Scary Movie

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This article is about the spoof horror movie. For the genre, see horror film.
Scary Movie

Theatrical release poster.
Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans
Produced by Eric L. Gold
Lee R. Mayes
Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Phil Beauman
Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Written by Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Buddy Johnson
Phil Beauman
Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Starring Anna Faris
Jon Abrahams
Dave Sheridan
Marlon Wayans
Shawn Wayans
Regina Hall
Cheri Oteri
Shannon Elizabeth
Lochlyn Munro
Kurt Fuller
James Van Der Beek
Carmen Electra
Cinematography Francis Kenny
Editing by Mark Helfrich
Distributed by Dimension Films
Release date(s) July 7, 2000
Running time 88 min.
Country USA
Language English
Budget $19 million (est.)
Gross revenue $278,019,771(est)
Followed by Scary Movie 2 (2001)
IMDb profile

Scary Movie is a 2000 American comedy drama film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. It parodies the horror and mystery genres. Several mid- and late-1990s movies are spoofed, including the more subtle horror film parody series Scream trilogy, The Sixth Sense, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Usual Suspects, The Matrix, and The Blair Witch Project, while it also parodies many of the classic horror films, most notably Halloween.

The tagline is "No mercy. No shame. No sequel.", with the last reference being to the tendency of popular horror movies to become long-running franchises. However, in 2001, Scary Movie 2 was released (with the appropriate tagline "We lied"). The film was followed by a series of sequels Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006) and a Scary Movie 5 is in development for 2008. The franchise has also spawned similar films, Date Movie, Epic Movie, Superhero Movie and its pseudo-sequel, Meet the Spartans all of which except for Superhero Movie were written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, two of the original writers of Scary Movie. A sequel to Meet the Spartans is being made called Disaster Movie. The original title for the film Scream was "Scary Movie" which ironically was later used to parody it. Both films were released through Dimension Films. It is the highest grossing film by an African-American director in history.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie begins as a girl called Drew Decker (Carmen Electra) is making popcorn in her house, when she receives a phone call from a person asking if she likes scary movies. The person reveals that he is watching her and then proceeds to attack her with a knife. She escapes into her garden with the killer on her tail, who eventually rips off her clothes and leaves her in her white bra and panties. After Drew passes through a set of sprinklers, she is accidentally run over by a speeding car. The killer catches and kills her and the opening credits start to roll.

The next scene takes place in the house of Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) as her boyfriend Bobby Prinze (Jon Abrahams) shows up. Then, her father enters the room and Bobby hides under the bed. Cindy's father tells her that he'll be out of town doing business with Uncle Escobar. Next day in school, the news teams are trying to interview the police and students who knew Drew, but get turned down. In order to get a lead, Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri) has sex with the retarded brother of Buffy Gilmore (Shannon Elizabeth), Doofy Gilmore (Dave Sheridan). The group (Cindy, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Greg Phillipe (Lochlyn Munro), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), Bobby and Buffy) gather around the fountain and discuss how the killing happened exactly one year after their car accident.

Here, they recall how while drunk driving, Bobby and the rest of the group, along with Drew, accidentally hit a man but only injured him, then Greg (while trying to get rid of their beer) flings the bottle into the air and hits the man they hit (who was walking away at the moment) and really kills him. In the end, they hurl the body into the shore and swear to tell no one. While Cindy is in class, she receives a note saying that someone knows what they did last Halloween, she then recalls her date with Bobby, but then receives a note that says "No bitch! I'm talking about the guy you killed!" and gets scared.

During the miss Teenage Beauty contest at school, Buffy is about to perform her talent, an acting piece, but sees how Greg is murdered by the killer in the audience and starts screaming for help. The audience believes she is acting and give her the first prize. That night, Cindy is attacked by the killer, but she calls the cops and the killer escapes. Then Bobby shows up with the same gloves and knife as the killer and is arrested. Cindy goes to stay with Buffy that night but receives a call from the killer and has Bobby set free.

