Scary Movie

Film #113

THE PLOT

A year after disposing the body of a man they accidentally killed, a group of dumb teenagers are stalked by a bumbling serial killer.

Year 1, Day 113

BEFORE: Big week coming up. Not only do I have an interview for Apple Retail, but there’s three advanced screenings coming up including one I’m really looking forward to, Flight. But for today, Scary Movie is on the agenda. I’m using this as sort of a precursor to the horror chain which will start on Thursday in honor of Halloween. It is a comedy instead of horror, but it still deals with Halloween and fright as far as I know so it qualifies.

AFTER: Scary Movie is a parody film. It continuously references and makes jokes about other well-known movies such as Scream, The Matrix, and The Usual Suspects. If you haven’t seen these movies, you probably won’t appreciate the humor in it.

Or you could have seen those films, like I have, and find that the humor, while funny in the beginning, wears off quickly. One of the best parts about Scream was how it subverted common conventions in the horror genre and made fun of itself while still maintaining a suspense to it. Scary Movie follows this pattern very closely with the opening scene stolen straight from Scream. And it’s funny because they do the same thing Wes Craven did by subverting the genre yet again and turning it into a comedy. But this wears out quickly. No longer is it funny that you’re seeing the same movie played out again but this time with humor thrown in. Scary Movie becomes boring and repetitious.

It wasn’t horrible though. The funny scenes were hilarious, it’s just that everything else was so unamusing. Now I haven’t seen I Know What You Did Last Summer which is a big component to the film, and like I said before, the entertainment of this film relies heavily on if you’ve seen the reference material. If you have, I say give Scary Movie a shot. If not, give it a pass.

RATING: 3 out of 5