Don't get me wrong I love Scream 2, and it's my favorite sequel in the franchise but no way is comparable to the first film. I see a lot of people say they like it more than the original or its their favorite film in the series. It's their opinion but a lot of the characters sucked. Every character in Scream was great (even minor characters). Only Sidney, Gake, Randy, Dewey, and CiCi (in her scenes) were good in this film.
shareScream 2 was a rushed sequel, and even more rushed when they had to make last minute script changes after the leak… and it shows. The pacing gets very flabby in the middle (there’s too much Gale saying ‘I’m sorry’ to Dewey) and I’m always pulled out of the movie by the use of the Broken Arrow score - again because they were too rushed to compose new stuff.
It’s a good sequel, and miles better than any horror sequel has a right to be, but everything it does well is done better in Scream 1, which had the added benefit of being fresh. 2 is also way less bloody and horrifying - nothing in 2 compares to the incredibly disturbing and violent opening of 1.
I also prefer the small town setting of Woodsboro surrounded by those creepy woods. The final shot with the sun rising over them to Moby’s ‘First Cool Hive’ evokes the screams of dead girls emanating from the woods - strangely chilling.