Kicking off with one of the greatest opening scenes in horror history, Scream 2 begins with a terrifying murder in a cinema (don’t say you weren’t warned), and doesn’t let up from there.
Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is settling down for college in Cincinnati, trying to forget her trauma, and doing her best to ignore the furore over the hit new film Stab, which has been adapted from the book Gail Weathers (Courtney Cox) has written about Sidney’s life, and depicts the terrifying murders that took place in Woodsboro two years before. But when a killer in a Ghostface mask murders two students attending a screening of the film, Sidney must fight off another ruthless killer, only this one is more ingenious, and even more horror-movie obsessed, than her previous foe. What’s more, Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber) the man previously accused of murdering Sidney’s mother, has been released from prison, and she doesn’t know whether to suspect him of the crimes.
Reuniting the surviving cast of the first Scream film with a new batch of knowing teen victims (Jada Pinkett Smith, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jerry O’Connell among them), Scream 2 ups the post-modern ante of the first film while also upping the ingenuity and grisliness of its murder scenes. The result is a barnstorming sequel that betters the original, and is an incredibly fun watch with an audience.
In the short history of post-modern slasher sequels, Wes Craven’s classic is the absolute gold standard, and is presented here on a glorious 35mm print for your viewing pleasure.