Maybe this movie should be called ‘Film of the Living Dead’ because the makers seem to have looked over the finer points of their last film, that being who should be alive and who should really be 6ft under. Yes Scary Movie is back, with less mercy, less shame and less clothes, and its only been a year since its last outing making this one of the fastest sequels ever apart from the Pokemon and Friday the 13th series of films. So have the Wayan’s brothers learnt anything from their last experience not so long ago or is Scary Movie 2 one scream too far? Well you know the answer anyway but nevermind.
It’s nice to go into a film and have your expectations fulfilled and Scary Movie 2 did just chat. It wasn’t very good, at all. The first movie wasn’t anything special, it was a competent, if not overly inspiring, send up on teen slasher films such as Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Scary Movie 2 steps away from the masked killer technique and plays its cards with ‘supernatural’ horror, bad move, especially when its indispersed with spoofs which bear no relevance to the horror genre. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the spoofs were good but for the most part they fall flat.
The plot is even looser than before. The film starts with a quite well done, if decidedly average Exorcist spoof. James Woods plays Father McFeely and Andy Richter as Father Harris. It takes about 30 seconds into the film to know that the crude humour is still there and another minute and a half to know that it isn’t going to go away anytime soon, which doesn’t bode well. However while The Exorcist spoof doesn’t really hit the mark, mainly because its been done before in Repossessed starring Leslie Neilson and Linda Blair herself, it does give a glimmer of hope that Scary Movie 2 wont be
that bad at all.
It’s a year later and most of the gang are back (and alive) in college. Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Ray (Shawn Wayans) and Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans) are on our screens again with a few new friends. The ‘Buffy’ replacement Theo (Kathleen Robertson), the immature jock type guy Tommy (James DeBello) and the not so innocent and quite clingy Alex (Tori Spelling). The familiar crew are still the same, Shorty is still a pothead, Ray is still confused over his sexuality, Cindy is still innocent and slightly dippy and Brenda, well she’s as loud as ever. They have been chosen especially, because of their weird personalities, to spend a weekend at Hell House, the house, which played the part of The Exorcist spoof at the beginning. Unsurprisingly it is supposedly haunted and their Professor (Tim Currey) along with his wheelchair bound (the jokes come thick and fast) servant Dwight (David Cross), want to see if there really is life after death by using these people as the catalysts.
And thus begins a few days worth of terror in Hell House for all of the hapless team. However the ‘terror’ really isn’t the right word for what the people go through in Scary Movie 2. Hell House and its Poltergeist inhabitant sees more fit to let them have minor sexual escapades and a bit of a laugh leaving viewers miffed as to what all the screaming is all about if even the characters in the movie aren’t taking it seriously.
Scary Movie 2, following from The Exorcist spoof, is actually quite good. Indeed there is even a Final Destination scene which will leave you jumping from your seat, thing is it is exactly the same thing you had jumped at when you first saw Final Destination (if you did so) however it has a nice little twist of humour at the end, and for one of the only times in the film, doesn’t rely on gross out humour to crack a smile.
Its still funny when Cindy arrives in the house and is greeted by the caretaker Hanson (Chris Eilliot) because no matter how many times you’ll see Hanson you’ll laugh, or at least smile. He is the normal creepy caretaker type guy but this being Scary Movie 2 they have to take it one step further so give him a slightly pervy manner and an extremely deformed but ‘strong’ hand and you will have some perfect opportunities for the audience to laugh and you will whilst he is on the scene. At the beginning you will laugh at the absurdly of it all and his weird voice and the way Cindy reacts to him touching her with his bad hand, smelling her underwear and holding her toothbrush…in his mouth. Then there is the dinner table scene in which he shows he isn’t the best person that should cook for people. There then is constant bickering between him and Dwight who rip it into each other’s disabilities, which lets you off from laughing so much. However you cant help but feel you are on the familiar ground of laughing at the handicapped here like you were in Scary Movie with Doofy.
However from then on it doesn’t so much go downhill but looses the plot big time and falls for the one of the biggest trap s of all…making the audience unable to understand.
Like the last time Scary Movie 2 tries to cram in so much spoofage that the plot goes anywhere and everywhere to try and get some laughs. This leaves you not only slightly confused as to where everything is leading up to (if anywhere) but also annoyed that they cant focus on one thing for more than a few minutes if that. The irony is the one spoof that does have a large screentime is the one where UK audiences will have no clue as to why the hell its included in the film, all we see is the characters dribbling and performing tricks with a basketball, so what?
