“Scary Movie” is one of those movies that you love in your childhood, then return to 15 years later and realize it’s not the masterpiece you once thought it was. A totally unnecessary self-aware spin on the already self-aware slasher “Scream,” “Scary Movie” follows a very similar concept in plot and meta-commentary. However, where “Scream” satirizes the horror genre while remaining scary, “Scary Movie” over-exaggerates every horror trope for comedic effect — its only fear factor is in its abundant jump scares.
The movie opens with teenager Drew Decker (Carmen Electra) receiving a threatening call from a male voice that turns out to belong to a Ghostface poser who chases Decker outside. There, she meets her untimely demise when her father runs her over with his car, distracted by his wife administering oral sex — this is only the first of many raunchy scenes that unexpectedly dominate this “horror” movie. The next day, a group of high school friends realizes that Decker was killed exactly a year after they accidentally murdered a man. They start receiving threats and seeing Ghostface, who slowly comes after them all.
While the plot is just an uninspired regurgitation of “Scream,” the comedic exaggerations render each plot point flimsy. There is no consistent throughline linking any of the ridiculous events. Instead, each increasingly absurd scene is arbitrarily followed by another implausible and unrelated occurrence. But the movie’s appeal doesn’t lie in its cinematic value. It’s not meant to be a masterpiece of film; it’s meant to be enjoyable, even exciting, for horror movie buffs — so, while it did not always work for me personally, it was still fun. Much of my enjoyment was rooted in nostalgia, though there are some genuinely funny moments.
The script infuses the villainous Ghostface, taken straight out of “Scream,” with a hilarious self-consciousness. One of the funniest scenes is when Ghostface calls Cindy (Anna Ferris), and she immediately finds him in the house behind the couch. She then turns around and waits as he first scrambles under the rug before, realizing that’s stupid, he half-conceals himself behind the curtains. Later, in another great moment, he crashes a smoke sesh with Shorty (Marlon Wayans) and his friends and ultimately joins in the fun. Of course, the second the high wears off, he immediately slashes away at the group.
Moments like these are hilarious; they subvert classical horror movie scenes and the characters are funny. Much of the successful humor comes in its meta-commentary: It points out the sheer absurdity in horror movie protagonists’ reactions to their circumstances, with characters even defying death to ridicule the way horror movies often handle murder.
But much of the film’s comedy also relies on problematic stereotypes. Its depiction of disability with Special Officer Doofy (Dave Sheridan), a spoof of the bumbling Dewey Riley in “Scream,” is quite disrespectful and the movie often tries to be humorous at his expense. Similarly, the writing poorly frames questions of gender and sexuality, and there are a number of homophobic jokes. Many of the characters act highly stereotypically in terms of race and gender. Is it merely a self-aware satire of the stereotypes that pervade popular media, or is it just further promulgating those very stereotypes? Either way, it does so in a rather careless manner, and many jokes make light of the harm of such stale representation.
Much of the film is also oddly erotic — while some of the raunchy jokes land, some of the scenes are plainly uncomfortable. However, this largely boils down to the parodic nature of the movie. It is, after all, a spoof, and it certainly succeeds in that measure. Every classic film trope or character finds its way into the movie in its most exaggerated form, regardless of genre, and several films are mentioned by name. Among these classic horror references, including “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and “The Exorcist,” there’s a battle that mirrors the slow-motion fighting featured in “The Matrix.”
“Scary Movie” tries to be a slasher comedy teen drama, a love letter to cinema and a critique of movies all at once. It’s certainly a good time, but it’s nothing special for a spoof. It overplays some stereotypes to a harmful degree, and the movie relies too heavily on its shock factor to make up for its otherwise mediocre plot. Some things are better left fond, hazy memories — they grow stale and can’t inspire the same childlike glee they once did.
