Screem 2 VHS

To repeat the phenomenal success of their collaboration on 1996's hit thriller Scream, horror maven Wes Craven and screenwriter Kevin Williamson did a fair amount of recycling (same movie, slightly different situations), but this sequel comes surprisingly close to matching its popular predecessor. Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, and Liev Schreiber reprise their roles from Scream, and this time they're caught in a new cycle of murders near a college campus, just as the slasher movie Stab (based on the events from Scream) is about to make its local premiere. That's the setup for another frantic guessing game involving a number of possible suspects, and the mystery is fatally complicated by the reappearance of the eerily masked killer from the first film. Who's under the mask? Craven and Williamson set up a roller-coaster series of wild plot twists and deadly encounters, and the snappy dialogue once again caters to those in the know about fright flicks, sequels, and all the movie rules that do (and sometimes don't) apply to the escalating body count. Featuring several scenes that will have you biting your nails and gripping your seat, this movie's an exception to the rule--a sequel that beats the odds to satisfy its target audience. Everyone else--you've been warned! --Jeff Shannon