The next day, while changing in the locker rooms, Buffy teases Cindy about getting scared by the killer's phone call and Cindy leaves, offended. After everyone leaves the locker room, Buffy is left alone and the killer shows up. Buffy, noticing the 90's horror movie cliché pretends to be scared, then pretends to run around, then to make it more cliché breaks her own leg, leaving herself helpless and allowing the killer to cut off her head. However, (against all biological laws) her head stays alive and says "Ooh! Look at me I'm all dead, I'm a gross scary severed head!" prompting the killer to shove her head in a lost and found bin.

Ray asks Brenda to the movies and they go to see Shakespeare in Love, Ray goes to the bathroom and (since Ray shows several signs of being gay throughout the movie) peeks on a guy peeing and gets impaled through the head with the guy's penis. Then, the killer shows up at the cinema and sits next to Brenda, Brenda then starts talking throughout the movie and eventually starts talking on her phone. As the killer slowly pulls out his knife to kill her a pissed off audience member snatches the knife from him and stabs Brenda, then the whole audience starts attacking her until she finally dies in front of the movie screen.

In order to not stay alone, Cindy organizes a party in her house. During the party, Cindy has sex with Bobby. The killer then shows up to kill Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans), Brenda's stoner brother but winds up getting high with him and his friends and scares Cindy with a phone call blowing his secret strike. The killer, pissed off with losing his surprise attack (and after accidentally killing all of Shorty's friends while swinging his hook around in a rap off) attacks Cindy and Bobby. They both escape and Bobby reveals that he and Ray (who survived getting impaled with a penis) are two killers who are trying to start a new gay life in Los Angeles, but must first get rid of everyone who knows them.

Bobby shoots Shorty and kills him, then he and Ray prepare to kill Cindy, but since they said they are copying the real killer, the real killer shows up and slaughters them with his hook. Then the killer proceeds to have a The Matrix-style fight with Cindy using bullet time and winds up getting beaten and escapes. The police show up and take Cindy to the station, where they find out that Buffy's brother Doofy was actually faking to be retarded and is the real killer. The camera turns to a shot of Doofy walking down the street and pulling off his retarded disguise, then climbing onto Gail Hailstorm's car and driving away. The sheriff and Cindy find Doofy's disguise in the street and Cindy proceeds to scream "NOOOOOO!" until she is hit by a car and killed.

