Thursday, December 30, 2010

Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 3 of Scream 2 (0:13:51-0:15:52)

In this project I attempt to review the entire Scream trilogy scene by scene in chronological order. Heavy spoilers and gore throughout!



SCENE 3 of Scream 2
Length: 2mins 1secs
Primary Characters: Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy), Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), Cici Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar), "Film Class Guy #1" (Joshua Jackson) and "Artsy Teacher" (Craig Shoemaker)
Pop Culture References:
  • Alien and Aliens (used as another example of sequels being better than the original, quoted by "Film Class Guy #1)
  • The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (another example, quoted by Randy)
  • The Godfather and The Godfather Part II (another example, quoted again by Randy)
  • House: The Second Storey (the lead off to a discussion about horror movie sequels)
  • James Cameron (Mickey has "a hardon for Cameron")


And with this I apologise for being so delayed with this, but life happened and I don't always have oodles of spare time to devote.


The story goes that Cici wasn't meant to be in this initial classroom sequence, but was instead introduced along with Rebecca Gayheart and Portia de Rossi's sorority sisters a longer version of the scene that comes after this, but when this class sequence needed to be reshot they threw Cici into it. I think it was a good move since it's not only creates some relationship between her and Mickey (when otherwise there was next to none) and, also, it adds a little something extra on repeat viewings. Knowing that inside Mickey's head he's all "you're gonna die soon!" when she makes that crack about James Cameron's hardon (you totally know he's angry about it and wants revenge.)

I guess it's really how "the story goes" though, is it? I mean, it's how the story was. The deleted scene of the film class in the cinema class room featured no Cici and the script pages specifically detail the extended sorority pledge scene with her and Sidney. I think it makes Cici's death a bit stronger, too, since she's not just another hair-flicking sorority girl. Poor Cici. She seems like one of those cool girls from school that would actually be nice to the plebs beneath her and who wasn't as dumb as people thought.


Hi Mickey! Your introduction is a bit less suspect than Billy's in Scream, but you're discussing horror movie sequels so you were instantly a suspect, even if you're not actually in much of the movie. Isn't that funny, it feels like the killers in Scream 2 are in it far less than Billy and Stu were in the first. It makes sense in "Debbie Salt"'s case since so much of the Scream universe plays around Sidney and her actions and bringing those two in front of each other before the finale was impossible, but they could have easily thrown Timothy Olyphant a bone and given him a scare sequence earlier in the film. Although in retrospect it was probably them just trying to deflect suspicion.

Or, now that I think of it, I can't remember, but was Mickey always the killer? I remember they had to change the killer's identity when the script leaked. Hmmm.


Oh Randy.

*sigh*

I was so glad they realised how effective Jamie Kennedy and Randy were in Scream and decided to bump him up to a bigger role (well, since he checks out early it's probably even less of a role, but of bigger significance!) Although, to be honest, he and Sidney did lose a big chunk of their friends so Sidney had no other choice. I like that they go to the same college. It's feels very "we're survivors, we stick together" on them, doesn't it?


Oh hai Joshua Jackson.

Just think, if there was no Scream 2 then there'd be no Dawson's Creek, which means there'd be no Joshua Jackson walking around all moderately-famous, which means he wouldn't be on Fringe and dating Diane Kruger and looking all swank. Mmm... where was I?


"Are you suggesting that someone's trying to make a real life sequel?"


"Stab 2? Who'd anybody wanna do that. Sequels suck!


I like Cici's "huh?" face and yet she turns around and asks Mickey to "name one" sequel that surpassed the original.

For what it's worth I too would say The Godfather Part II and - duh - Terminator 2: Judgement Day (it's nestled tightly in my top 10 of all time!), but not Aliens. Love Aliens, but I prefer Alien. I mean, they're completely different movies anyway so comparing them feels at odds.

Other sequels I would have used (in 1997) would be Batman Returns, Wes Craven's New Nightmare (although, admittedly, couldn't really use it in this scenario, could they?), Child's Play 2, Evil Dead II: Dead by Dawn and, er, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. That's a discussion for another day though. Since Scream 2? The Bourne Supremacy, The Dark Knight, Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me and, er, Step Up 2: The Streets. That's a discussion for another day though.


Oh Randy. This is film class and yet future Pacey Witter is in fact correct. Right? Or am I getting it wrong?

I'm so glad I couldn't grow facial hair in 1997 since I would have copied that ridiculous beard of his since Randy was my favourite at the time (after Gale, of course, although now I'd rank him after Gale and Tatum.)


"House 2: The Second Storey"

To which Randy replies that "the horror genre was destroyed by sequels." Not sure I agree with that since there have been many good ones. I do, however, look forward to the possible "remake" scene in Scream 4. I mean, surely they can't ignore that, right?


Oh Timothy Olyphant. You're so handsome and yet another actor who has come from such humble beginnings as the Scream franchise and become a respected actor. Just like Liev Shreiber!

This scene is obviously one of the most famous from the entire trilogy. Much like the "how to survive a horror movie" sequence in Scream (and nothing from Scream 3, amirightladies?), this "sequel's suck" conversation says so much about what Kevin Williamson and Wes Craven were doing with this movie. Almost like doing an autopsy at the same time as performing surgery. And you know why they know certain sequels succeed and others don't (noted again during Randy's "rules of a sequel" scene coming up later), they are pointing it out to audiences and all but demanding they take Scream 2 seriously. "We're not just another dumb sequel" type of thing, yeah? Great stuff.

Scream:
Intro, Scene 1 Scene 2, Scene 3, Scene 4, Scene 5, Scene 6, Scene 7, Scene 8, Scene 9, Scene 10, Scene 11, Scene 12, Scene 13, Scene 14, Scene 15, Scene 16, Scene 17, Scene 18, Scene 19, Scene 20, Scene 21, Scene 22, Scene 23, Scene 24, Scene 25, Scene 26, Scene 27, Scene 28, Scene 29, Scene 30, Scene 31 Scene 32, Scene 33, End Credits

Scream 2
Scene 1, Scene 2

6 comments:

Joel said...

In the original script, Hallie and Derek were the killers with Debbie. You can read the original script here - http://www.imsdb.com/scripts/Scream-2.html

Glenn Dunks said...

Yes! I remember it now. I'd read the script, too, many many years ago.

Anthony said...

Three things;
1. Awesome analysis!
2. Happy New Year.
3. You're hot.

Anthony said...

Awesome scene. Kinda wished they kept Cici in the other scene too though. More Cici would have been good to me.

Anthony said...

Oh and also... GET AWAY FROM HER YOU BITCH... I believe it's Stay away from her you bitch...

THIS PISSES ME OFF SO MUCH. Almost to the point where I want to reach into the screen and give Randy a big ol' slap to the face. It is "get away" not "stay away" and the fact Randy thinks he is so cool after he "corrects" him makes me so mad, lol.

Tony said...

P.S. I guess there's two Anthony's lol I'm the Anthony from comment 4 and 5. I'll start going by "Tony" starting now.