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| Scream 2 | |
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 Scream 2 film poster |
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| Directed by | Wes Craven |
| Produced by | Cathy Konrad, Wes Craven, Marianne Maddalena |
| Written by | Kevin Williamson |
| Starring | David Arquette Neve Campbell Courteney Cox Sarah Michelle Gellar Jamie Kennedy Jerry O'Connell Jada Pinkett Liev Schreiber |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films |
| Release date(s) | December 12, 1997 |
| Running time | 120 min. |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $24,000,000 |
| Gross revenue | $172,363,301 |
| Preceded by | Scream |
| Followed by | Scream 3 |
Scream 2 (1997) is a horror thriller film, the second part of the Scream trilogy. As with the other films in the trilogy, Scream 2 combines straight-forward scares with dialogue that satirizes conventions of slasher films, especially (in this case) slasher film sequels.
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Plot
The plot is centered on a group of college friends, an ex-cop and a news reporter as they deal with some mysterious killings that take place after the release of the horror movie Stab, which was inspired by the events in the California town of Woodsboro depicted in the original film. Many of the survivors from the first movie return to reprise their original roles in this film.
Sidney (Neve Campbell) and Randy (Jamie Kennedy) are attending Windsor College. They see on the news that a couple (Jada Pinkett Smith and Omar Epps) were murdered in a movie theatre at the preview of the Stab movie based on a book by Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) about the Woodsboro murders. Phil Stevens is stabbed in the head after a knife went through the bathroom stall. While in the theatre, the killer sits next to Maureen Evans. Thinking its her boyfriend, she doesn't notice. During the Casey Becker kill scene in the film Stab, the crowd goes wild. Taking advantage of this, the killer stabs her multiple times. Since several movie goers are wearing the killers costume (the movie studio sent them) and are all carrying fake knives, nobody notices shes actually dying. She steps up in front of the movie screen and lets out one final cry before falling back, dead. Soon, Sydney and Randy realize that it's starting all over again.
Dewey (David Arquette) also arrives on the campus to try and help protect Sidney. Once again, in the "rules" scene, Randy and Dewey talk to each other and explain to each other that anyone could be the killer (known as Ghostface), including themselves. During the course of the discussion, Randy continues his job of explaining the rules of a horror movie, this time the "rules of a Sequel".
The killer attempts to kill Sidney, while setting up a copycat ploy. Casey "Cici" Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar), a sorority girl, is the next victim. While alone at her sorority house, Cici is threatened by the killer over the phone before the killer attacks her inside the house and chases her upstairs. The killer then stabs her in the back twice before throwing her over a third story balcony. After the police discover the body, the students at the nearby martini mixer go over to investigate, leaving Sidney and Derek at the Delta Lambda Zeta house. The killer attempts to kill Sidney, but Derek shows up and helps Sidney escape, before charging into the house himself. He is slashed on the arm, not fatally, and the killer escapes.
At the police headquarters, Gale and Dewey notice that the names of those killed so far match the first three victims of Woodsboro - Maureen Evans, Maureen Prescott - Casey "Cici" Cooper, Casey Becker - Phil Stevens, Steven Orth. The police chief assigns two detectives to protect Sidney following this discovery. Later, Sidney is in the school theater rehearsing for the play Cassandra when Ghost Face attacks through the mass chaos in one of the scenes. Sidney escapes again as Derek arrives to give her a ride.
Randy is the next victim. The group is outside on the campus lawn amongst dozen of college students enjoying the nice weather. When the killer calls, the voice says he can see them. Gale and Dewey search amongst the dozen or so cell phone-wielding students on the lawn, trying to figure out where the call is coming from. Randy is also looking around while talking to the killer on the phone. He is then outside of Joel's (the camerman) van when he is unexpectedly pulled into the van in broad daylight and stabbed to death after insulting the dead Billy Loomis, one of the first films killers. Officer Andrews and Officer Richards, the detectives who were assigned to protect Sidney, are also killed after Ghost Face attacks their vehicle at a stop light. Gale and Dewey are caught up in a game of cat and mouse with the killer, resulting in Dewey being stabbed. After being trapped in a cop car that has crashed and narrowly escaping a "tight" squeeze, getting passed a knocked out Ghost Face to escape the car. Sydney has the chance to take the mask off, but accidentally honked the horn. When they get out, Sydney wants to go back because if she doesn't the killer will just come back. She returns to see the body gone. Hallie (Elise Neal), Sid's roommate, is killed while trying to run away and Sidney heads for the campus theatre.
