Sidney Prescott is now in college, trying to live a normal life despite the immense popularity of the new Stab movie, based on Gale Weathers' popular true crime book about the murders the occurred in the first Scream movie (yes, Stab is essentially Scream with different actors). Unfortunately, the movie seems to be inspiring horrible people to call Sidney and pretend to be the original killer. She deals with it as best she can, but then a sorority girl is murdered by an actual copycat killer. Also a couple moviegoers - it occurs to me that there was never any attempt to explain that.

As Sidney and others try to figure out the new killer's identity, the body count rises.

The only Scream movie I've ever watched is the first one, so after enjoying my recent rewatch, I decided I'd finally work my way through the franchise.

I'd thought Gale had learned her lesson in the first movie, but apparently not, because she was still using Sidney as a stepping stone towards fame and fortune. There was some evidence that, deep down, she felt bad about it, but only after Dewey repeatedly rejected her and threw his own disgust in her face. Weirdly, Dewey and Gale are becoming the most interesting characters in this series.

Sidney was back as well, and had somehow made it through the trauma of discovering that her boyfriend was a murderer well enough to attempt dating once again. After what she'd experienced in the first movie, I'd have expected it to take a lot of counseling. She did have trust issues, though, and one of the things she had to navigate in this movie was her suspicion that her newest boyfriend might be a murderer like her first one was. (One unrelated question I'm left with: will Sidney's father ever make an onscreen appearance? And what kind of horrible father makes zero effort to keep in touch with a daughter who's survived this many killers?)

There were a few surprising faces in this movie that I'd have liked to see in another Scream movie. Sadly, they all ended up very dead. Ah well.

The big reveal at the end wasn't all that believable (literally no one but Sidney recognized the person?), but then again it wasn't all that believable that someone as psychotic as Sidney's first boyfriend was able to hide how twisted he was for as long as he did.

The one scene that frustrated the heck out of me: the bit where Ghostface was unconscious behind the wheel of a car. Yes, they had to get away before the killer regained consciousness, but it would have been easy to take a peek at the person's face first. Plus, removing the mask would have made it easier to see if the person was about to attack. It seemed like more manufactured tension than necessary.

All in all, the second movie was okay. I'm wondering how the next few are going to work out. How many times does the franchise make use of the same basic twist and still at least sort of manage to get away with it?

Extras:

Audio commentary I didn't listen to, outtakes, deleted scenes, etc. I don't recall the outtakes or deleted scenes being particularly worth recommending.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) ( )