To be fair, as far as slasher movies go, this is still one of the better ones to watch out there. When compared to the first "Scream" movie it isn't nearly as good but when judged on its own, it's a quite good and enjoyable genre movie.
There are more than a few reasons why this movie is inferior to its predecessor, that got released only a year before this movie did. First and foremost, it is because it's all not as fresh anymore of course as the first movie still was. The first movie redefined the genre and really brought the slasher genre back again. What does this sequel do? More of the same really, only worse and less original.
So the story is definitely less fresh and less original this time, which also makes the movie a bit ineffective at times. I still like the beginning of this movie very much and probably more than the the opening sequence of the first original movie but after that the movie runs out of steam and good ideas pretty fast. It doesn't always manage to build up its tension well, which is probably because it's too self aware of its self as well. The first movie more or less poked fun at the genre and all of its rules but this one takes itself even less serious. This really goes at the expense of all of its tension.
The movie also definitely starts to loose it more toward its end. It's final 20 minutes or so just aren't much good or interesting as a climax, mostly because the killer(s) gets revealed after that point but its identity and motivation aren't exactly being the most convincing or cleverly written and very forgettable to be honest. I had seen this movie in the past, even more than once I believe but I really didn't membered who the killer(s) was in this movie.
But like mentioned before, as a genre movie this still remains a perfectly good and watchable one. It's a whodunit slasher, with plenty of good characters and also still some good killings. Ghostface also remains a perfect evil killer for this type of movie and it of course doesn't matter who the killer behind the mask is really for the Ghostface killer to simply keep doing his thing.
It's also quite amazing to see how many great well known actors appeared in Scream movies, before their big breakthrough as well known stars. That goes for this movie more than any other one out of the series perhaps. Liev Schreiber's role gets really expanded this time and the movie also stars newcomers Timothy Olyphant and Jerry O'Connell, among many others.
But what's also a strength of these movies is that it manages to keep most of its crew but also cast together for all of its movies. Basically everyone that survived the first movie returns in this one and play an important role once more. I guess it's not entirely necessary but it still is what makes the series consistently fun and also makes it distinct itself from other long running horror movie series.
Don't expect the first movie and you'll still have a good time with this one.
7/10
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