While in the school theatre, Sidney witnesses the death of her boyfriend Derek after Mickey shoots him in the chest. In the final confrontation, the killers are revealed to be Sidney's new boyfriend's best friend, Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), and Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), the mother of Sidney's previous boyfriend, Billy. Mickey reaveals that he wants to become famous and immortalized by the media after the murders. He met Mrs. Loomis on a "psycho" website. She has agreed to fund him into college as long as he does the killings. She also helped in the calling part, except for this day because she "ditched on him." Mrs. Loomis wanted to kill Sidney as a revenge of killing her son, yet Sidney pointed out to her that if she didn't abandon Billy in the first place he wouldn't have gone on his killing spree with his partner Stu Macher, the second killer in the first film. Mrs. Loomis shoots Mickey, removing her accomplice and a potential threat, stating that his motive was completely absurd and that no one would believe it. (Mickey wanted to blame it on horror movies; the "effects of cinema violence in society.")
Before he collapses, Mickey shoots Gale as she is running towards him, causing her to fall off the stage. Sidney is cornered by Mrs. Loomis and tricks her by saying, "Isn't Mickey supposed to be dead?", and when Mrs. Loomis looks, Sidney hits her in the face with a prop jar. Sidney then causes the stage to collapse on Mrs. Loomis. Mrs. Loomis survives and gets Sidney in an armlock, and Cotton (Liev Schreiber), the man framed for killing Sid's mother shows up, and picks up Mickey's gun.
Mrs. Loomis tries to convince Cotton to kill Sidney, but Cotton shoots Mrs. Loomis instead. Gale is alive, as the bullet had bounced off one of her ribs. Then Mickey suddenly jumps up and Gale and Sidney shoot him multiple times. Then, Sidney turns around and shoots Mrs. Loomis in the head, "Just in case". It is then revealed that Dewey was alive after, quite literally, being stabbed in the back (while a horrified Gale watched while in a sound studio, unable to hear him cry for help because of soundproof glass). It turns out that the scar tissue from being stabbed in the back in the first movie prevented this latest stabbing to be fatal. Gale is overjoyed that he was found alive, and the movie ends with Sidney looking up into the sky and walking away from the scene of the carnage.
Satirical/Self-Referential Style
As with the original film, Scream 2 utilizes self-aware characters and a self-referential style. In the world of the movie, a movie called Stab has been released, which is based on the real events of the first film and is also a parody of Scream. The scenes seen of Stab (actually directed by Robert Rodriguez) directly recreate scenes in the first film, with Heather Graham and Luke Wilson being parodies of Drew Barrymore and Skeet Ulrich's characters, respectively. There are also scenes of Tori Spelling being interviewed by Nancy O'Dell (both making cameos as themselves) to promote the movie.
There is also the 2nd mention of the 'rules' of a horror film, this time the rules of a sequel. There is heavy reference to the downplay of black actors in conventional horror films (including the first Scream, which was criticized for it). This is referenced in the first scene which portrays this downplay in the original film and highlights the increased importance of the roles that black actors play in this movie.
There are also references to David Schwimmer and Jennifer Aniston (an in-joke since Courteney Cox co-starred with them on Friends) as well as to Hollywood luminaries such as Kevin Costner, James Cameron, and Jane Seymour.
Reception
As with the first film, Scream 2 received a mostly positive critical reception. Roger Ebert noted the film as being "about as good as the original". His late reviewing partner, Gene Siskel, also gave it a 'thumbs up', despite giving a negative review of the first film.
