--- title: "Scream 2" year: 1997 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/scream-2" fi1m_score: 74 critics_score: 74 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-19T15:57:28.524845+00:00" updated: "2026-09-19T15:57:28.653013+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Scream 2 (1997) Directed by Wes Craven · 2h 00m · MPA R · Horror, Mystery **Fi1m score: 74** · Critics 74 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* Everyone in the cinema is dressed as the murderer, which is convenient for the murderer > Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson take the mask to college and make a sequel that earns its jokes about sequels. The set-pieces are as good as anything in the first film; the ending explains itself at length and is the weaker for it. ## Synopsis Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), who survived the Woodsboro murders, is now a student at Windsor College, with a roommate, Hallie (Elise Neal), a boyfriend, Derek (Jerry O’Connell), and a fellow survivor, Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), in her film class. *Stab*, a film made from the killings, opens in town, and on its first night two students, Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Phil (Omar Epps), go to a screening where the whole audience has been handed the killer’s mask at the door. Someone in the crowd is not pretending. By morning, reporter Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) is on campus with a local rival, Debbie Salt (Laurie Metcalf), close behind; Dewey Riley (David Arquette) arrives to watch over Sidney; and Cotton Weary (Liev Schreiber), newly out of prison, wants his interview. Then the phone rings again. ## Review Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson made *Scream* in 1996 about teenagers who had seen every horror film and were murdered by someone who had seen them too. The obvious next move was a sequel about sequels, and *Scream 2* makes it. Early on, Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) stands up in a film class and lists the rules: a higher body count, more elaborate deaths, never assume the killer is dead. For about a hundred minutes the film obeys the rules and cheats them at once. Then it starts talking. The opening is the best thing in the film. Maureen (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Phil (Omar Epps) go to the first screening of *Stab*, a film made from the Woodsboro murders, and the cinema hands out masks and plastic knives at the door. Peter Deming lights the auditorium only from the screen, so faces flare white and go black with every cut of the film they are watching. Patrick Lussier cuts between the murder in *Stab* and the seats until you lose track of which scream belongs to which film. We were more unsettled by this than by anything with a blade in it later: a room full of people cheering a killing they have decided is a stunt. The set-pieces that follow hold the standard. Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Cici, alone in a sorority house while the party is elsewhere, gets a long, patient stalk through wide hallways, and Craven lets the camera drift ahead of her so we see the empty doorway before she does. A rehearsal of a Greek tragedy, on a black stage Bob Ziembicki fills with a masked chorus, surrounds Sidney with people who look like the man who wants to kill her. A sequence midway, involving a crashed police car and a masked man who may or may not be unconscious, we will not describe except to say we did not breathe for the length of it. Marco Beltrami’s score has grown since the first film: more brass, a wordless soprano over Sidney’s scenes, and a habit of going quiet a beat before Craven moves. Courteney Cox is the reason to come back. Gale Weathers is nastier, funnier and better dressed than before, in Kathleen Detoro’s sharp-shouldered suits, and Cox plays her as a woman slightly appalled at how good she is at her job. David Arquette’s Dewey, walking with a limp he did not have last time, is the person she is rudest to and the person she keeps looking for. Neve Campbell plays Sidney Prescott tired rather than scared, and the performance is better than the script’s use of it. Liev Schreiber’s Cotton Weary, out of prison and hunting a television interview, gets the most uncomfortable scenes, and Laurie Metcalf is funny as the reporter who will not leave Gale alone. The trouble is the last reel. Whoever is under the mask stops to explain, the explanation goes on for a long time, and it arrives at a motive that made us shrug where the first film’s made us sit up. Williamson has spent the film joking about how sequels let you down, and then the ending lets you down. Earlier, smaller problems: Sidney vanishes for stretches of the middle while the film enjoys Gale and Randy, and Craven lingers on the wounds more than before; the blood is redder and there is more of it, and it sits oddly beside the wit. At 120 minutes there is a quarter of an hour of campus we did not need. Among slasher sequels this is rare company. The form’s rule is the same again with less; *Scream 2* is the same again with the same wit. Against Craven’s own work it is a step down from *Wes Craven’s New Nightmare*, which made the film-about-films joke first and more strangely, and from the first *Scream*, whose ending it cannot match. Some critics have called it the better film; the opening and middle are stronger, and we still think the last twenty minutes decide it. Watch it with the first film, in one sitting, with the landline plugged in. It carries an 18 certificate, for the reasons you would expect. *Fi1m score 74, published 19 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics like Scream 2, and several rate it close to the original. The praise clusters on Williamson’s script, found witty and film-literate, and on its running joke about the rules of sequels, media and violence. Craven’s set-pieces are widely credited with real jumps, and the cast is called consistently capable, with Campbell, Cox and Arquette singled out. Total Film goes furthest, calling it scarier, funnier and better written than the first film. The reservations are mild. Several critics say it is predictably less inventive than the original, and Empire adds that the heroine fades into the background. Roger Ebert thinks the extra gore distracts from the cleverness and blunts the scares. The Los Angeles Times is coolest, finding the raised body count morbid despite the comic tone. Collider, writing much later, admires its handling of race and fandom but finds the third act chatty. The spread is narrow: no review is negative. ### Reviews we read (9) - **Total Film** (90/100, inferred): The review calls Scream 2 scarier, funnier, better written and more exciting than the original, with endlessly surprising set-pieces and a non-stop mix of shocks and jumps. It restores knife-edged uncertainty to the slasher genre and delivers on the promise of the first film. