Scary Movie 4

Scary Movie 4
Scary Movie 4 film poster
Directed by	David Zucker
Written by	Pat Proft Craig Mazin
Produced by	Robert K. Weiss
Starring	Anna Faris Regina Hall Craig Bierko
Distributed by	- USA - Dimension Films The Weinstein Company - non-USA - Miramax Films Buena Vista Distribution
Release dates	14 April, 2006
Running time	83 min
Language	English
Budget	$45 Million

Scary Movie 4 is a sequel to Scary Movie 3 that is directed by David Zucker, written by Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and produced by Robert K. Weiss. It is distributed by The Weinstein Company via its Dimension Films unit in the US, and internationally by Buena Vista Distribution (Miramax). It was released on April 14, 2006.

Short Synopsis

Anna Faris and Regina Hall are back as the loveable, dim-witted Cindy Campbell and her self-serving, sex-crazed pal Brenda Meeks respectively. They are joined this time around by Craig Bierko as the cute, but utterly clueless, Tom Ryan. Together, they battle to save the world from a ruthless alien invasion. Cindy moves in next to Tom because she's taking care of an old lady. She finds out the house is haunted by a little boy called Troy Reed and goes on a quest to find out who killed him and why. Also, Alien "tr-iPods" are invading the world and Cindy has to uncover the secret in order to stop them.

Parodies

This movie officially spoofed:

• Saw (opening scene featuring Dr. Phil and Shaq)
• Saw II
• The Village
• The Grudge
• War of the Worlds
• Million Dollar Baby
• Brokeback Mountain
• Hustle & Flow (a quick reference).

Detailed Story

Template:Spoiler Shaq and Dr. Phil wake up chained in a bathroom (spoofing Saw). Shaq has to make a free throw with a huge rock in order to get the saw down to cut off their legs. Shaq and Dr. Phil have only two minutes to free themselves of their leg braces before dying from the room's airborne nerve gas. Finally Shaq makes the basket and lowers the saws down. Dr. Phil ends up sawing off his foot but he picks the wrong one. It is assumed that both die from the gases being released in the room.

Charlie Sheen's character, spoofing Bill Pullman's character from The Grudge, wakes up. There are three girls (from The Girls Next Door on E!) in his bed who later have a pillow fight. He tries to kill himself by taking many sleeping pills but the pills turn out to be Viagra, resulting in a massive erection (within his trousers). Unaccustomed with the different mass distribution he tumbles over a balustrade, lands on his erect penis, and dies. Cindy Campbell goes to get a new job and plays as Sarah Michelle Gellar's character in The Grudge. She's been asked to be a caretaker for the creepy "Grudge House." She recieves a tour inside, Cindy expects nothing and she gets a 'little feeling of evil' as the guide tries to hide the overflowing hair on the ceiling, in drawers and baskets and on his head; and The Grudge Boy in the bathtub by pushing him down with a plunger.

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Cindy finds the little boy spoofing The Grudge

Her next door neighbour, Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko), is a single father with quite a few screws loose spoofing War of the Worlds. They have a conversation about past relationships and Cindy has a flash back, a parody of Million Dollar Baby, and that's the only time we see George (Simon Rex), who is her trainer (just like Clint Eastwood was). At one point, Cindy throws a punch so hard(and misses)that she is sent spiraling backward, while dramatic music plays. While she is falling in slow motion, a hand appears and places a stool right in front of Cindy,which George runs out and trips on. The referee then runs across, and suddenly trips on a bucket. Following this, everyone begins to randomly fall one by one breaking their necks. During the commotion, the person that Cindy was fighting against (who is in fact Mike Tyson in drag), starts to bite the ears off of random people with everything dramatically falling in slow motion. This is the time we also see George die. During each scene with the Mrs. Norris (Cloris Leachman), she gets hit. Cindy sponge bathes her with her own urine by accident. Then Cindy finds a ghost boy in the house. They began talking in "Japanese" (actually Japanese brand names and "buzz words" such as Sony, Mitsubishi, and Fujitsu). She is told by the ghost boy that she can find the answer to the alien attack when she finds his father. Cindy and Tom start talking to each other. Cindy also meets Tom's daughter, Rachel (Conchita Campbell). She also gets hit a lot every scene she's in, much like Cindy's nephew in Scary Movie 3.

