Scream 2

Year:  1997

Director:  Wes Craven

Screenplay:  Kevin Williamson

Starring:  Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Jerry O'Connell, Timothy Olyphant, Laurie Metcalfe, Jada Pinkett, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Liev Schreiber

Running Time:  120 minutes

Genre:  horror, comedy

 Two Windsor College students are brutally murdered at a preview of the new horror film Stab, based on the serial murders in the small town of Woodsboro.  Sidney Prescott (Campbell), one of the survivors of the Woodsboro murders, is also a student at Windsor and soon realises that she is once more being targeted by a ghost-mask wearing killer.  As the bodies and suspects mount up, it becomes clear that someone is trying to make a sequel to the previous killing spree.

Given the immense success of Scream (1996) a sequel was almost inevitable, and the filmmakers certainly didn't waste any time, with Scream 2 in cinemas only a year after the original.  Given the short time between the films it is surprising that Scream 2 is as good as it is.  While the original film both celebrated and commented on the tropes of traditional slasher horror films, this film does the same with horror sequels, including a scene which mirrors a famous sequence in the original where the film nerd Randy (played by Jamie Kennedy) outlines the rules of sequels.  Horror veteran Wes Craven returns to directing duties and orchestrates everything on a much bigger scale with some memorable set pieces, the opening sequence in the cinema, featuring Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett, is one of the highlights of the whole Scream series, and the ensemble cast, which features a number of future stars, as well as veterans such as David Warner, all give good performances.  Neve Campbell is good in the lead, and there is real connection between Courteney Cox and David Arquette, who were in a relationship at the time and later got married. The script by Kevin Williamson is witty, clever and full of pop-culture references.  This film also introduced film-within-a-film Stab, which would become a recurring feature in the Scream franchise, allowing the filmmakers to comment on and poke fun at the franchise itself.  the film inevitably lacks the freshness of the original.  There also some glaring plot holes, and a reliance on red-herring scares.  It is still a very good film, and definitely a superior sequel.

Neve Campbell and Courteney Cox in Scream 2

Go

Year of Release:  1999
Director:  Doug Liman
Screenplay:  John August
Starring:  Sarah Polley, Desmond Askew, Taye Diggs, Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf, Jay Mohr, J. E. Freeman, Timothy Olyphant, William Fichtner
Running Time:  102 minutes
Genre:  Crime, comedy, drama

This film consists of three interlinked stories set over a Christmas Eve night and Christmas morning.  In Los Angeles, convenience store clerk Ronna (Polley) needs extra money to make her rent and attempts to double-cross the local drug dealer (Olyphant).  Meanwhile, Ronna's fellow clerk, Simon (Askew), sets off for a wild weekend with his friends in Las Vegas, where he becomes embroiled in a series of misadventures involving a wedding party, a fire and an angry strip-club owner (Freeman).  Also a couple of TV actors (Wolf and Mohr) are coerced into taking part in a sting operation by a sinister detective (Fichtner).

This film plays like a teen movie version of Pulp Fiction (1994) and, released by Columbia, it feels a lot like a major studio's attempt to emulate the hip indie movies that Miramax were specializing in at the time, and so isn't really as edgy and cool as it sometimes seems to think it is.  However, having said that it is an entertaining film, funny, fast-moving and fairly light-hearted.  The film is well-written and the individual stories are well-constructed, and each has it's own feel.  It's well cast and full of familiar faces many of whom would go on to bigger things (look out for Melissa McCarthy in her feature film debut), Sarah Polley in particular is a stand-out.  While it is very much a product of it's time, it has aged fairly well, and is always enjoyable.

Katie Holmes and Sarah Polley in Go