through a bullethole in a door and lets out a satisfied exhalation that shows just how close to the edge of sanity her character has been pushed. Even Rebecca Gayheart and Portia De Ros manage to make their background roles as inpid sorority sters memorably chipper and vacuous.
Of course, everything I've said 'til now would still not add up to a successful Scream if part 2 did not retain the referential use of horror movie trivia and lore from the original film. Luckily, Randy (Jamie Kennedy) gets plenty of that in before he's offed, a responbility of his character that Kennedy always seems to take special delight from. He has some help in this regard from an inquitive Dewey, as well as input from fellow film students Mickey, Cici, and others. As usual, none of the cast's collective knowledge of horror movies turns out to be of much use in figuring out the identity of a couple of killers who know the rules even better than they do.Scream 2 is a worthy successor to the original, and it quite handily disproved the doubts of those who claimed that the first film had mply left nowhere for a sequel to go (gee, why does that claim sound familiar?). Aided by a good script from Kevin Williamson and director Wes Craven's palpable love of the whole premise, it provides more depth to dney, Dewey and Gale, and truly puts all of them through the fires. It isn't that big of a trick to survive a horror movie once, but to do it twice makes people stand up and take notice. For good or ill, Scream 2 turned Dewey, Gale and especially dney into the battle scarred yet relient survivors we all know and love today. As much as people complain about predictability setting into the franchise if all three of them continue to survive movie after movie, it's understandable for any screenwriter to be reluctant to kill off such well-developed and likable characters. dney, Dewey and Gale are all of a higher pedigree than the vast majority of other characters in the genre, and Scream 2 had a big part of establishing that.Stay tuned for my next installment!
ImmortalSidneyP
Monday 4/09/2012 at 09:15 AM | 92293
I'm looking forward to your next top 25 movie...very well written, and you make me look at the movie in another way, Thanx !
UberJason78
Tuesday 4/10/2012 at 11:58 AM | 92326
