Scream to Scream, Scene by Scene: SCENE 18 of Scream 2 (0:49:55-0:53:07)

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



SCENE 18 of Scream 2
Length: 3min 12secs
Primary Characters: Randy Meeks, Dewey Riley, Herself/"Sidney Prescott" (Tori Spelling), "Billy Loomis" (Luke Wilson) and Tori's Reporter (Nancy O'Dell)
Pop Culture References:

• Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman & Friends (Stab includes cast-members from these shows)
• Quentin Tarantino (Randy compares Mickey to QT)
  
• Friday the 13th & Candyman (Randy uses these films to justify Hallie as a murder suspect)
  

"So tell us about this part you're getting rave reviews for."
I don't believe Tori Spelling would ever get rave reviews for anything. I know some people say she did good work in that gay movie Trick, but I found her shrill. Still, I doubt someone like Tori Spelling would ever get positive reviews for a role in a slasher movie.


"Well, I play this young girl - Sidney Prescott - who discovers her boyfriend's this crazy serial killer who also killed her mother a year before that."
Wow, Tori! Way to totally Schembri your own movie!

(yes, we've made "Schembri" into an adjective. it's like McGyver!)

Of course, being that Stab is based on real like events and that they haven't altered names then I guess it's not so much a spoiler? Hmmm.


Poor Randy. Disappointed the makers of Stab cast "joe blow nobody" as him. No doubt that actor who drove Jane Seymour's stage coach in one episode of Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman is now a weird comedian who sometimes stars in bad Jennifer Love Hewitt television series' about ghosts or whatever.

"At least you get David Schwimmer."
Chalk that up to the first of two Friends references. I remember hoping against hope that Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and Lisa Kudrow would somehow get referenced in Scream 3, but it wasn't to be.


Now, here's a question: Is that Luke Wilson playing Billy Loomis in Stab or is it Luke Wilson playing a fictional actor playing Billy Loomis in Stab. Obviously by Scream 3 they had stopped pretending that actual actors were playing these roles, but in a movie (Stab) with Tori Spelling and David Schwimmer they'd probably just make it so the actual actor was the actor playing Billy. Wait, what? Luke Wilson wasn't exactly known back then, but I guess that mirrors the way Skeet Ulrich and so many other Scream castmembers were of the up-and-coming variety. Hmm... so much to think about (or not)!


Ignoring for the moment that there was no possible way for Gale Weathers (author of The Woodsboro Murders) or the makers of Stab to know how this scene went down in such word for word specific details, I do love that they chose this particular scene of Stab. I love it because it's yet another reminder that Billy's family, and obviously his mother, are in fact still around and yet nobody is mentioning them. In fact, the only other person to even broach the possibility of it being someone like that was Mrs Loomis herself!

Also: My god, that hair is diabolically bad, isn't it?!?


Meanwhile, let's hear it for Nancy O'Dell! One of - I hope I have this number right - only five people to have appeared in all four films. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courteney Cox, Roger Jackson and, ta da, Nancy O'Dell. Not even Wes Craven's cameos count because his was cut out of Scream 4 (along with so much more, which we'll obviously be discussing at some point far far into the future.)

Speaking of Scream 4 for a moment. Back in scene one of Scream 2 we discussed the rumour that the Stab scenes featuring Heather Graham and Tori Spelling had been directed by Robert Rodriguez. Some of you weren't so sure and that the way the story goes was that he was just "credited" as "directing" Stab and didn't actually film these scenes. Well, if anyone saw Scream 4 they will know that they re-instated the "Directed by Robert Rodriguez" title card that was apparently taken out of Scream 2 for legal reasons. Aah, Hollywood being constantly re-written! Gotta love it.


"Okay, let's get down to business."
Funny you should say that Randy, it's been 15 minutes since the last kill and it feels like an eternity! Never fear, Craven and Williamson made it up to us by making the next one a doozy!

Time for Randy's Rules of a Sequel 101:


1. "The body count is always bigger."


2. "The death scenes are always much more elaborate."


3. "If you want your sequel to become a franchise never, ever -"
gah! Why did Dewey have to interrupt with that completely unnecessary (...) "who do you think the Killer is?" question?

I wonder what people's thoughts on rule number three is. What could it have been. Was it just that Kevin Williamson couldn't think of one and cut the scene short? The preface of "if you want your sequel to become a franchise" rules out certain possibilities, but I like to pretend it was something to do with the likes of "never, ever forget about past family members". Perhaps they thought they were cutting it too close to the bone (so to speak) and thought it gave too much of a big neon arrow to someone such as Billy's mother or father. Perhaps, it was an extension of rule of 2 and that he was just foreshadowing his own untimely demise far too well.


"Well, let's look at the suspects..."
I like that he says "forget the boyfriend, it's tired" before going on to say Hallie, the black female, would make a great suspect. These two being, of course, the original killers alongside Mrs Loomis/Debbie Salt. I do love how excited Randy gets when discussing Hallie as a possible suspect:





It's like he's conducting Beethoven in that last shot, except instead of classical music it's bloody murders on a college campus. I imagine Randy considers them of equally high regard.

And let's not forget about Dewey's collection of funny faces!







I particularly like the "aah!" nod that he gives in that third image when Randy mentions Mickey, "the freaky Tarantino film student", and the innocent look around when Randy implies both he and Dewey are suspects. Oh Dewey, so adorable.


Aw, Randy and Dewey comparing their "love scars" and "severed nerves". I can't remember if I was confused by Dewey's limp at the time or not. Were you?

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, 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