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SCREAM 2 (**1/2)
(First Reviewed: 6/15/04)
Like the original SCREAM film, the characters know the rules of horror flicks — even the rules of horror sequels. Higher body count and more gore. This “rule” typically ruins other horror sequels and succeeds in doing the same with SCREAM 2…

You might be able to guess the killer(s), but you’ll never guess why. The film does have some intelligence. I liked the classroom debate about films influencing behavior, the talk about sequel clichés and the identity of the killer was pretty ingenious, especially the killers’ line explaining their motivation.

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Robert Altman is the master of films with large casts where the lives of the various characters intertwine. This film is a look at the lives of 22 characters living in Los Angeles, which clearly influenced the work of Paul Thomas Anderson. The three-hour plus movie plays like a giant slice of life character study of the various cast members.

Ann Finnigan (Andie MacDowell, GROUNDHOG DAY) is married to TV commentator Howard Finnigan (Bruce Davison, LONGTIME COMPANION). Their son Casey (Lane Cassidy) is hit by car on his way to school. Waitress Doreen Piggot (Lily Tomlin, 9 TO 5) was driving the car and tries to take care of the kid, but he refuses to get in a car with a stranger and walks home. Doreen is married to a drunk limo driver named Earl (Tom Waits, BRAM STOKER’S DRACULA), who is hated by Doreen’s daughter Honey Bush (Lili Taylor, SAY ANYTHING…), who is married to sleazy make-up artist Bill (Robert Downey Jr., CHAPLIN).

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SCREAM reinvented modern horror and now stands as a classic of the genre. For fans of the original, SCREAM 2 was a good follow-up. SCREAM 3 is a disaster.

The first place to look for the reason would be in the writing credits. SCREAM creator Kevin Williamson wrote the first two films, but Ehren Kruger (THE RING, THE SKELETON KEY) tackled the third. He tries too hard to copy Williamson’s hip self-referential style and fails miserably. One of the major problems of the film is that it’s made for people who have seen the first two films. I think people who haven’t seen the first two films, or haven’t seen them recently even, will be lost.

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This horrible horror flick is based on a Dean Koontz book, which is unread by me. He’s a writer that seems to fall into the categories of love him or hate him. Considering that he adapted the screenplay for this film, I’m not leaning toward the love him camp to be honest.

Like so many horror movies, there is a kernel of an intelligent premise buried within spooky clichés and paper-thin characters. Horror writers really love their monsters, but can’t find central characters that aren’t from stock character central. Dr. Jennifer Pailey (Joanna Going, INVENTING THE ABBOTTS) picks up her sister Lisa (Rose McGowan, TV’s CHARMED) from L.A. to take her to a small town in Colorado so she can get away from the hectic life of the City of Angels. When they arrive in Colorado, the town they visit is deserted or dotted with dead people (or at least parts of dead people). The only living people the sisters run into are Sheriff Bryce Hammond (Ben Affleck, GOOD WILL HUNTING) and his deputies Stu Wargle (Live Schreiber, SCREAM 2) and Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt, SECONDHAND LIONS).

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Anthony Mann is a director known for his Westerns. James Stewart was an actor who brought great decency to his characters. When Mann and Stewart teamed up, the actor was allowed to explore his darker side. This film was the pair’s favorite.

Stewart plays Will Lockhart, a former Calvary captain who has bought three wagons and started a hauling business. He rides into the town of Coronado, where his younger brother was killed by Apaches with repeating rifles. Lockhart decides to take salt from the local salt fields back with him to Laramie, but unbeknownst to him this isn’t free salt and has a run in with Dave Waggoman (Alex Nicol, BLOODY MAMA), the son of Alec Waggoman (Donald Crisp, HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY), the richest man in Coronado. With a mission of getting what’s owed him from the Waggomans and to find out who sold the rifles to the Apache, Lockhart sticks around Coronado.