Cindy asks if he has started dating again since his last relationship broke up. As their love blossoms, the world comes under attack by gigantic triPods (giant iPods) that destroy everything in their sight. When the triPods start attacking the people, the scene is cut to a school where President Baxter Harris (Leslie Nielsen spoofing George W. Bush) is sitting in a classroom and listening to the story of a duck being narrated by a school girl and he is not ready to move even after being told many times by his secret service agent that the city has been attacked and many people are dying. This is a spoof of President George W. Bush's visit to a school on September 11, 2001 after he was told that the first hi-jacked airplane had hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. Tom flees with his kids, leaving Cindy alone with her best friend, Brenda (who had died in Scary Movie 3). They watch a tape in Brenda's news van of Detroit destroyed and then Detroit after the attack, (which shows Detroit being attacked in the exact same manner as before.)

Cindy and Brenda come across The Village that is a hundred years behind modern times. Cindy and Brenda see two girls walking by and they want to steal their clothes so they can fit in. They grab the girls and start fighting in some bushes. The girls end up beating up Cindy and Brenda who later find other clothes. Also, there are mysterious creatures, parodying Those We Do Not Speak Of, wandering in the woods who turn out to be an old lady and "Pigface Joe" in costumes saying "Oogey boogey" and laugh about it. Finally, when Cindy and Brenda get some clothes, they see Holly (Carmen Electra) and Ezekiel (Chris Elliot) on a patio.

Holly wants to have a foot race so the two of them ran and Holly runs into a tree (because she's blind) and Ezekiel laughs but ran into a house (he is depicted as being a complete moron). Then Brenda and Cindy and the village people are having a town/court session to determine their fate. Then walks in Holly, who thinks that this is her house. She strips off her clothes and takes a long and very loud dump in the back row of the courthouse while everyone looks at her. (She said afterwards, "This isn't my house, is it?")

Tom and his children run into a battle between the Army and triPods. Tom's son is excited about the prospect of fighting because he thinks it's cool when the soldiers are graphically butchered and decides to join the fight. While Tom tries to dissuade him, Michael Jackson (who has gathered a bunch of children) tries to persuade Tom's daughter to come with him, but she isn't keen. While everyone flees, Jackson is zapped by the triPod's heat ray; the first blast causes him to revert to his Thriller incarnation, the second turns him into to his late-80's appearance, and the third reveals his true form - a balding middle-aged black man - before a fourth blast destroys him totally, leaving only his nose. Tom and his daughter flee into a house protected by Oliver (Michael Madsen, though it's mentioned that it isn't really his house - he just happened to be there when he shot the owners dead). Tom and his children get sucked up into a triPod and inside is the Saw bathroom/chamber. Saw II is spoofed with a key being behind one of the character's eyes.

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Tom Ryan wearing the Ass Rammer.

Cindy and Brenda are wearing the "Venus Fly Trap" and Tom Ryan is wearing a device that would shoot a large dildo into his anus. There is a monitor in the room which Jigsaw, the puppet, turns up. Jigsaw tells them they have 60 seconds to get the Venus Fly Trap off before they close. He shows an x-ray on the monitor that shows the key is behind Cindy's eyeball. It takes awhile to figure that out. A scalpel is provided for her to use. Cindy decides to get the key, (resulting in Jigsaw saying, "Hey, come over here! This one's gonna do it!") Cindy pops her eyeball out and gets the key and shows she has a glass eye due to a "Bad bar fight in 96'". All of them used the key to unlock themselves. Brenda picks up the device that Tom was wearing, interested in using it herself. Then, Tom asks where his kids are. His kids come down from the ceiling and are about to be sliced into bits unless he holds onto a rope which happens to be between a coffin with spikes inside. He grabs onto the rope which leaves him open to another torture device called the Nut Cracker (we find out why it is called this when a boot comes out and smashes into Tom Ryan's crotch). Other tools of the machine give him a purple nurple and a wet willie. His two kids tell him he can let go because he proved his daughter that he's a good father and because he taught his son how to be a man. But, he dosen't let go, and moments before Tom's death, Jigsaw stops the machine. Cindy finds a heart drawn on a toilet and in the toilet are pictures of Jigsaw, a women, and the ghost boy. He explains he's the ghost boy's step dad and that the ghost boy died at the boxing match because everyone snapped their necks and a large man resembling Don King crushed him. He then says "It's easy to have a grudge, but it is hard to forgive," and it is in this time that Jigsaw comes into the spotlight. He then tells them that the invasion is over and allows them to leave.

