Terminator 2. Boom.
I can't deal with these forums; they anger up the blood too much.
Anyone Can Die applies to slasher films, in general, since the whole point is the body count and to see who's left alive by the end.
Also, sequel that's better than the original: Suikoden II - widely considered to be vastly superior to the original and the best game of the series.
I think the title was meant to refer to sequels before 1997. Though, for that I would say The Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather Part II.
And there's been a lot since then: Raimi's Spider-Man 2, Half-Life 2, Ip Man 2, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Logan, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Top Gun: Maverick, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Combat gods II, etc.
The title was rhetorical, referring to the debate held within the film itself and my higher opinion toward this film than its predecessor, guys.
Ah, sorry. Maybe before commenting I should have actually watched this movie first. I also really just wanted an excuse to gush about sequels I liked.
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Name *one* sequel that's better than the original? Okay!
Maybe the greatest part of Scream was the potential for future stories. And man, did 2 deliver.
A couple of years after the events of Scream, Gale Weathers' firsthand novelization of the story has been adapted into a popular (and very bad) horror movie. Soon, more bodies start to pile up, and Sidney Prescott, now a college student, once again finds herself unsure who to trust.
The film exists as commentary again, this time on film sequels and horror sequels in general. With this, they go with the brilliantly-matched topic of a copycat killer trying to create a thematic "sequel" murder spree to what happened before. A copycat killer is a perfect fit for a meta sequel horror film, and on the flipside, a copycat killing spree being compared to a lame film sequel is weirdly genius. There's still vocal commentary and meta humor going on, but it feels less blunt, and the film even throws out the very nineties tone of the original quite explictly—and welcomely, to me.
Where the film shines is its great exploration of the "after". Sidney comes into her own as a leading character now that her Scream experiences have equally traumatized and hardened her, making her dilemma more compelling, plus having the advantage of familiarity to make her a stronger face to root for. Familiarity also helps the other returning cast members, because their roles are deepened, and this sequel plays with the Anyone Can Die trope to genuinely emotional ends, leaving some painful losses and seriously stirring survivals in the mix. Knowing these people makes everything hit harder for round two. I also love the way the murders are continuing to be shown as disrespected and marketed as fiction, which remains a problem with true crime...and the filmmakers clearly had a lot of fun remaking Scream very badly for the in-universe film series. I think the film addresses the plot point of the innocence of Cotton Weary a bit better here, by showing that even innocent, he's really not a great dude, and so his story is less the "falsely accused martyr" than it could have been taken from the first film alone.
A few aspects of the film feel genuinely repetitive of the first, and the boyfriend character isn't ever likeable enough, and is the center of a really embarrassing scene that's supposed to be cute and simply isn't. There are also a few bonehead horror-movie decisions characters make, which have no right appearing in a self-aware film.
Scream 2 humbles itself by acknowledging the trend of poor sequels and it talks about the requirements of a sequel to be bigger, badder, and more lurid...but would it be an insult to say it worked? I liked this film a lot more, but the film only exists as such a good movie because it has the first to build from. It's great not in spite of being a sequel, but because it's a sequel.
And I'm ready to watch 3.