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/scream-2-review/) - **Radio Times**, Josh Winning (4/5): The critic finds the sequel unexpectedly strong, intensifying the self-aware humour, death scenes and emotional connections while delivering some of the best horror sequences in the series. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-90vr4r/scream-2/) - **Variety**, Leonard Klady (80/100, inferred): Visceral, witty, and appropriately redundant, the sequel follows the rules of a successful follow-up while delivering a commercial recipe for strong returns. It aspires to more than slasher fare through its house-of-mirrors structure commenting on media, reality, and the genre itself, with a top-notch cast and smooth execution. [Read](https://variety.com/1997/film/reviews/scream-2-1200452335/) - **Empire**, Kim Newman (75/100, inferred): The critic praises Craven's skill at delivering scares and Williamson's witty, movie-literate dialogue while noting the film's self-referential parody of sequels. It offers great comic and terrifying moments but is hampered by being less original than the first and by the heroine fading into the background. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/scream-2-review/) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (70/100, inferred): The sequel is about as good as the original, with a witty screenplay full of ironies about sequels, media, and violence. It is gorier than the first film, which distracts from the cleverness and fails to deliver real scares. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/scream-2-1997) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (NYT Critic’s Pick): Scream 2 has staying power thanks to its tongue-in-cheek trickery and sharp satire that nearly escapes the horror genre. The film-within-a-film device and media-circus elements keep the fun-house quality alive while advancing the franchise. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1997/12/12/movies/film-review-help-he-s-back-run-shriek-tempt-fate.html) - **Time Out**, NF (65/100, inferred): The critic notes that as a sequel the film predictably lacks the original's inventiveness. It still delivers intelligent and frightening horror by focusing on the victims and varying the formula slightly. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/scream-2-1) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kevin Thomas (60/100, inferred): The sequel raises the body count and contrivance in an attempt to top the original but delivers a morbid effect despite its comic tone and ingenuity. The large cast is consistently capable, with strong turns from Campbell, Cox, and Arquette, and plenty of witty film references remain. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-dec-12-ca-63142-story.html) - **Collider**, Marco Vito Oddo (B+): The critic praises Scream 2 as a strong sequel that explores meta themes about sequels, fandom, and representation while delivering thrills and mystery. They single out its handling of complex topics like race in horror and toxic fandom for praise, while noting the third act is chatty and the reveal less satisfying. [Read](https://collider.com/scream-2-review-wes-craven/) ## Details - **Director:** Wes Craven - **Director:** Wes Craven - **Screenplay:** Kevin Williamson - **Cinematography:** Peter Deming - **Editor:** Patrick Lussier - **Music:** Marco Beltrami - **Production design:** Bob Ziembicki - **Costume design:** Kathleen Detoro - **Producer:** Cathy Konrad, Marianne Maddalena - **Cast:** Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott; Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers; David Arquette as Dewey Riley; Jerry O'Connell as Derek; Elise Neal as Hallie; Timothy Olyphant as Mickey; Jamie Kennedy as Randy Meeks; Laurie Metcalf as Debbie Salt - **Runtime:** 2h 00m - **Certificate (MPA):** R - **Release (the US):** 12 December 1997 - **Genres:** Horror, Mystery - **Budget:** $24 million - **Box office:** $172 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TRG-z-w25Y ## Where to watch in the US - Paramount+: streaming, hd - Starz: streaming - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Hulu: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $5.99, uhd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $14.99, uhd *Checked 2026-09-19.* Also available in: AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, ES, FI, FR, GB, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IN, IT, JP, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## If you liked this - *Scream* (1996), Fi1m 86: The original, with the ending this one cannot better; watch it first — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/scream.md) - *Wes Craven's New Nightmare* (1994): Craven’s earlier, stranger film about a horror film that will not stay fictional - *Peeping Tom* (1960): A killer who films his victims; London, in colour, decades ahead of the joke - *Tenebrae* (1982): Argento’s murder mystery about a writer whose books inspire the murders - *The Cabin in the Woods* (2011), Fi1m 80: Five students, a cabin, and a film that knows every rule they are about to break — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-cabin-in-the-woods.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/scream-2