Scream 2 (1997) - Wes Craven

This movie picks up while Sidney Prescott, our young heroine who the franchise is centered around, attends the prestigious Windsor College. A film called Stab comes out based on the Westboro Murders. Meanwhile, a series of copycat murders occur in and around the college mimicking the murderers.

Some of the original cast returns. Randy, Dewey, Gale... Their characters stay pretty much the same. Cotton Weary is explored a lot more and played as a strange, pissy, sociopath that is obsessed with getting his fifteen minuets of fame after being released from prison. He clearly resents Sidney for wrongly accusing him.

The film is obvious but clever and furthers the notion of it becoming self-aware. Film Sequels are a main topic of conversation. The new characters help move the film along in entertaining fashion. Gale has a new cameraman and he's pretty funny. Sidney has a new boyfriend in Sliders own Jerry O'Connell.

The cameos are decent and all in all the movie does well as a sequel. It feels a bit washed out but the sly humor and need for a twist drive it forward. It achieves that same Who-done-it feel from the first film. I recommend this movie on the agreement that you watch the original film first.

Director: Wes Craven
Country: USA
Style: Slasher

Did ya know...

The cast were not informed of the identity of the killer until the last day of principal photography. Also, the cast did not receive the last ten pages of the shooting script until it was time to film the scenes contained therein. Furthermore, the last ten pages of the shooting script were printed on gray paper in order to deter illicit duplication of them. All cast members were required to sign confidentiality clauses as parts of their respective contracts that precluded them from discussing the outcome of the story and the killer's identity. Robert Rodriguez directed scenes of "Stab," the movie-within-a-movie of Scream 2(1997). Rodriguez directed the Casey Becker scene and the Sidney and Billy scene. The rules for a horror-movie sequel as stated by Randy are: 1. the death total is always greater; and 2. the murder scenes are always much more elaborate, with more blood and gore. The third rule to surviving a sequel was cut from the movie, but appears in its trailer, "And number three, never, ever under any circumstance assume that the killer is dead.

Comments

The Human Monster (1939) - Walter Summers

Bela Lugosi turns in a fantastic performance. It is right on par with the exact same films that had made him famous like Dracula . My personal favorite being The Black Cat . Like the latter, this film suffered from poor circulation and lack of advertisement. Either that or the public wasn't interested in seeing Lugosi in anything else other than his famous bloodsucker. This film has a broad and well acted plot that was rich with detail. Lugosi has two sides in this picture. His well loved and compassionate side. The other is a strict, brutal lone shark that acts as a sinister villain to blind and handicapped people. He really brutalizes his victims. It's a macabre message to pay your bills. The film is slow moving and plagued by the usual setbacks from its time. Most of the nation wasn't really that concerned with horror at the time. But studios knew that they would always have an audience. This film is a prime example of that. It's sad because it's

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Ju-On (2000) - Takashi Shimizu

Watching Japanese horror is similar to watching British comedy. If you enjoy dry whit then you probably enjoy the boys of Monty Python in drag. That's the joke, they're dressed like women. Get it? Well, that's British humor. But if you're like most Americans you probably prefer Adam Sandler farting his way across a football field and hooking up with chicks that are way out of his league. Americans usually prefer this more in your face, crass brand of humor. My point is funny in England is different from funny in the US. The same goes for J-Horror. What the Japanese consider scary is very different from what Americans consider scary and it shows in this horror film. Japanese horror is generally slow (a little too slow sometimes), suspenseful and creepy. Ju-On is a creepy effing film. The movie has almost no soundtrack. It is incredibly suspenseful and the pay-offs are pretty awesome, but I think that it was done better in the American version (cultural t

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Inseminoid (1981) - Norman J. Warren

What can be said for mindless schlock pictures like this one. They were pumped out in droves during the eighties. Inseminoid !? give me a break! It sounds like some pre-pubescent teenage boys came up with the title. On the plus side the movie isn't horrible to look at and it has a decent amount of gore. If you can separate yourself from the political incorrectness, then you might have a perfectly decent Sci-Fi Monster Feature. A research team exploring caves on Jupiter accidentally awakens an ancient alien that rapes and impregnates one of the team members. She suffers from terrible shock and trauma, leading to a complete mental breakdown as her pregnancy accelerates faster and faster. Feeling threatened she decides to kill anyone she deems a threat. Can the rest of the research team survive or will they all become victims of INSEMINOID! Apparently this movie had a million dollar budget. That's really shocking considering the outcome of the picture. The acting

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