SCARY MOVIE (2000)

Scary Movie didn’t set out to herald the beginning of the end for parody films. The extended Movie universe that reaches as far as Meet the Spartans (2008) and The Starving Games (2013) led to many asking “why would anyone laugh at these?”, “why would any actor star in these?”, and “why would any studio fund these?” Reviews of that era could’ve been reduced to the letter Y. The answer to those changed from “they shouldn’t” to “they wouldn’t” as these later films were scoring single-digit percentages at Rotten Tomatoes. The good news is that looking back 25 years, Scary Movie is good enough to earn two digits.

But what about before this momentous shift? The obvious giants before the Wayans family were Mel Brooks and ‘ZAZ’ (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker) who produced bar none some of the funniest films of all time. Blazing Saddles (1974), Airplane! (1980), Spaceballs (1987), and The Naked Gun (1988) could form the Mount Rushmore of parody, and any substitutions would also be from their filmographies. But after Hot Shots! (1991) from Abrahams came Jane Austen’s Mafia! (1998) with 15% on RT. After Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) from Brooks came Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995) with 11%. Men in Tights is great but it didn’t score ‘Fresh’ either. And while we’re at it with Leslie Nielsen… we may look back fondly on Wrongfully Accused (1998) but have you even heard of 2001: A Space Travesty which came out the same year as Scary Movie?

Asking why these titans of laughter were struggling to pull polite chuckles from audiences is a tough question indeed. Fresh blood was seemingly the solution, as it was over in the horror genre. With slasher sequels churned out faster and cheaper, audiences were feeling ripped off that Hollywood thought so little of them. Dawson’s Creek (1998–2003) creator Kevin Williamson had captured the voice of a generation and responded with Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997). Both whodunnits featuring smart teenagers acknowledging the repetitive pitfalls of stories before them. Only a couple of years on and the Wayans knew that audiences had plenty to say about this current wave of films. Scary Movie was already going out against another film making a mockery of the Scream franchise… Scream 3 (2000).

Did Scream have a plot? Did I Know What You Did Last Summer make any sense? Don’t think so. And what about the sequel? What the hell was with that fat, white Jamaican kid?—Bobby (Jon Abrahams) in Scary Movie.

That was a joke about I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (1998), and as Roger Ebert claims in his review, “to get your money’s worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises.” The scattershot sketches in subsequent Movie entries make this first Scary Movie feel refreshingly restrained in retrospect. The competent remixing of the two films name-checked by Bobby complement each other so well it becomes a joke in itself that Williamson wrote two completely interchangeable films. Scary Movie follows Cindy (Anna Faris) and her friends receiving threats about their hit-and-run last Halloween as a ghost-faced killer knocks them off one by one. Like Airplane! mimicking Zero Hour! (1957) almost scene for scene, if I hadn’t mentioned the Scream costume, that’s simply the plot of Last Summer.

Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell On Friday the 13th was scripted by Marlon and Shawn Wayans (who both star), alongside writers for The Wayans Bros (1995–99), Buddy Johnson and Phil Beauman. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer are credited because Miramax was developing their own spoof Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween. When Miramax greenlit the Wayans’ script, due to a WGA decision, all six writers were credited for Scary Movie… but “two of the six writers of Scary Movie” didn’t actually write for the produced screenplay. Their script is floating around online. Not great.

Settling on the much tighter Scary Movie, the working title for Scream, was director Keenen Ivory Wayans, eldest brother to Marlon and Shawn. Writing and directing I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1989) and producing Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996) gave him an eye for blaxploitation parodies which recognised a distinct lack of melanin in this era of horror. Black audiences were certainly showing up, but for a hot moment they were sorely unrepresented.

As critic Alex Kirschenbaum addresses in his video essay ‘Disturbing Behavior | Abercrombie Cinema’, the 1990s slashers were consciously responding to the lowbrow horny burnouts of 1980s schlock by presenting promising, intelligent kids with ‘great potential’. The renewed emphasis on their prospective adult lives cut short. Arbitrary killing became socially impactful. The unconscious issue was all the casts were pulled straight from an Abercrombie & Fitch catalogue —young, attractive, and white. Williamson’s two screenplays, directed by Wes Craven and Jim Gillespie respectively, were blinding.

The course correcting between Scream 2 (1998) and I Still Know with the casting of Jada Pinkett, Omar Epps, Elise Neal, Duane Martin, Mekhi Phifer, Brandy, and Jack Black was hilariously transparent. Martin literally replaces the white cameraman for Gale Weathers (Courtney Cox) and then learns about his predecessor’s gruesome death so promptly leaves the movie. A joke heightened in Scary Movie with “reporting from Black TV, white folks are dead, we getting the fuck outta here!”