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Raymond Chandler’s private eye Philip Marlowe returns, but this time the dic is transported to the 1970s. Elliott Gould (MASH) plays the Marlowe character as a cocky mumbling slob and he’s wonderful.

Early one morning his friend Terry Lennox (former pro baseball player Jim Bouton) shows up and says he fought with his wife and needs a ride to Tijuana. When Marlowe gets back to his apartment, the cops are waiting for him and want to know where he took Terry, because Lennox’s wife was found dead. The rest of the film chronicles Marlowe’s meandering path to finding out the truth behind what really happened to Terry and his wife.

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Made by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf before 9/11, the story follows Nafas (Nelofer Pazira), an Afgani-born Canadian journalist, who sneaks into Afghanistan during the reign of the Taliban to rescue her crippled sister who has vowed to commit suicide on the first eclipse of the new millennium.

In reality the plot serves as a framework to present vignettes of what life was like under the Taliban rule. However, Nafas’ dogged determination to get to Kandahar and save her sister does create a surprisingly emotional core to the film. As a woman, Nafas has to wear a burqua that covers her entire body and must find men to help her travel across the country.

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Director Stanley Kramer was a director who never shied away from taking on topical issues in his films. In THE DEFIANT ONES and GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, he tackled race, and in INHERIT THE WIND, he tackled evolution. In JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG, he addressed the issue of who is to blame for the Nazis and presents a nuanced argument against many people.

Spencer Tracy (ADAM’S RIB) stars as Chief Judge Dan Haywood, who moves to Nuremberg to head up the trial of four Nazi judges, the top being Dr. Ernst Janning (Burt Lancaster, FROM HERE TO ETERNITY). Heading up the prosecution is Col. Tad Lawson (Richard Widmark, MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS), a man who saw the horrors of the concentration camps first hand and makes it a personal crusade to take down as many Nazis as he can. Heading the defense is Hans Rolfe (Maximilian Schell, JULIA), a brilliant, young attorney, who uses the law as leverage in his defense of evil acts.

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This is one of — if not the best “creepy” children movie I’ve ever seen. Many elements of this ’60s production reminded me of THE SHINING. From the strange children to the perfect use of setting to ghostly influences to the excellent use of shot choices, it is hard for me to imagine that this film wasn’t an influence on Stanley Kubrick.

Miss Giddens (Deborah Kerr, BLACK NARCISSUS) is hired to take care of two children whose uncle has no desire to have anything to do with them. At first, Miss Giddens only has Flora (Pamela Franklin, THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE) to take care of and all seems fairly well. Then she gets word that Miles (Martin Stephens, VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED) has been expelled from his boarding school. He is an unusual boy, who seems to be the perfect child, but will do randomly strange and creepy things. Aiding Giddens is the house’s longtime maid Mrs. Grose (Megs Jenkins, OLIVER!). But things really take a turn for the worse when Miss Giddens begins to see the ghosts of the former grounds keeper Quint (Peter Wyngarde, 1980’s FLASH GORDON) and the former governess Miss Jessel (Clytie Jessop).

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Luis Buñuel’s EXTERMINATING ANGEL was completed in Mexico in 1962, but wasn’t released in the U.S. until August 1967, which was the same year that his most famous film, BELLE DE JOUR, was released. Buñuel is known for his surrealist cinema and EXTERMINATING ANGEL is his most surreal feature. This satire uses absurdity to uncover hypocrisy.

Edmundo Nobile (Enrique Rambal) is a wealthy elite who throws a party for the rich set in town. Buñuel is not worried about character here, but brings archetypical characters to his party. After dinner, the host and his guests move into the sitting room, where no one leaves — literally. Some unexplained force makes the guests unable to walk out of the room. Once you enter the room, you cannot leave. The guests camp out on the floor for the night and try to remain dignified. However, when days turn into weeks, niceties of decorum begin to fade and the “pure bloods” are savagely at each other’s throats.

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