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Zoltar and Brenda in a bathroom.

It turns out that Jigsaw is just Jigsaw. He's a real human puppet. He says sorry in a fast, non-meaningful way, and Cindy tells him to say it like he means it and he somewhat does. There are two Jigsaws that are twins; the main Jigsaw and one named Zoltar. Brenda sleeps with one of the luckier ones, Zoltar. Zoltar (the one Brenda had sex with) sits next to the main puppet and scratches his crotch. The main puppet says, "You didn't catch anything did you?" and then Zoltar says, "No, it's ok, she said she was a virgin." Then the main puppet says, "We are so fucked." There is also a baby puppet born because Brenda had sex with Zoltar. She may have possibly gave him a Sexually-transmitted disease.

After that, James Earl Jones gets hit by a bus while delivering Morgan Freeman's closing lines from War of the Worlds.

A 5 minute epilogue spoofs the couch incident by showing an Oprah Winfrey Show episode with Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko) jumping on a couch with Oprah played by Debra Wilson. Also, Bierko's character runs around the studio, does backflips (performed by David Leighton), and chewing/ripping apart one of the couch cushions. Cindy Campbell walks in and gets thrown by Tom off the stage. Tom then breaks Oprah's hands and wrists, smashes a chair over her head, and runs towards the camera lens, and the screen goes black. Template:Endspoiler

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $40.2 million [1], the third best opening weekend of the Scary Movie franchise. It has the best Easter weekend opening weekend ever, beating Panic Room which made $30.1 million in its opening weekend and also the second best April opening, only $2 million behind Anger Management's record.

As of August 12, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $90,710,620 at the United States box office and $176,401,620 worldwide.

Earning over $40 million above the 'breaking even' point of its $45 million budget, and having a record-breaking opening, Scary Movie 4 is a bonafide success. Nonetheless, the film holds the dubious honour of the highest grossing opening weekend ever for a movie that didn't break the $100 million dollar barrier.

MPAA rating

• In the USA, the official MPAA rating is PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, some comic violence, and language.