Cast
- David Arquette as Dwight 'Dewey' Riley
- Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott
- Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers
- Sarah Michelle Gellar as Casey "Cici" Cooper
- Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks
- Laurie Metcalf as Debbie Salt (Mrs. Loomis)
- Elise Neal as Hallie McDaniel
- Timothy Olyphant as Mickey Altieri
- Jerry O'Connell as Derek Feldman
- Jada Pinkett as Maureen Evans
- Liev Schreiber as Cotton Weary
- Duane Martin as Joel Jones
- Rebecca Gayheart as Sorority Sister Lois
- Portia de Rossi as Sorority Sister Murphy
- David Warner as Gus Gold
- Omar Epps as Phil Stevens
- Lewis Arquette as Chief Lewis Hartley
- Heather Graham as 'Casey Becker' in Stab
- Tori Spelling as Sidney in Stab
- Luke Wilson as 'Billy Loomis' in Stab
- Bret Thompson as Cab Driver & Security Guard
- Matthew Lillard (Played the second killer Stu in the first Scream) uncredited as guy at party1
The Rules
A signature device, started in Scream and continued in Scream 2 and Scream 3, was the typical "rules" for that type of horror movie being stated by the characters. In Scream 2, the rules for a sequel (as described by Randy) are:
- The body count is always bigger.
- The death scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore.
- Randy starts to describe the third rule: "If you want your films to become a successful franchise, never, ever...' before being interrupted by Dewey. However, the film's original teaser trailer featured an extended version of the rules scene which reveals that originally the third rule was supposed to be "Never, ever, under any circumstances assume the killer is dead." This referenced Randy's last line in the first Scream which stated that a killer always comes back to life for one last scare.
The lack of a third rule in the films final cut was a deliberate in-joke by the crew, referencing the fact that it's impossible to ensure that a horror franchise will be successful.
Original Ending
Writer Kevin Williamson originally wrote a different ending to Scream 2. In this ending, Sidney's room mate Hallie and boyfriend Derek are the killers. They plan on releasing the footage of their killings for money. Mrs. Loomis holds Gale hostage like the now used ending. After a coin toss, Loomis shoots them both. She is now about to finally kill off the last films survivors Gale and Sydney, but Cotton escapes from the cross (which is used on Derek in the now used ending) and stabs Mrs. Loomis to death. When they think the whole ordeal is over, Cotton stabs Gale after they hug. Wanting revenge for being locked up for a year and frustrated of not getting any TV time, he will now kill Sidney and take the footage for some quick cash. The film ends after they both die after being stabbed multiple times. It is unknown if Gale and Dewey survived.
Wes Craven felt this ending to be to "dark" and not a good ender. He also felt a third movie would be possible and didn't want the main character dead and felt Cotton should be kept innocent. The original script can still be viewed online.
Soundtrack
| Scream 2: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture | |||||
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| Soundtrack by Various Artists | |||||
| Released | November 18, 1997 | ||||
| Label | Festival Mushroom Records; Warner Bros. Records; Warner Bros. Music Entertainment | ||||
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| Various Artists chronology | |||||
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Track listing
- "Scream" - Master P, Silkk The Shocker 3:30
- "Suburban Life" - Kottonmouth Kings 3:34
- "Rivers" - Sugar Ray 2:50
- "She's Always in My Hair" - D'Angelo 6:19
- "Help Myself" - Dave Matthews Band 4:31
- "She Said" - Collective Soul 4:51
- "Right Place, Wrong Time" - Jon Spencer 3:16
- "Dear Lover" - Foo Fighters 4:33
- "Eyes of Sand" - Tonic 4:16
- "The Swing" - Everclear 2:59
- "I Think I Love You" - Less Than Jake 2:03
- "Your Lucky Day in Hell" - Eels 4:26
- "Red Right Hand" - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, DJ Spooky 8:23
- "One More Chance" - Kelly 4:13
- "The Race" - Ear2000 2:19
Marco Beltrami returned for the score of Scream 2. While using similar themes as in the first film Marco also incorporated Hans Zimmer's Broken Arrow theme as Dewey's theme.
References
External links
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