Scary Movie


Simply outrageous. That's the best description I can provide for Scary Movie, an extremely clever satire of movies that satirise the teen slash-and-gore horror genre.

The number of novel jokes packed into the script is enormous, and if one misses, then another will surely delight. In the first ten minutes (the best), the movie clearly shows its ingenuity in its parodying of the opening scene from Scream. From the killer's ineptitude to hiding himself behind the couch, to the sprinkler and breast implant scenes, one hilarious gag after another is thrown at you before you can recover from the last one. The first ten minutes alone make the film worth watching!

The movie then continues, going off on I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Titanic, The Blair Witch Project, and The Exorcist, finally culminating with a take off on The Usual Suspects.

The film does push the envelope, and in comparison to Me, Myself, and Irene also playing in theatres, this film has a higher number of gags (albeit less of a plot, as it were), and consequently, it ends up being more funny. Even the most painful gags (the penis through the head) had me laughing in a "I can't believe they're doing this" manner.

The fact that the film makers involve the Wayans brothers (who may well display the Farrelly brothers at this rate) adds an interesting touch, as it showcases blacks in the film in a completely irreverent manner (consider what the character played by Regina Hall is doing before she gets killed off as in the Scream films).

Scary Movie has no real plot (it follows the Scream plot most closely) and it's hard to say when exactly it will end. By the time that happened, I was getting a bit impatient, but only slightly. There is a limit to how outrageous a film can get before being completely desensitised and the movie stops just short of that happening (to me at least).

Scary Movie's abundance of clever references to other films makes it must-see for any pop culture aficionado, and people who are into humour that pushes the envelope will like it also. Definitely worth the full price of admission.


Movie ram-blings || Ram Samudrala || me@ram.org