Scary Movie

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Scary Movie (2000) 

General story: There isn’t so much as a story going on here, but rather a collection of scenes that spoof the satirical slasher movies of the mid to late nineties. It seemed fitting that the Scream generation should move on from that brief period in teen horror with a parody that takes the total piss out of it. And combining the slapstick humour of comedies like “The Naked Gun” and “Hot Shots” with the over the top, physically gross comedy of “There’s Something About Mary” and “American Pie”, the concoction was “Scary Movie”, directed, written by and starring most of brothers from the Wayans family. In terms of “plot”, Cindy Campbell is being stalked by a serial killer with a makeshift Scream mask, picking off her friends one by one, until she’s the only one left. You know, the usual formula. But no one warned us how far this film would go in pushing the envelope. 

What influenced the movie? Obviously, the slapstick and gross-out humour of the comedy movies of the 90’s, as well as the smash hit horror films following on from Screams success, such as “I Know What You Did Last Summer”, as well as a slew of other signature films of the nineties. The references are often quick, and not a complicate replica of the original scenes of the original movies. Add to that, the rude, crude and low brow humour of the Wayans Brothers, under the direction of Keenen Ivory Wayans, and starring Shaun and Marlon Wayans, and you’ve got a peculiar mix of satire, toilet humour, and total weirdness. 

How the movie influenced the 00's: Scary Movie (which was in fact the original working title for Scream), has generated four of its own sequels, and also kick-started a new form of satirical parody movies for the 00’s; the Movie movies. Since teen slasher flicks got the treatment first time around, the future sequels in the series simply parodied the movies of the time, with  Scary Movie 2 mostly being a rip off of “The Haunting”, Scary Movie 3 doing “The Ring” and Scary Movie 4 doing “War of the Worlds”. Then other genres and categories of movies got the same service, with;  Not Another Teen Movie, Epic Movie, Superhero Movie, Date Movie and Dance Movie. Most of them sucked, but occasionally the references were clever and gave us more of a chuckle than a laugh. 

What makes it stand out as a film of the 00's? Being a parody movie that came out in 2000, Scary Movie’s timing was perfect. As one generation crossed over from teens to adults, the next generation would follow closely behind, and they have this film to thank for all the parodies and satires that followed in Scary Movie’s wake. Whatever  movie was made, no matter how good or original it was, it would eventually fall prey to the Spoof treatment, and it launched the careers of many filmmakers who made a living mocking everything that came before them. This seemed to fit the 00’s well, as moviegoers were savvier, less sensitive and highly desensitized. By this point, we had seen more movies than any other generation before us, and those movies were the creative culmination of the most inspiring movies that came before them. It would be hard to shock or surprise us in the 00’s, and as original content became rarer in the movie world, we would settle for a fresh take on the familiar. Hence the reasons why remakes were in overdrive in the 00’s, and still are today. 

Impact of the movie still felt today: Scary Movie is showing its age now and watching the first one as a modern-day teenager may not elicit the same laughs as it did for my generation. When it was first released, we had seen most of, if not all of the movies the film was imitating, so today’s teens would have to be real, genuine movie buffs to get all the references. However, it certainly launched the career of Anna Farris, who has enjoyed a string of hits on film and television ever since, and the Wayans brothers certainly didn’t fare to badly either, making their own collection of films just as rude, crude and offensive as Scary Movie. Not to say it’s the most memorable movie of the 00’s, but who can honestly forget the scene where Cindy talks to her gym teacher, Ms. Mann? Looking  strangely buff and muscular for a woman, something doesn’t seem right here, until our worst fears are imagined… in the flesh. Ms. Mann, quickly opens her legs to cross one over the other, and out fall a pair of testicles! Unaware she/he is baring all, Cindy cops a clear view, and sits there awkwardly while the genitals dangle freely near her. It’s a scene that made the whole theatre cringe, I remember well. And a scene, try as hard as we might, we will never un-remember. 

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