All that said, it’s not Black Movie, it’s Scary Movie. The filmmakers don’t restrict their black actors, nor white, to one kind of joke. Cindy typing in “white woman in trouble” on her computer and the police instantly arriving did make a young white me laugh a lot, and just as much today. As Regina Hall reminisces, “It wasn’t a white film, it wasn’t a black film. It was just a movie,” and it’s more impressive for the Wayans to reach and entertain such a mass audience. Finally, people of all races can come together and laugh at Carmen Electra farting within the first 30 seconds of the film.

“I was too terrified to try much. There’s a moment where I’m flailing through the cafeteria and that was when I felt like, ‘Maybe I’m starting to get the hang of this!’ But I would go home at the end of the day feeling like, ‘Oh my God. I’m not funny.’” —Anna Faris (Cindy Campbell) in Scary Movie.

Alongside Hall, Faris would be the only other actor to return for three sequels. After their absence in Scary Movie 5 (2013), people have been clamouring for their return more than most legitimate Scream Queens. It is all the more astonishing that this was her first ever leading role, earning her the ‘Breakthrough Female Performance’ award at the 2001 MTV Movie Awards. Back when MTV was a thing, those were bigger than the Academy Awards. Her fresh-faced unease is the secret weapon of Scary Movie as any line in her unpredictable cadence becomes inherently hysterical. When Bobby thought of Cindy while watching The Exorcist (1973), only Faris’ natural charm could sell, “If this is about the time I puked green slime and masturbated with a crucifix, it was my first keg party!”

With the notable black voices behind the film, the ‘default’ cast become noticeably white. Throw in comedy, and the Final Girl is no longer the most boring character as her goody-two-shoes naivety makes her the butt of many jokes. Mocking Jennifer Love Hewitt’s outburst in Last Summer, Cindy screams out “what are you waiting for!?” only for a nearby teacher to take her advice and jump off the school.

Turned down by Alicia Silverstone, Jennifer Coolidge, Jared Leto, Aaliyah, and with a cameo refused by Jamie Lee Curtis, Scary Movie is elevated by the actors committed to potentially embarrassing themselves. An authentic advantage this has over many horrors is that the cast come fully formed; outfits, reactions, and rapport between leading ladies Faris, Hall, and Shannon Elizabeth are all more memorable than most actual slashers. Sequels rotated the cast out for talented comedians like Chris Elliott, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Anthony Anderson, Kevin Hart, and even Leslie Nielsen. Audiences are still begging for the original stars because they are that damn likeable.

The magic in Regina Hall’s performance shines in rewatching Scary Movie, as she accompanies the group scenes, wondering why fans hype her up so much. She’s great so far, but then you get to the Scream 2 movie theatre parody and Hall is a tour de force in stealing the show. Brenda (Hall) is so cartoonishly obnoxious in the brilliant real-world satire of wanting to stab a disruptive cinema-goer, and yet Hall nails every line with such magnetic precision you’re still sad she’s getting shanked by Mother Theresa for ruining Boogie Nights (1997). For each sequel, Hall would have her moment to be centre stage and knock it out of the park every time. You can’t imagine The Ring without hearing “Cindy, the TV’s leaking.”

While memorable in American Pie (1999), Shannon Elizabeth was never the comedian in those scenes. Like Brenda, the airheaded bimbo Buffy transcends clichés with Elizabeth’s confidence in every side-splitting line. Buffy doesn’t just demand her own outrageous death scene, as she persists in mocking the killer while her literal severed head is thrown in the ‘lost & found’ bin. She steals the focus from Greg’s (Lochlyn Munro) death with her overwrought reaction that wins her the pageant. Elizabeth keeps herself busy even in the ensemble moments; in one instance quietly struggling to open a sweet bar for the entire scene.

“Keenen said, ‘I want to shoot what’s on the page, and then I’m going to let you guys do anything you want. At the end of the day, I’m going to use whatever’s the funniest and the best, and I, as the director, will get credit for it.’ I absolutely loved him for that.” —Shannon Elizabeth (Buffy Gilmore) in Scary Movie.

