Following the turn of the millennium saw the horror genre sent up for all it had in the brilliantly titledScary Movie(while spoofing theScreamseries among others,Scary Moviewas the film’s original title before settling forScream). Headed by a collective of the Wayans brothers (having found success with their hood spoof inDon’t Be a Menace in South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood), their sights turned to the teen horrors at the time and most notably Wes Craven’s highly successfulScreamand its antagonist Ghostface.
With its gross-out humor and stoned disposition, and based on a $19 million budget the firstScary Moviewas hit with horny teens and smokers and raked in over $278 million worldwide. A green-fingered sequel was greenlit of the first film’s success and the smutty series was off.
Humor in Low-Hanging Fruit
In the swap fromScary Movie 2toScary Movie 3, the series had lost the Wayans but had gained proven spoof royalty in David Zucker (ofAirplaneandNaked Gunfame). On the one hand, the least funny thing about the first two films had gone in one Marlon Wayans, while the more experienced Zucker could bring with him proven talent and former co-workers in Charlie Sheen (Hot Shots) and Leslie Nielsen (Naked Gun).
Related:Here’s Every Scary Movie in the Horror-Comedy Franchise, Ranked
As the director, Zucker could also effectively promote the real breakout star of the previous films Anna Faris to leading woman status. On the other hand, however, that trademark Wayans bodily functions and stoner comedy and what had been distinctly their own baby, was now more of a point-and-shoot affair as it recognized what was popular in cinemas at the time and then mocked it. This meant that the promising semi-original storyline ofScary Movie 2and its haunted house setup, alongwith its use of practical effects, puppetry, and stop-motion, would not be elaborated on in a follow-up.
All the same,Scary Movie 3presented an uptick in the series with its new additions of proven stars in Sheen and Nielson slotting right in. In their ranking of all theScary Movies,Collideractually rated the third film highest. Calling it “consistently funny”, they go on to write the following.
The most well-written, tightly paced, and clever out of the fiveScary Moviefilms,Scary Movie 3deserves your time if you’re a fan of the spoof genre.
Scary Movie 4
By 2006, the series, still chowing down on the lowest hanging of fruit but still going strong, had reached its fourth iteration. The industry had moved on from the slasher trend, and as suchScary Movie’slampooning would too. Continuing on from his helming of the third, David Zucker would directScary Movie 4and with it spoof the spookier hits of the time including Spielberg’s remake ofWar of the Worlds,The Grudge,The Village, andSaw(while touching onBrokeback Mountain, for some reason).
And while as clumsy as any of the other movies in the series, what emerges is a fourth installment that uses its previous film as a jumping-off point while gamely capitalizing on the moments that worked. Anna Faris, a very talented physical performer, is given the most screen time of all the films, and rightly so. Ditto, Leslie Nielsen’s incompetent President Harris showsthe legendary actor’swillingness to commit to the gag when showing us his naked gun and baring all in front of the entirety of the United Nations when an alien ray zaps away his clothes.
And while not directly,Scary Movie 4’sbit player Kevin Hart and its screenwriter Craig Mazin (Chornobyl, The Last of Us) are now both the biggest names in Hollywood at the moment. Who knows if either of them would have had the opportunity to thrive on their own projects if they hadn’t played their parts inScary Movie 4.
When In Doubt, Go For Slapstick
The gross-out gags are still unfortunately included but the jokes and trademark slapstick here are such a constant that it doesn’t stink up the scene for too long. With a machine gun quality of accuracy in its humor (fast, lots hit, but some really don’t) the film informs us from the very first second how the rest of the run time is going to play out. As one Shaquille O’Neal finds himself a captive, his leg shackled, he tries to establish where exactly he is. At 7' 1", O’Neal stands up and hits his head on a pipe. Readjusting, he stands at full height and then hits his head on the ceiling.
Related:Scary Movie 2: Every Horror Movie Parodied in the Film
Also for perhaps the first time in the series, this one uses actual jokes too (and a great one about Detroit). While some of it hasn’t aged tremendously well (no one under 20 will know what an iPod is now), the content at the very least doesn’t just bash gay individuals or the disabled for cheap content like the first two did.
Bigger Scope, Bigger Ambition?
Like Big Shaq’s frame, the scope of the film is also the series' biggest. While set entirely in the United States, the whole world is involvedwhen the tripod aliens attackwith this movie catering for that with by far the best production value yet. With multiple locations and convincing effects that mirror the source material it sets out to parody really helps the comedy feel more genuine, with the spoofing ofThe Villagein particular looking remarkably close to the real thing (and simultaneously mocking how poor that film really was).
Silly, often straight-up stupid, and regularly focused on just making funnies about men getting hit in the testicles, you know what you’re going to get with one of theScary Moviesand the fourth film is the best one. Then again, at the end of the day, arguably none of theScary Moviesare very good at all. In fact, every single one of them all kind of sucks. And by that reckoning, perhaps it isn’t thatScary Movie 4is “the funniest” but rather just the least bad? And, hey, the less said aboutScary Movie 5, the better.
