SCARY MOVIE
Rated R - Running Time: 1:28 - Released 7/7/00
Horror parodies have probably been around as long as traditional
horror movies; I suppose it is an irresistable temptation, since
real "scary movies" are so laughable, to make fun of
the stupid characters who inevitably inhabit them. The Wayans
brothers' Scary Movie, however, has the dubious distinction
of being the first horror spoof to be made in the era of the gross-out
comedy inaugurated by There's
Something About Mary and continuing in force through such
recent titles as American Pie,
Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged
Me, and most recently Me,
Myself, & Irene. Since Mary broke the so-called
"semen barrier," there seems to be no bodily function
or substance too disgusting to portray on film for the purpose
of getting laughs. So, in keeping with this new tradition, director/producer
Keenen Ivory Wayans and his writing brothers Shawn and Marlon
(with the help of several other writers) have included many such
jokes in their takeoff on the new generation of horror films.
A dubious distinction it is.
Scary Movie (which, incidentally, was the working title
for the original Scream) makes fun mostly of Scream
and I Know What You Did Last
Summer, but also contains references to The
Blair Witch Project, The
Sixth Sense, The Matrix,
and several others. I daresay the first scene, based on the Drew
Barrymore opener from Scream, is the funniest. One of its
best moments is when the girl (Carmen Electra) is being pursued
out of her house by the knife-wielding killer. She comes upon
a pair of road signs, side by side. One says "Safety,"
with an arrow to the left; the other says, "Death,"
with an arrow to the right. She stops momentarily, considers the
signs, and then dashes off to the right. Unfortunately, this kind
of humor gives way to the more disgusting type in short order,
and only occasionally taps into the fertile ground of humor already
present in slasher flicks. Besides the gross stuff, there's also
a fair amount of marijuana humor that would seem more at home
in an old '70s Cheech & Chong movie.
After the murder of the aforementioned girl by the masked,
hooded killer, Cindy (Anna Faris), her ever-horny boyfriend Bobby
(Jon Abrahams), and four other friends fear that the killer might
be the man they ran over last year and left for dead (for those
who don't know, this is the scenario of I Know What You Did
Last Summer). And sure enough, he begins working his way through
the six of them, slashing, beheading, and eviscerating them one
by one, using either a hook or a knife, and panicking the student
population at "B. A. Corpse High School." The remaining
friends are pursued not only by the killer but by ambitious newswoman
Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri), who will go to any lengths to get
the story, and protected by a drooling, mentally retarded cop
named Doofy (Dave Sheridan), who uses the bathroom in his pants
and provides various other gross/stupid humor. Among the supporting
cast are a stuck-up beauty queen (Shannon Elizabeth), a latent
homosexual (Shawn Wayans), a pot-smoking homeboy (Marlon Wayans),
and a transvestite girls' coach named Miss Mann.
This film is definitely meant for those who frequent horror movies, because if you didn't see at least Scream and I Know, you won't get most of the jokes. I appreciate the intentions of Wayans & company; there is much material for making fun of in these movies. But their approach, incorporating the crude humor that has become so popular of late, generates an unfortunate digression from the point. On the other hand, "the point" may be to make money from moviegoing teenagers, and that they will most certainly do. ***