Scream 2  ★★★

WES Craven’s Scream was a huge hit in the mid-90s with the teenage Saturday night movie crowd.

The 1997 sequel, Scream 2, is more gruesome, still fun but nowhere near as clever as the original.

Kevin Williamson is again responsible for the script but it feels like he expended most of his social commentary in the first film.

Yes there are still some attempts at trying to subvert the horror genre by having fun with many of its most recognisable tropes and implausibilities.

But the main focus seems to be on simply providing an entertainment full of pure jumps and thrills and it generally succeeds. The film is definitely more gruesome than the original and the body count is high with Craven and Williamson not afraid to regularly despatch characters.

As with the original, the cast is very likeable. Jada Pinkett Smith, Omar Epps, Timothy Olyphant and Sarah-Michelle Gellar join returning cast members Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette and Liev Schrieber. Campbell and Cox are again the stand-outs.

Killer character Ghostface continues to be frustrating in his depiction, one of the least scary protagonists in film (maybe that’s part of the joke) being easily evaded on many occasions only to always get his man or woman with ease in the end.

If you haven’t seen the original, the later twists are reasonable, but to fans its pretty clear who the villains are going to be.