[edit] Characters

  • Cindy Campbell - Played by Anna Faris, she is the parody character of both Sidney Prescott from the Scream trilogy and Julie James from the I Know What You Did Last Summer trilogy. Her name is a spoof of Sidney, and her surname is taken from Neve Campbell (the actress who played Sidney from Scream). Cindy is peppy, gullible, and very bubbly. Her father does business with the Escobar crime family ("Uncle Escobar," as Cindy knows him), dealing freebase and sometimes using it himself. To date, she is one of only two characters to appear in all of the Scary Movie films.
  • Brenda Meeks - Played by Regina Hall, Brenda is the parody character of Maureen Evans from Scream 2 and Karla Wilson from I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Also named after Brenda Bates from the movie Urban Legend. She is shown to be a real "tough girl", with a bit of ghetto-ness, as depicted in her speech and actions. She is butchered by angry cinema patrons; her death scene parodies the death of Maureen in the cinema scene of Scream 2. Brenda's name is taken from the character Brenda from Friday the 13th, and from Randy Meeks, a character from Scream and Scream 2. Brenda was temporarily resurrected for Scary Movie 2 and Scary Movie 3, only to be killed off again in the latter (this time by the girl from The Ring). This was after faking several almost-deaths, leading her to be ignored while she was being killed for real. She was resurrected once again in Scary Movie 4 and lived through the entire movie. To date, she is one of only two characters to appear in all of the Scary Movie films.
  • Bobby Prinze - Played by Jon Abrahams, he is the parody character of Ray Bronsen from I Know What You Did Last Summer and Billy Loomis from Scream and shares many of the same interests and personality with Billy (such as brow-beating Cindy to lose her virginity to him). He constantly gets blamed for being the killer of the movie. His name is taken from Freddie Prinze Jr., who starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer. In a nod to the film Wild Things, it is revealed that Bobby is gay, in a relationship with Ray and that the two plan on killing Cindy and starting a new life. Bobby gets stabbed by Ray, as part of their coverup, too many times and dies.
  • Shorty Meeks - Played by Marlon Wayans, Shorty is the parody character of Randy Meeks from the Scream trilogy and Max from I Know What You Did Last Summer. He is shown to drink, smoke lots of weed and take many other drugs. He is also the brother of Brenda Meeks. He is shot in the chest by Bobby (white cannabis smoke comes out of the wound), killing him. He is revived in Scary Movie 2.
  • Ray Wilkins - Played by Shawn Wayans, Ray is the parody character of Phil Stevens from Scream 2. He also parodies Stu Macher from Scream towards the end of the movie. He is shown to the audience as being gay, though this is not apparent to the other characters. He obviously flirts with many male characters, though he dates Brenda Meeks (whom he loves to dress up in his football uniform). In the cinema scene, Ray is impaled in the head with a penis, which parodies the death of Phil. However, later in the movie, he is shown to survive and is Bobby's accomplice, which is how he parodies Stu. He is killed when the real killer (Doofy) stabs him in the back, though he is revived for the sequel. His name was taken from Ray Bronson, a character from the I Know What You Did Last Summer trilogy.
  • Buffy Gilmore - Played by Shannon Elizabeth, Buffy is the parody character of both Tatum Riley from Scream and Helen from I Know What You Did Last Summer. She is dating Greg Phillipe. Her death is less than similar to either of the original characters' deaths - she is stabbed, has her leg broken, and is decapitated. However, it is not confirmed that Buffy actually dies; rather, she is decapitated yet her head somehow remains alive (as a joke in the film). Her name is a homage to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (as she parodies Helen Shivers, who is played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who starred as Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
  • Greg Phillipe - Played by Lochlyn Munro, Greg is the parody character of Barry Cox from I Know What You Did Last Summer. Greg has the same basic personality as Barry. His name is taken from Ryan Phillippe (who played Barry), and also from Greg Brady (goes with Cindy and Bobby). Greg has an extremely small penis, and tends to be vindictive towards women, Cindy in particular. He is killed by Doofy at the pageant, parodying Ryan Phillipe's death in I Know What You Did Last Summer.
  • Drew Decker - Played by Carmen Electra, Drew is the parody character of Casey Becker from Scream. Her name is taken from the actress who played Casey, Drew Barrymore. Her favorite horror movie is Kazaam; when Ghostface claims that doesn't qualify, Drew simply tells him, "Well, you haven't seen Shaq act."
  • Special Officer Doofy Gilmore - Played by Dave Sheridan, Doofy is the parody character of Dwight "Dewey" Riley from the Scream trilogy. He is also one of the three killers in this movie (the other two are Bobby and Ray). Doofy is short for Doofus, as he suffers from extreme mental retardation and erratic regularity ("I go poopie. It was good"). As Buffy's 25-year-old brother, he still attends "Special Class" at B.A. Corpse High School. Buffy attends the same school, known as "Miss Teen She's-So-Fine", while Doofy himself is a "Special Police Officer" whom nobody takes seriously. He enjoys masturbating with his mom's vacuum cleaner. At the end of the film, in a nod to The Usual Suspects, he is seen changing his look and mannerisms (his retardation having been faked), and getting away in a car with Gail Hailstorm.
  • Gail Hailstorm - Played by Cheri Oteri, Gail is the parody character of Gale Weathers from the Scream trilogy. Gail actually commits the second murder in this movie, by gunning down a teenage boy who keeps making fun of her during a news broadcast. Ultimately, Gail and her long-suffering cameraman, Kenny, are slain by Ghostface in a sequence parodying The Blair Witch Project. However, she is shown to live at the end, when she picks up Doofy (ditching his retarded disguise) for a date.

