Scream 2: I'd Be More Upset That My Boyfriend Got My Popcorn All Bloody.

Ooh sequels. As someone who hates remakes and sequels I've realized lately that the only sequels I like are those directed by the original director-or sequels that are continuations i.e. contain the same characters as the original. If all the characters are killed in a movie then the movie should be over. Why would anyone want to sit through the same exact movie with different and less talented actors who just have bigger boobs?

So that brings me to my guilty pleasure of the Scream movies. Wes Craven rarely disappoints and I think he's really taken the Scream franchise and done wonders with it. He's taken his main character and made her strong and even *gasp* grow as a character. Character growth in a horror movie?!! What is this devilry? But it's true.

Sydney Prescott is a woman who will never truly be able to sleep at night. Sure in the beginning she seems over it- the whole caller ID thing and the way she deals with prank callers- but just by the mere sight of Cotton she gets all cold and rigid again. I mean you really have no choice but to sympathize with her. She watched nearly all of her friends get killed except the dorky movie nerd and her slutty best friends even dorkier cop brother......super lame cakes. But anyways Scream 2 is a mighty fine sequel in my opinion.

The beginning is really great. Wes Craven pays homage to Demons but puts a deliciously brutal twist on it. Poor Jada Pinkett Smith gets stabbed to death in the movie theater at the opening night of Stab (the Hollywood version of Sydney's real life story aka Scream) and no one even notices or cares. People are handed out gifts of the killers costume and glow and the dark knives. Of course no one would notice! It's all so wicked and scary- bleeding and screaming and being overshadowed by a particularly wonderful horror movie! Not that Stab is particularly wonderful but you get the idea.

So then we follow Sydney through her college days as she tries to be a woman, and tries to outwit and survive another batch of killers. My favorite scenes are the play rehearsal scene because it's so hectic and dramatic and the story of Casandra is such an interesting one to choose. And of course when the killer is driving the cop car, crashes and Sydney and her token black friend have to crawl over the killer to get out! The tension is seriously dealt in that scene and that horn blowing is so not cool Wes.

While the killers are a little ehh, the movie really works for me. Sarah Michelle Gellar is even in it- thank god she smartened up and joined the cast of a real horror movie fad aka NOT I Know What You Did Last Summer. The movie plays on the fact that the first movie played on the whole idea of horror movies and so it plays on the idea of a sequel! Honestly it's so simple and perfect it's a wonder no one else had even thought to do it. The Scream movies will always be a favorite of mine- although I didn't quite enjoy the third one as much. We'll have to see about the 4th.... regardless I just love that Wes Craven!