Night four - Scream 2
Usually I tend to think that horror movie sequels are often worse than the original but this was a really enjoyable sequel to the scream franchise. It opened well with a lot of tense built around Maureen's death scene and also it kept the jovial tone it had in its first instalment. The dark comedy is a great part of scream and I think that's why I enjoy it so much because the comedy isn't deliberate and doesn't make the movie loose it's tone of horror. I do prefer the opening to Scream 1 but that's only because it's probably my favourite opening to any horror movie but this one still holds strong I think. I liked the nostalgic feel taking you back to the first one with the movie 'Stab' and the scene of Casey's death.
Tying in with the dark comedy theme I liked seeing Randy return again for the sequel. I think he's a great character for comedic value and I really enjoyed his heated discussion between his peers about movie sequels. It was a great device for breaking the fourth wall as Randy was used also in the first movie. It's a shame that Randy met his fate I think as he is my favourite male character in the franchise but I guess that Dewey is needed for his love story with Gale. I was also shipping Randy and Sydney so it's a shame that they never got together as I think they would've made a great on screen couple and one I definitely would've rooted for.
My two joint favourite scenes in the film have to be Gale's chase scene in the theatre department and Cici's death. The build up to Cici's death was amazing and suspenseful. Her death was aesthetically pleasing also as it wasn't anticlimactic and didn't just see her stabbed by ghost face but her being thrown over her balcony for me made her death scene much more memorable and one I won't forget. Sarah Michelle Gellar also played the role of Cici brilliantly but I love Sarah M-G in everything she's in to be honest. I loved Gale's chase scene in the theatre department because it was really filled full of suspense and just watching her narrowly miss her fate at the hands of ghost face several times left me on the edge of my seat.
One criticism I do have is that the characters I couldn't connect with as much as I could in the first movie. Rose McGowan played Tatum amazingly in the best friend role but I felt that the girl who played Halle was just very average and I have no real opinion on her. I much preferred the friend group as a whole in the first movie and found them really developed but I couldn't tell you much about the friend group in this movie apart from whether or not they played a role as a good guy or a bad guy.
I liked the fact that Wes Craven didn't go down the route of making the boyfriend the killer again. About forty minutes into the film I was convinced they were going to go down the same route but I'm glad they didn't as it would just feel like they'd ran out of ideas. I think Mrs Loomis' motive as to being the killer was realistic and pleasing to the viewer. The actress who played her also played the role of a sociopathic 'woman scorned' killer really well and I loved the final showdown between Sydney and Mrs Loomis in the theatre with the theatre equipment cascading from the ceiling. Another point I liked about the killings was that they were copy cat killings and I think it was clever of Craven to add those details in.
Cotton Weary was a nice addition to the cast and I liked the subplot of him wanting to clear his name. For a short while I initially thought that maybe he had killed Sydney's mum but I'm glad he didn't because I liked his character being a protagonist. Although I couldn't really connect with him and did find him somewhat annoying.
Overall - 9/10
This simply scores one point lower than the original because I find the supporting cast a lot harder to connect with.
Overall scores:
Scream -
10/10
Friday the 13th -
2/10
House of wax -
8/10
Scream 2 -
9/10