Did you know that the working title for 1996’s Scream was “Scary Movie?” It ended up being changed to better reflect it’s comedy aspect; funnily enough, this working title became the name of one of the best parody movies of all time. Scary Movie, a product of the talented Wayans Brothers, is basically Scream but ramped up in the comedy area, with pockets of the late 90s and new millennium stuffed into every crevice. We follow Cindy (Anna Faris) and her friends as they try to survive a murderer stalking them and killing them off in hilarious ways.
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If ever there was a product of their time, Scary Movie and its four sequels would be the top picks. They’ve even spawned a number of other parody films, like A Haunted House (2013), Disaster Movie (2008) and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000). What the Wayans did was take the most recent pop culture and wrap it up into a horrific package, presented as a horror movie. Not a new idea, but an effective one nonetheless.
Scary Movie spoofs horror films, mainly Scream; but we also get a fair amount of I Know What You Did Last Summer, Friday the 13th, The Matrix, and The Sixth Sense. Some of our favorite parts of these films were parodied, for example, Cole’s terrified confession that he can see the dead.
And the jokes are virtually nonstop. The Wayans have perfected not only the comedy, but the horror that ties directly into it, flipping back and forth and back again flawlessly. At no point is there a lull in the story (which, unlike some of the sequels, sticks pretty solidly to one main storyline). Scary Movie is a perfect example of how comedy and horror are linked through timing. You’re only one joke away from bringing a deadly situation back to safety, but also making a funny situation into a dangerous one.
Scary Movie is smart. Sure, looking back at it more than two decades later, some of the jokes aren’t as impactful, but they still garner at least a chuckle for the people old enough to remember the original impact. This first movie is special in that the jokes still pack a punch; some of the later Scary Movies delve slightly too deep into smaller, more specific pop culture talking points and miss their mark. I think that this one has the benefit of not only having better comedy-horror value, but being the first of its kind.
Though Scary Movie is definitely more parody than horror, it deserves a place in the scary realm for combining so many tropes into one film without being overly meta… or at least, meta in a way that isn’t annoying. Always one of my favorites, Scary Movie may be one of the best “scary movies” of all time.
What did you think of this infamous parody? Let us know in the comments!
Good post!