Cast

Actor/Actress	Role
Anthony Anderson	Mahalik spoofing Heath Ledger character from Brokeback Mountain
Dave Attell	"Knifeman", trying to steal Fabolous's character's gun
Link Baker	Zoltar
Craig Bierko	Tom Ryan spoofing Tom Cruise (Ray) in War of the Worlds [2]
Amber Borycki	Dancer
Beverley Breuer	Blonde Woman
Conchita Campbell	Rachel Ryan, spoofing Dakota Fanning from War of the Worlds, as well as Cody from Scary Movie 3.
DeRay Davis	Marvin
Kathryn Dobbs	Schoolteacher
Carmen Electra	Holly, the blind woman (Ivy Walker) in The Village played by Bryce Dallas Howard [3]
Chingy	He plays one of the prisoner aboard the alien ship
Chris Elliot	Ezekiel spoofing (Noah Percy) Adrien Brody's troubled The Village role [4]
Anna Faris	Cindy Campbell playing a caretaker for a catatonic old woman spoofing The Grudge
Michelle Grigo	Spit Take Kid #4
Regina Hall	Brenda Meeks
Kevin Hart	C.J. spoofing Jake Gyllenhall's character from Brokeback Mountain
Lil' Jon	Himself, driving one of the last working cars.
Fabolous	Himself trying to steal the van from Tom Ryan.
James Earl Jones	Himself spoofing Morgan Freeman's line from War of the Worlds
Don King	In a scene spoofing Million Dollar Baby
Joanna Krupa
Cloris Leachman	Mrs. Norris spoofing "The Grudge" old lady
Crystal Lowe	Pretty Girl #1
Michael Madsen	Oliver: A man who lead Tom and Rachel to a safe area and tells Tom about the Tr-iPods, a spoof on Tim Robbins's character
Henry Mah	Mr. Koji
Garrett Masuda	Ghost Boy
Dr. Phil McGraw	Spoofs Saw in the opening scene with Shaq[5]
Jessica McLeod	Little Girl Reading
Beau Mirchoff	Spoofing Robbie Ferrier, played by Justin Chatwin, from War of the Worlds
Jana Mitsoula	Running Woman
Edward Moss	Michael Jackson in War of the Worlds spoof
Angelique Naude	Waitress
Leslie Nielsen	President Baxter Harris, spoofing George W. Bush
Patrice O'Neal	Rasheed
Shaquille O'Neal	Himself spoofing Saw in the opening scene with Dr. Phil[6]
Bill Pullman	Henry Hale spoofing William Hurt's character from The Village
John Reardon	Jeremiah
Simon Rex	George spoofing Clint Eastwood's character in Million Dollar Baby, playing Cindy's boxing trainer
Molly Shannon	Marilyn, Tom's (Craig Bierko) ex-wife spoofing Miranda Otto from War of the Worlds
Charlie Sheen	Tom Logan spoofing Bill Pullman's character from The Grudge
Kimani Ray Smith	Cut Man
Rorelee Tio	Yoko
Allison Warren	Polish Delegate
Chris Williams	Marcus
Debra Wilson	Reprises her role spoofing Oprah, as seen on MADtv, reenacting the infamous Tom Cruise appearance
Dale Wolfe	Hang Gliding Man

Trivia

• The rules Brenda is holding up, in the poster, says the following:

I: Let the scary movies be seen, we will mock them.

II: Let the weepy dramas be seen, we will give them something to cry about.

III: Let the romantic comedies beware, for we are coming.

• The trailer has been screened with Big Momma's House 2, Final Destination 3, Date Movie, Madea's Family Reunion, V for Vendetta, She's the Man, The Hills Have Eyes, Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, When a Stranger Calls, Tristan & Isolde, Hostel, Stay Alive, The Matador, The Libertine, The Ringer, and Inside Man. It could also be seen in the Derailed DVD.
• Scary Movie 4 did not spoof superhero movies. The parody of superhero movies is an upcoming Zucker film, Superhero!.
• War of the Worlds is parodied the most, along with The Grudge.
• The "Nuts" joke was supposed to involve Mahalik putting his hand over CJ and saying "I wanna eat some peanuts!". Hart can't stop laughing after saying that line because he kept on saying the word "penis" instead of "peanuts".
• Someone is crushed by a car at the end of the movie, like the previous movies.

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Carmen Electra and Bill Pullman in a scene parodying The Village.

