Director Wes Craven's Scream 2 hit theaters in 1997 and served as the second installment in the director's meta-horror movie franchise — it's also the most underrated. The successful follow up to 1996's Scream employs humor, character development and satirical savvy, solidifying itself as sequel that should not be overlooked.
The Scream movie franchise has since grown into its cult status, becoming a beloved and sharply self-aware genre satire. Craven, being a seasoned horror director, used his vast knowledge of the genre to hone in on exactly what viewers are sick of seeing and what they want more of. Quickly adapting to the times, Scream mocks outdated and unrealistic tropes that have defined the horror genre for far too long.
Setting his characters up for new of scares, Craven introduces two fresh Ghostface killers, continuing his pattern of having his villains return from the dead. Squirting the supernatural, Scream 2 reasons the return by showing that anyone can take on the Ghostface identity, all it takes is a motive and means. With this haunting thought running through their heads, Sidney and co. must relive their worst nightmare, reluctantly gearing up for round two.
Scream 2 Mocks Its Status As A Movie Sequel
Self aware from the start, Scream 2 kicks off with an over-the-top premiere at a local theater, where crowds gather to see a sneak preview of Stab — a movie within a movie depicting the events of the first Scream film. Scream 2 is set in motion when college students Maureen Evans (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Phil Stevens (Omar Epps) are butchered by Ghostface during the Stab showing. Killed in front of a large audience, the seated viewers offer no help, assuming Maureen's panic and death is a planned publicity stunt for the premiere. The live killing questions what exactly audiences will sit through for the sake of entertainment, blinding absorbing violence, both real and fictional.
The film infuses jabs and jokes about horror movie sequels throughout the narrative, using genre buff and survivor of the first murders, Randy, to guide viewers through a new set of horror movie rules. Randy desperately tries to get his fellow students to understand that the structure is different in a sequel and therefore the original rules cannot protect them- the sequel will bring on a bigger body count and much more gruesome deaths. In a tongue-in-cheek moment, Randy begins to cite a third rule saying, "If you want your films to become a successful franchise, never, ever-" but he is interrupted by Dewey before finishing the thought. The line alludes to future films while mocking the fact that they may go off the rails, as many horror franchises grow more wild with each installment.
Scream 2's Characters Improve On The Original Movie
The Scream sequel expands on characters from the first film, allowing viewers to get to know them better through further development and context. Surviving the events of the original, Sidney (Neve Campbell), Randy (Jamie Kennedy), Gale (Courtney Cox), Dewey (David Arquette), and even Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), return to take down Ghostface once again. Scream 2 follows Sidney and Randy to Windsor College where they dive into their respective academic ions, theater and film. Seeing the surviving characters grow and thrive, that is, until Ghostface intervenes, strengthens them and allows them to become more three dimensional. Delivering more backstory on Cotton Weary, Scream 2 makes several callbacks to the attack on Sidney's mother, which launched the events of the first film. The sequel also builds the relationship between Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley, which continues throughout the franchise.
By deepening the characters and their backstories, Scream 2 evokes a fresh empathy for the Woodsboro gang, making Ghostface's killing spree all the more tense and treacherous. With a romance budding between Gale and Dewey, both of their survival is hoped for, upping the stakes of the killer's attacks. Hinting at a future where beloved characters could be safe, happy and free give the viewers a deeper desire to see them conquer the killer. The same goes for Sidney Prescott who, having already suffered through the events of the first film, is once again tasked with taking down Ghostface. Audiences root even harder for Sidney this time around, just as fed up with her relentless torment as she is.
Scream 2 Satirizes Horror Movie Tropes
At the time of Scream 2, the tragic and brutal Woodsboro murders have become widely known and, much like actual serial killer cases, fetishized to the max. The film's opening scene shows blatant and unsympathetic consumerism of other people's pain, holding a mirror up to both real society and Craven's own satirical series. Craven, who previously to directing Scream was known for his The Hills Have Eyes, has a great deal of fun calling out his own genre. By satirizing some of his own tropes, Craven uses Scream 2 to reflect on the typecasting of women in horror movies.
Scream's final girl, Sidney Prescott, is forced to battle Ghostface yet again as he continue to brutally murder those closest to her. The endless emotional and physical pain Craven places on Sidney brings attention to the abuse women in the genre suffer and the perpetual pain they endure. From Hitchcock's Lila Crane to Craven's own Nancy Thompson, final girls seem to survive just to suffer, seeing their loved ones killed and their sense of safety continuously compromised. Typically, another female character, one seen as less chaste or pure, is murdered first in order to juxtapose her morality with that of the final girl- a point that Craven also makes sure to mock with the killing of CiCi Cooper, a sorority girl that in a lesser film might have been typecast as a ditzy blonde, but instead thrives in the same film class as Randy, offering crucial and clever points before her time is up.
In a Friday the 13th inspired twist, the film's villain, turns out to be the mother of Billy Loomis, the original Ghostface killer, mocking the "scorned mother" trope brought on by characters like Mrs. Voorhees. Mrs Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), who goes by the alias "Debbie Salt" in Scream 2 is seeking vengeance on Sidney for the death of her son and Mickey (Timothy Olyphant)—her partner in crime—was solely a manipulated sidekick, much like the relationship between Billy and Stu in the original Scream. Through new settings, scares, and satires, Scream 2 proves itself as a sequel that continues to hold up within Craven's series.
