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Review: Scary Movie
by Kerry Douglas Dye

published 7/17/00

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Kerry Douglas Dye is LeisureSuit.net's Manhattan-based Senior Editor.



MOST RECENT YAK ABOUT THIS ARTICLE:

Subj: movie
well i would like to say that the first one was not that funny. but the secaund one was ok but it could have been a lot better. the third one was very very funny and i liked it a hole lot. and the final one was better then all of theme. hope a 5th one comes out really soon.

-- Felix
Nov 9, 2006 at 11:25AM

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In a summer of cinematic 98-pound weaklings, Scary Movie pounds its way into theatres as a kick-ass mass of entertainment Hercules. In every way the equal of its Airplane/Naked Gun spoof forebears, Scary Movie is a hilarious, very R-rated send-up of Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, and a handful of other flicks, horror and otherwise.

Some have argued that there's little point in spoofing Scream, which is in itself a parody of the teen slasher flicks that came before it. But anyone who considered Scream parody didn't understand what they were seeing. Scream acknowledged genre conventions, yes, but mostly so it could sidestep viewers' newfound Gen-X cynicism and find a new angle from which to scare us.

The Drew Barrymore opening of Scream (original title: "Scary Movie", by the way) is played slyly, but it's scary as hell, and as brutal as anything in the original slasher pics (and certainly more brutal than most of their toothless sequels). Scary Movie opens with a near shot-for-shot recreation of that scene, and it's as funny as the original is scary. Carmen Electra plays "Drew", who receives a call from a killer and precedes to do everything wrong. Given a choice of defensive weapons including a gun and a grenade, she grabs the nearest banana. Faced with two signs while fleeing, one pointing to "Death" and the other to "Safety", she follows Death. You get the idea.

Then when caught, she's stabbed through the breast and the grossed-out killer finds himself with a saline implant on the end of his knife. I did mention that this movie was very R-rated, right?

The plot tracks Scream pretty closely, with a few tangents into I Know What You Did, and--this being a Keenan Ivory Wayans picture--some good "black" jokes like the film crew from the Black station who reports from the lawn of the high school something like "some white people are dead and we're getting the hell outta here". (By the way, remember how the principal of the high school in Scream was The Fonz? Here, in a most telling joke, it's Squiggy.)

Okay, so we've established that it's funny, now it's time to mention the terrific cast featuring Shannon Elizabeth, Shawn Wayans, Regina Hall, Cheri Oteri, and best of all, in the Neve Campbell role, Anna Faris.

Ms. Faris, pretty much a newcomer to film, is required to be this picture's anchor, and she pulls it off beautifully. A charming straight woman, as is often required, but also a natural comedian, with an extraordinarily expressive compact little face. I don't know if Ms. Faris has the build or the face to ever be an A-list movie star, but she's got a hell of a career ahead of her if she so desires it. I eagerly await her next role.

Anyway, I've said Scary Movie is terrific, but now let me throw some caveats at you. If you have a low tolerance for gross-out humor, this probably isn't the movie for you--this picture out gross-outs There's Something About Mary by several degrees. Also, the deeper your familiarity with the referenced films--particular Scream, but also a bunch of other genre pictures--the better you'll be able to appreciate it.

Some may be disgusted, some may be lost, but those who can handle it and follow it should have a hell of a time. Highly recommended.


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Name: Felix
Subject: movie
-- Nov 9, 2006 at 11:25AM
well i would like to say that the first one was not that funny. but the secaund one was ok but it could have been a lot better. the third one was very very funny and i liked it a hole lot. and the final one was better then all of theme. hope a 5th one comes out really soon.

Name: Felix
Subject: movie
-- Nov 9, 2006 at 11:25AM
well i would like to say that the first one was not that funny. but the secaund one was ok but it could have been a lot better. the third one was very very funny and i liked it a hole lot. and the final one was better then all of theme. hope a 5th one comes out really soon.

Name: An LS.n Reader
Subject: movie
-- Oct 8, 2006 at 2:12AM
it was laugh out loud there is nothing scary about this movie but laughing to much.

Name: maddison
Subject: scary movie (ALL OF THEM)
-- Jul 2, 2006 at 4:16AM
I luv these movies! its great and so funny. The first one is now a classic to me :P
and In the 4th Scary Movie The guy who played Robbie was so hot! LOLz
I hope the make a 5th even though the 4th was ment to be the last

Name: rach x
Subject: scarymovie3
-- May 10, 2006 at 12:42PM
love it

Name: erika
Subject: scary movie
-- Feb 2, 2006 at 8:05PM
it rocks.