• Most of the special effects in the film were in the parody of War of the Worlds, which were relatively well done and similar to those in War of the Worlds.
• This is the first in the Scary Movie franchise to be shot in high-definition video, specifically with the Panavision Genesis camera.
• Though intercut with a body double, at least one scene from behind of a naked Leslie Nielsen is that of Nielsen himself, doing a nude scene.
• Despite King Kong being in the poster, the 2005 film is not parodied in Scary Movie 4. Craig Mazin stated: "I don't know why King Kong is on the poster. We do not spoof King Kong in the movie. Marketing trick, I guess." (King Kong is spoofed in Date Movie)
• Craig Mazin also confirmed that the rumored spoofs, The Exorcism of Emily Rose and House of Wax, was not true.
• The second movie of the franchise in which Regina Hall's "Brenda Meeks" character does not die (this is not counting the alternate ending for either this movie or the second movie in which she is indeed killed).
• Anna Faris denied the rumors about Tyson playing Cindy's opponent in the boxing scene. She said it was a boxing trainer who quite resembles Tyson a lot.
• This is the third Scary Movie filmed in Vancouver. Others were 1 and 3.
• Mahalik & C.J. sings "Hello" by Lionel Richie, during the flashback scene.
• Tom Ryan sings "Badd" by the Ying Yang Twins to his daughter as a lullaby.
• Bill Pullman and Anna Faris appeared in films parodied by Scary Movie 4: Faris can be seen in Brokeback Mountain and Pullman appeared in The Grudge.
• This is the first film in the Scary Movie franchise to feature Regina Hall on the film's poster.
• This film was supposed to spoof The Ring Two, but since audiences didn't respect it well, David Zucker decided to wait for War of the Worlds.
• Anna Faris and Regina Hall are still the only two people that have appeared on all of the Scary Movie films.
• Carmen Electra and Chris Elliot are the only two actors to appear in one Scary Movie film by Keenan Ivory Wayans and one by David Zucker. Electra played Drew in Scary Movie and Elliot played Hanson in the second film.
• This Scary Movie is the first to feature only male characters in the beginning.
• The only Scary Movie to have the celebs in the beginning play themselves.
• The tagline of the movie is "The Fourth and Final Chapter of the Trilogy". As of this tagline, many people think this is the last film of the series, although due to the fact that there are four films, it is actually a quadrilogy, making the tagline a joke, opening up for a fifth movie.
• Red Eye and Cursed were also rumored spoof and turned out to be false.
• Funnily enough, Charlie Sheen is featured in a role that spoofs Bill Pullman's performance in The Grudge, and Bill Pullman is also featured in Scary Movie 4, himself spoofing another actor's role. (William Hurt's in The Village).
• Cindy reveals the reason why Cody, her nephew in Scary Movie 3 does not make an appearance: She enrolled him in military school showing a picture of him holding two rifles and another shaving with a straight razor
• The back of Cindy's corner jacket has the name Dirty Sanchez, a spoof of how in the movie Million Dollar Baby, Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) does not know what her boxing name Mo Chúisle means. In the movies Deuce Bigalow: European Giggolo and Date Movie, both mention the dirty sanchez, but never say what it is.

DVD

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Scary Movie 4 Unrated DVD Cover

Release Date

According to DavisDVD.com, the DVD was released on August 15, 2006. This is available in a 91-minute "Unrated and Uncensored" version (available in both widescreen and fullscreen) and in a 83-minute PG-13 rated version (available in only fullscreen). The comedy spoof arrives with an anamorphic transfer, Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks, an audio commentary with David Zucker, Bob Weiss and Craig Mazin, 15 deleted & extended scenes (including "Tom Ryan on Oprah - The Long Take"), "The Man Behind the Laugh" David Zucker, "Zany Spoof Humor-Zucker Style", "Interviewers Worst Nightmare", "The Visual Effects of Scary Movie 4", "The Youngbloodz", "Rappers and Actors" featurettes and an NBA Scary Movie 4 spot all retailing at $29.99. The bonus features are over 2 hours long.

Deleted Scenes

David Zucker has revealed some deleted scenes that might be on the DVD:

• “We had a thing where Michael Madsen is about to chop the probe with an axe, and the probe switches the mirror so that Madsen’s looking at himself in the mirror and then he’s trying to duke himself out in the mirror,” Zucker said. “We never tried it in front of an audience.”
• The film’s ending is the second one Zucker shot, and the original ending appears on DVD: “In the original ending, when Craig Bierko and Anna Faris bring the kids back to Molly Shannon, they kiss and look over and Brenda was so happy that she lived through the thing. Then we had the crate drop on her,” he said. “But it didn’t get a laugh.”

Scary Movie 5

Wal-Mart offers an exclusive bonus disc, if you buy Scary Movie 4 on DVD. In the disc, the makers revealed that they were interested in spoofing The Omen (2006 film) and that they may spoof the next M. Night Shyamalan film, AKA Lady in the Water. IMDb has the page, [7], for the upcoming sequel Scary Movie 5 (film). The film is slate for a release in 2008. According to the Scary Movie 4 commentary, the makers revealed that the fifth film will be different than the others.

References and external links

• Official Website
• "Nearly" Official Website with an Exclusive Interview
• Movies.com
• Scary Movie 4 at IMDb
• Scary Movie 4 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Scary Movie 4 at Metacritic
• Scary Movie 4 Trailer
• Movie Review - Scary Movie 4