Scary Movie
| Scary Movie | |
|---|---|
| File:1800353571p.jpg Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| Written by | Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Buddy Johnson Phil Beauman Jason Friedberg Aaron Seltzer |
| Produced by | Eric L. Gold Lee R. Mayes Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Phil Beauman Bob Weinstein Harvey Weinstein |
| Starring | Anna Faris Regina Hall Shawn Wayans Marlon Wayans Jon Abrahams Shannon Elizabeth Lochlyn Munro Cheri Oteri Dave Sheridan Carmen Electra |
| Cinematography | Francis Kenny |
| Edited by | Mark Helfrich |
| Music by | David Kitay |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date | July 7, 2000 |
Running time | 88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $19 million |
| Box office | $278,019,771 |
Scary Movie is a 2000 satirical comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Wayans Bros. Entertainment. It is an American dark comedy which heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres. Several mid- and late-90s films are spoofed, most predominantly Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, along with The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, The Matrix and The Blair Witch Project, .
The tagline reads "No mercy. No shame. No sequel.", the last reference being an ironic nod towards the tendency of popular horror movies becoming cash cow franchises. Appropriately, 2001 saw the release of Scary Movie 2, whose tagline stated "We lied". Later video covers of the first film frequently drop the tagline's third paragraph. Scary Movie was followed by two more sequels Scary Movie 3 (2003), and Scary Movie 4 (2006). Its title serves as a homage to the production title of Scream, which was also released through Dimension Films.
Plot
An 18-year-old girl named Drew Decker (Carmen Electra) receives a threatening phone call while home alone one night. In an opening which closely mirrors Scream, Drew is comically yet harrowingly tormented before being swiftly killed by a masked killer.
The next day, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), meets up with her boyfriend Bobby Prinze (Jon Abrahams) and her friends, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), Greg Phillipe (Lochlyn Munro), and Buffy Gilmore (Shannon Elizabeth). Various news teams - including hack reporter Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri) - converge on the school in the wake of Drew's brutal death. Gail hooks up with Buffy's mentally disabled brother Doofy (Dave Sheridan), hoping to milk the facts out of him. Cindy realises that Drew's murder occured exactly one year after she and her friends accidentally killed a man during a wild car ride. Unwilling to face incarceration, the group dumped the body off a nearby pier - but not without robbing him blind first.
A series of increasingly bizzare events take place. Various members of the group receive threatening notes from Ghostface and are rapidly dispatched, but most remain steadfastly oblivious to the rising body count. Greg is killed in plain view, but the event is mistaken for part of a theatre performance by Buffy. Buffy, drunk on the success brought by the murder, becomes the killer's next victim during what she insists is an act. The killer then attempts to dispose of Brenda during a showing of Shakespeare in Love, but fellow patrons beat him to it, upset about her rude behavior.
Cindy throws a house party, hoping for safety in numbers. During the party, Bobby relieves Cindy of her virginity. The killer unexpectedly appears and stabs Bobby, before disappearing just as quickly. While Cindy tends to Bobby's wounds, they are joined by Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Brenda's stoner brother. Shorty panickedly informs them that the killer has murdered everybody in the house. To Cindy's horror, Bobby pulls out a gun and shoots Shorty, revealing that his wound was an elaborate ruse. Ray then arrives on the scene - whereupon the pair reveal to Cindy that they are in fact homosexual lovers, who are merely copycatting the actual killer to protect the secret of their relationship. Bobby gleefully points out that their plan's lack of sense doesn't matter, since horror movies are not noted for their logic.
However, the real Ghostface abruptly turns up and stabs Ray, who collapses on top of Bobby in an incidental sexual position. The killer then attacks Cindy, but she successfully subdues him by employing moves copied from The Matrix. Nonetheless, Ghostface again vanishes before the police arrive.
At the police station, Cindy and the local sheriff (Kurt Fuller) realise that Doofy - the only one who knew about the car accident - was actually faking his disability and is the true killer. Unfortunately, Doofy has already escaped with Gail Hailstorm. Upon finding his discarded disguise in the street, Cindy begins screaming to the heavens - and gets run over by a car.
As the credits roll, Shorty - parodying the rules of survival in Scream - explains via videocassette that he didn't get through, but provides rules for surviving such a situation... which turn out to be instructions for surviving a snatch-and-run.
Cast
- Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell
- Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks
- Shawn Wayans as Ray Wilkins
- Marlon Wayans as Shorty Meeks
- Jon Abrahams as Bobby Prinze
- Shannon Elizabeth as Buffy Gilmore
- Lochlyn Munro as Greg Phillipe
- Cheri Oteri as Gail Hailstorm
- Dave Sheridan as Doofy Gilmore/The Real Killer
- Carmen Electra as Drew Decker
- Rick Ducommun as Mr. Campbell
- Kurt Fuller as The Sheriff
- Jayne Trcka as Miss Mann
- Kelly Coffield Park as Teacher
- David L. Lander as Principal 'Squiggy' Squiggman
- Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tina, the Garage Victim
- Keenan Ivory Wayans as Slave
- Robert Jacks (uncredited) as Rowdy
- James Van Der Beek (uncredited) as Dawson Leery
Parodies
- Scream - central parody; characters remark how Scream had no plot.
- Scream 2 - Brenda and Ray are being attacked by the killer in the movie theater.
- I Know What You Did Last Summer - central parody
- Halloween - Cindy looks outside and sees the killer; when she looks back, he is gone.
- Friday the 13th - The killer making Jason Voorheis's breathing sound.
- The Matrix - Cindy vs. The Killer
- The Usual Suspects - Cindy drops her mug, realising that Doofy is the killer.
- The Sixth Sense - "I see dead people..."
- The Blair Witch Project - Gail and Kenny running in the woods, follwoed by Gail talking to the camera.
- The Exorcist - "Look, if it's about that time I puked green slime and masturbated with a crucifix, it was my first keg party, Bobby!"
- The Shining - Ghostface whispers the word "Redrum".
- Two of a Kind - Greg's death during the "acting" scene is similar to that featuring Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
- American Pie - Cindy starts getting aggressive and roars "Say my name!" during sex with Bobby.
- American Beauty - Cindy is covered with semen like Angela covered in rose petals.
- Kazaam - when asked about her favorite horror movie, Drew answers "Kazaam" due to Shaquille O'Neal's acting.
- Amistad - one of the previews at the theater advertises Amistad 2.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 53% based on 109 reviews. Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, saying it "delivers the goods."[1]
Soundtrack
A soundtrack containing hip hop and alternative rock songs from the movie was released on July 4, 2000 by TVT Records.
See also
- Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth — A spoof of horror movies
- Student Bodies — A spoof of horror movies
- Stan Helsing — A spoof of horror movies