Name: david
Subject: la vida
-- Dec 17, 2005 at 4:08PM
quiero saber como se origino

Name: Italain spunk
Subject: scary movie
-- May 14, 2005 at 1:22AM
i love scary movie i hav 2 say it is da best movie i hav eva since that and white chicks i luv brenda she is so funn.

Name: Amy
Subject: Stop!
-- Apr 21, 2005 at 5:50PM
Stop writing bad things on this board. Other people wouldn't like to see this from adults who don't act their age. If you have been writing bad things on this board, GROW UP!!!

Name: crack head
Subject: fixing
-- Apr 15, 2005 at 9:41PM
i ment to say that dude that played greg is realli hott

Name: crack head
Subject: scary movie
-- Apr 15, 2005 at 9:39PM
did any one realli die lol i know they didn't. and they dude who plays greg is realli hotttttttttttttttttt tttttttt

Name: Big Dick
Subject: SCARY MOIVE 3
-- Apr 11, 2005 at 8:15PM
scary moive 3 was THE FUNNYEST IN HISTORY.my name is ray and my girl friend combined there tatues and it says Fuck me Ray

Name: Parbeen
Subject: scary moive 2
-- Apr 17, 2004 at 11:47PM
THE MOST FUNNIEST MOIVE IN HISTORY!!!!!!!!!!!!! !

Name: wendy
Subject: gym
-- Nov 17, 2003 at 12:16PM
is this moive really scray

Name: daydream
Subject: scary movie
-- Sep 25, 2002 at 10:11PM
scary movie and scary movie 2 are two of the most hilarious movies i have ever seen in my lifetime. making fun of some of the most popular movies out there, they keep me rolling with laughter. it is loaded with incredibly terrific jokes, yet probably not a good one to watch if there are any younger children around. the humor is so obvious here, how could anyone not love the irony and foolishness that is all made fun of in this movie? i also look forward to a possible (HOPEFUL) scary movie 3, and when (if if if..) it is released in theaters, i will be first in line to receive a ticket inside, on the path to laughter and amusement.

Name: tuffgirl
Subject: scary movie
-- Jan 12, 2002 at 8:36PM
I think scary Movie is a wicked funny movie, I always tell people to watch it and thay all love it to and I'm so glad there is a scray movie 2 out i also thought that was pretty funny alot of good stuff in it.

Name: 32
Subject: scary movie
-- May 14, 2001 at 2:29PM
I thought this movie was the funniest movie ever. Matter of fact it is my favorite movie, i could sit and watch it all day. I think there should be another one. So i suggest people who dont like this movie shouldnt be at this website anyway so if you dont like it then why the hell are you here??

Name: biped
Subject: my ass is still intact
-- Feb 27, 2001 at 1:27PM
Sorry, skessler and vegeta, but I know a good movie when I see one, and this waste of film didn't have enough teeth to even gum me in the ass. Of course, I tend to use my brain instead of my ass when judging the quality of a movie. You might want to try it sometime.

Name: Vegeta
Subject: Scary Movie
-- Feb 6, 2001 at 11:45PM
You know, this movie has to be the funniest and greatest movie i've ever seen, and i've seen a lot. It's a teen flick and it rocks. All those who oppose it, as skessler sais(which I agree totally), wouldn't know a good movie if it bit you in your ass. So stop writing bad things about it, and start writing demands for a sequal.

Name: azavatto
Subject: Can someone please explain this to me?
-- Jan 19, 2001 at 1:36PM
Why, oh why, do so many reviewers reward Scary Movie for its complete lack of irony, easy jokes, and all-out laziness? It was awful. Absolutely awful. There was so much that could have been done with what was actually a pretty good script idea, but damn, what a failure. I am all for bathroom humor and I probably watch way too much crap as it is (i.e., I am an easy audience), but this was just one more example of how those in the entertainment industry seem to believe we are all 12-yr-olds, and dumb ones at that. Ugh.

Name: mgotlib
Subject: Scary Movie
-- Jul 19, 2000 at 1:02PM
Comparing this movie to Airplane or Naked Gun is a great disservice to these great spoof comedies. Scary Movie relied to much on bathroom humor to get its laughs and overall was a compete letdown.

Name: skessler
Subject: Scary Movie
-- Jul 17, 2000 at 5:02PM
You all wouldn't know a good movie if it bit you in the ass.


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