[edit] Parodies

  • I Know What You Did Last Summer - Main parody.
  • Scream Trilogy - Main parody.
  • The Blair Witch Project - The scene where Gail Hailstorm and her mexican cameraman are videotaping one of the killer's murders, then they get spotted and they try to escape, however, Gail's cameraman gets killed and Gail apologises to the cameraman's family by videotaping her apology and leaving it behind so it can be found.
  • Shakespeare In Love - The movie which Ray and Brenda go to see on their date is Shakespeare In Love.
  • Pablo Escobar - Cindy's dad says he's living town to go do business with "Uncle Escobar".
  • The Artist Formerly Known As Prince - In the opening scene, Drew Decker tells The Killer that her boyfriend is coming over to kick his ass, then the Killer asks if her boyfriend is the guy who wears make-up and dresses like a woman, Drew says yes, then she gets told by the killer that her boyfriend is tied up out in the porch, but when Drew turns on the porch lights the guy tied up is The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.
  • Freddie Prinze, Jr. - Bobby's full name is Bobby Prinze and the star of "I Know What You Did Last Summer" was Freddie Prinze Jr.
  • Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Buffy Gilmore's first name is that of the main character of "Buffy The Vampire Slayer"
  • Ryan Phillipe - Character Greg Phillipe acts like Ryan's character in Scream, Barry. Also, Greg has the same last name as Ryan.
  • Randy Meeks - Brenda and Shorty Meeks share the same last name as Randy Meeks, a character featured in the Scream Trilogy. Randy Meeks was portrayed in Scream by Jamie Kennedy.
  • Friday The 13th - Brenda Meeks' attitude is taken from Brenda Bates. A character from Friday The 13th.

[edit] Deaths

  • Greg Phillipe

At the pageant contest, Buffy is on the podium when the killer comes up behind Greg on the balcony above and stabs him. Buffy screams in horror but the entire audience are convinced she's doing it as an act. The killer then stabs Greg in the neck and dismembers him, disposing of his body in a plastic bin bag.

  • Buffy Gilmore

In the showers of her gymnasium after the Sports class, Buffy is confronted by the killer, but she assumes it's a joke and begins to put on fake distress. The confused killer stabs her before she falls and breaks her own leg. The killer then cuts her head off, but Buffy's head is somehow still alive and mocks the killer, who then dumps the head in a trash bin.

At Cindy 's House, Bobby gets killed by Ray.

Ray collapses out cold after being impaled through ear-to-ear by a plastic sex-toy in the men's toilets at the cinema. He somehow survives and goes on to murder Bobby, only to get stabbed in the back by the killer while Cindy screams.

  • Brenda Meeks

Brenda severely annoys the entire audience in the cinema with her antics and attitude, leading the killer to sit next to her and prepare to murder her. However, a disgruntled old man snatches the killer's knife and stabs Brenda in the stomach. An old lady behind follows suit and stabs her in the back with her own knife, leading the entire audience to riot. Brenda stumbles into the aisle and gets beaten and/or stabbed by everyone that she passes, eventually collapsing in a heap and dying in front of the screen.

  • Shorty Meeks, death in a shot gun.

Shorty is murdered by Bobby who shoots him in the chest.

At the end of the movie, Cindy screams in the middle of the road when a speeding car cuts her down.

[edit] Reception

The film was released on July 7, 2000 and grossed $42,346,669 (USD) in the opening weekend in the box-office. It went on to gross a total of $157,019,771 at the domestic box-office and a world-wide total of $278,019,771. Critics gave the film mixed reviews. The film currently has a "Rotten" rating of 53% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a rating of 48 out of 100 from Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews"

[edit] See also

[edit] TV Version

A TV version of Scary Movie has many scenes either trimmed down or paned and cropped. Scenes for example cut out Ray's flirting with the boys in the locker room, penis through the head, and Cindy's conversation with Miss Man was cropped above his genitals.

[edit] External links

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v • d • e
The Scary Movie series
Films
Scary Movie • 2 • 3 • 4
Cast members
Crew members