Scary Movie is a horror comedy film mixed with parody and satire. The director is Keenen Ivory Wayans, producers Eric L. Gold and Lee R. Mayes, and writers Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg, and Aaron Seltzer. The movie was released in July, 7, 2000. The small group of teenagers in the film are played by Shannon Elizabeth (Buffy), Regina Hall (Brenda), Marlon Wayans (Shorty), Shawn Wayans (Ray), Lochlyn Munro (Greg), Jon Abrahams (Bobby), Anna Faris (Cindy), Cheri Oteri (Gail Hailstorm), David L. Lander (Squiggly), and Dave Sheridan (Doofy).
The movie starts off with a teenage girl named Drew Decker (Carmen Electra) receiving strange phone calls while at home alone one night. Decker realizes the strange phone calls are of Ghostface. The killer then pursues her and Decker flees to the street where she gets ran over by her parents' car. The film is centered around six teenagers. The following day Cindy, her boyfriend Bobby, friends Ray, Brenda, Greg, and Buffy grieve and reflect on Drew's death. News reporters flock to the high school to report the murder and the mysterious whereabouts of the killer.Gail Hailstorm, a cocky news reporter, befriends Buffy's mentally disabled brother "Special officer" with hopes of learning more about the investigation. The group began to receive strange and threatening messages. Cindy discovered a note on her desk that read, "I know what you did last Halloween". One year earlier Cindy and her friends hit a man while driving down a highway and disposed the body down at the pier. They realized the killer was after them for revenge. As hard as they tried to hide and stay together, Ghostface refused to let plans on killing them fail. Greg was slain at Buffy's beauty pageant, Buffy was decapitated in the locker room, and Brenda was stabbed to death by the killer and the audience in the movie theater. Cindy throws a party with the mentality of greater strength in numbers. The killer makes his move and stabbed Bobby. Cindy immediately came to his aid and grabbed her gun. Shorty (Brenda's brother) told Cindy and Bobby that everyone is dead. Ray Bobby and Cindy struggle to live.
Scary Movie payed homage to several films such as Scream, and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The Wayans brothers poked fun at many films and programs from the 1980's and 1990's like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, Friday the 13th and Dawson's Creek. The central characters are all parodies of characters from other teen horror flicks. The mask that the killer wears is based off of the movie Scream. The only difference with this ghost face is that it has a distorted face. The auto accident is straight out of the movie I Know What You Did last Summer. The character's name Buffy is taken from the television series Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character Buffy was played by Sarah Michelle Gellar, who also starred in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Drew Decker is based on Casey from Scream and is the first killed in the movie. Doofy is a spoof of Deputy Dewey from the Scream movies. Cindy is based on the main character Sidney from Scream. Bobby Prinze is based on Billy from Scream and his character's last name Prinze is taken from the actor Freddy Prinze, Jr. who played in I Know What You Did Last Summer. Ray is based from the film I Know. Brenda Meeks is based upon Maureen from Scream 2 and from Friday the 13th. Shorty Meeks (brother) is based on Randy from Scream. Ray Wilkins is based on Phil from Scream 2. The names of the characters are spoofs of the characters in horror films. Gail Hailstorm is based upon news reporter Gail Weathers in the Scream film. The last name Hailstorm is a joke on the real character from Scream. I love how the producer mimics the story line from all horror film franchises and meshes it into one hilarious movie. This type of humor is called a parody which imitates the style of an author or a work for comic effect or ridicule. Satire is especially evident throughout this film. Satire is human vice or folly attached through irony, caustic wit, or sarcasm, used to attack. Satire and its uses do not necessarily have to be funny. Mis en scene really did help objectify the story. From the dull-witted characters to the framing of the shot, it all came together to create a silly movie. Sound was an effective tool because its transition from one scene to another went smooth and the process of taking scenes and bringing them together. Sound effects were used to complement and reinforce. The camera positioning was also used in a funny manner. Such as when Cindy begins to scream and the camera gives us a close up of her face and the camera lens hits her forehead, she stopped screaming and said "Ouch!". Lighting and shadows helped set the mood. In the first scene of the movie, as Decker is running through a grassy field, the only light there is is that of the moon. The victims always died in the dark or in a shadowy area then there were those moments that ghost face would mop the evidence right behind the clueless teenagers. If you enjoy parodies, then I recommend that you watch this movie. I give this movie a 3.5.