For every spoof which is successful there are more than a dozen more which are just a waste. Some successful ones from the film apart from the aforementioned Exorcist send up are the Charlies Angels spoof (see what I mean about none horror movies?) where Cindy, Brenda and Theo act out Barrymore, Diaz and Liu’s roles in perfect style and pretty much carbon copy imitation. The very brief Mission: Impossible 2 spoof, well the Woo trademark pigeons are also quite funny. For better or worse they also fit in a Weakest Link line as well. However others just fail to ignite. Hollow Man is used for a brief period in two scenes but is just used to make room for more sex. There is a mildly entertaining Child’s Play spoof, which again just leads to the path of a dirty joke. Then there is the whole Weed Monster thingy, which is only slightly amusing.
So far the plot is terrible and the spoofing only mildly worthwhile can the acting save it…well no.
Each character, especially the new ones, are underused and underdeveloped. While you can excuse the original cast for being the same and there because the audience will be familiar with them the Wayan’s brothers should have given more substance to the new young guns. Theo is basically unnecessary and only has one key part in the movie. Tommy is just there to play Cindy’s ‘friend’ and give wedgies every so often. It is only Tori Spellings Alex that is used to any effect and luckily used to quite good effect after she has an ‘encounter’ with the spirit and doesn’t want to let go of that moment.
Otherwise the acting is pretty much what you would expect, pretty dire. Once again Regina Hall gives the Brenda character a near perfect presentation but she isn’t really given that much screentime for her to shine as she did in Scary Movie. Anna Faris has a fairly easy ride with Cindy. Quite shockingly James Wood’s Exorcist part is where the acting is at its most wooden and disappointing. Tim Currey does a good job at playing the lurid professor but you cant help but think he thought his career wouldn’t lead to being in a trashy horror spoof sequel. As mentioned before Hanson is one of the best characters and Chris Elliott is often the saving grace.
Yet despite the occasional good parts and the sometimes good acting it cant help the fact that Scary Movie 2 is a movie which misses the mark on more than one occasion. The story is sloppy with plotholes appearing all over the place and conclusions are not drawn to an end to a satisfying standard. It feels way too rushed, which is not surprising given the short production time. It also proves that to be funny you have to rely on more than gross out humour.
This hasn’t had the commercial success as the original; it has only grossed $75m in the US, a far cry to the $100m plus last year. It also got picked to the post by the far superior Moulin Rouge in the UK so maybe taste shall prevail.
Wayan’s brothers if you are listening we want no more shame, no more mercy and judging by this please…no more sequels.
SCARY MOVIE 2 IS
Spoof packed Full of dead people Limited on acting
SCARY MOVIE 2 IS NOT
Successfully spoof packed That new on ideas Going to be the last Scary Movie most probably
How helpful would this review be to a person making a buying decision? Rating guidelines
Production Year: 1984 - Horror - Director: Joe Dante - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates, Hoyt Axton, Polly Holliday, Frances Lee McCain, Judge Reinhold, Corey Feldman
Production Year: 2000 - Horror - Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans - Original Language: English - Classification: 18 years and over - Starring: Carmen Electra, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, James Van Der Beek, Keenen Ivory Wayans
Great op! Typical teen movie stupid with some funny bits, but it is what it is supposed to be a micky take.
james.bridgeman 02.10.2001 15:21
Very detailed and thoughtful op. BTW, the basketball thing is a send-up of the new Nike ad; you'll see it around. SM2 sounds pretty grim: let's hope they give it up now... Cheers, JB
craigkennedy26283 01.10.2001 13:51
Genius Review!!
Keep up the good work!
See Ya!!
Craig!! };o)
All your favourite Scary Movie characters are back in a laugh-packed sequel that scares up ... more
even more irreverent fun than the original! Marlon Wayans Shawn Wayans and Anna Faris lead a stellar cast that takes extreme pleasure in skewering Hollywood's ...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
All of your favourite Scary Movie characters are back in a hilarious sequel that scares up ... more
even more irreverent fun than the original. Marlon Wayans (Scary Movie, Requiem For A Dream), Shawn Wayans (Scary Movie, Don't Be A Menace...), and Anna Faris (S...
Advantages: This is hilarious - if you're of the juvenile persuasion. Disadvantages: This is terribly offensive, disgusting, and occasionally delves into sacrilege.
Sarah_B 31.03.2002 (31.03.2002)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Scary Movie 2 (DVD)
![Scary Movie 2 [DVD] [2001]](http://picnica.ciao.com/uk/78531056.jpg "Scary Movie 2 [DVD] [2001]")
Sep 21st, 2001
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