Marlon and Shawn had ample sitcom experience to go all in on selling their jokes, and Abrahams and Munro held up their end and would be welcome for a reunion. Pop culture cameos are topical; Carmen Electra had recently started Playboy and Baywatch (1989–2001), and James Van Der Beek was right in the middle of Dawson’s Creek. Less memorable is David L. Lander parodying his own character from Laverne & Shirley (1976–1983) as Principal Squiggy.

As Scream sequels have soldiered on, Cheri Oteri’s cutting take on Gale Weathers only gets more accurate with her You’re Dead, I’m Rich autobiography. Tony-winning Marissa Jaret Winokur is a one-scene wonder getting stuck in the garage doggy door à la Rose McGowen in Scream with her winking defence “I’m just a day player!” Rick Ducommun as Cindy’s dad has more screen time than Sidney’s in Scream and is better for it. The one-note addict gag still hits even by the end when Cindy tells the police of “the guy who murdered all my friends!” he chimes in, “and the sick bastard planted drugs all over the house!”

Kurt Fuller was game as the Sheriff posing for erotic underwear photos to show a confused Cindy. But he was undermined by his own “Deputy” Doofy (Dave Sheridan) who ramps up the subtle levity of David Arquette’s gawkish sweetness in Scream to a brain-dead man-child who has sex with his vacuum cleaner. Go big or go home and Sheridan auditioned in character and was advised by his agent to return and prove he was mentally all there. Only starring in the first Movie, despite The Usual Suspects (1995) twist ending, Sheridan still attends conventions in costume, dragging along his vacuum for the fans. And yes, Deputies Dewey and Doofy have met.

If, for some reason, you don’t find sex with a vacuum cleaner funny, Scary Movie takes after Airplane! with the rapid-fire jokes-per-minute. The opening sequence alone, Electra finds a variety of weapons to defend herself and picks a banana. Faced with two road signs pointing in opposite directions, she chooses ‘DEATH’ over ‘SAFETY.’ Tripping over, as women in horror are wont to do, she conveniently lands in a chalk body outline. Some of the best jokes are the ones that hit you while you’re still laughing at the last one. Buffy’s iconic reaction after their hit and run “we hit a boot!” is breathlessly chased with Greg’s “where’s the foot!?” Them panicking while ignoring the man they ran over still being alive is funny enough, but then he’s happily waving off their scheming to hide the body as “unnecessary!”

“Unnecessary” might be the gut reaction for audiences at odds with the offensive humour. Strangely, in Roger Ebert’s positive three stars out of four review, he was critical that it lacked “the shocking impact of Airplane!, which had the advantage of breaking new ground.” This being the film that sandwiches Amistad (1997) and Shakespeare in Love (1998) jokes with a dick shoved in one ear and out the other. A quarter of a century later, have we shunned the denigration of certain targets or can we reclaim the laughs for ourselves? Are we too woke for Scary Movie or is comedy now legal?

Harmful stereotypes in fiction can set back real-world progress; we may have had legalised marijuana years ago if not for perpetually stoned Shorty (Marlon Wayans). Much has been said on Ray (Shawn Wayans) with his overwhelming barrage of gay innuendo leading to the punchline of him being straight. A farce on the latent homoeroticism in the two male killers of Scream, is this superficially ridiculous or subversive ridicule? The line between queer-bashing and queer-baiting is wildly ridden. Ray is aware of his own actions with “does this shirt make me look gay?” as he ties it up into a fetching crop top. The key takeaway is that neither Ray nor his friends ever react with explicit judgement or revulsion. Greg asks Ray to stop fingering him at one point but he’s not even that mad. A man doesn’t need to be gay to enjoy ‘It’s Raining Men’ or appreciate a fine ass in the locker room. Also, let’s not forget the entire bit was lifted from the beloved Clue (1985).

Other aspects are tougher to defend. Miss Mann (Jane Trcka) is a one-scene joke; arguably a cartoon exaggeration of steroid abuse with a cis-woman revealing her male genitalia. However funny at the time, it’s aged poorly with anyone needlessly wanting to connect it with the needless controversy over trans-athletes. Marlon Wayans has recently supported trans rights in solidarity with his own son. I doubt he wishes, or ever planned, for this lowbrow gross-out moment to represent real-world issues in any sense. Promising that “I’m always going to use my platform to forward the agenda of love and equality”, we will see if an updated take from Wayans indirectly corrects past misgivings.

I only hope they don’t shy away with fear, but find an inclusive approach to transgressive comedy. Patti Harrison (I Think You Should Leave), Vera Drew (The People’s Joker), and Alex Hood (Haus of Decline) are just three incredible talents that are mining uproarious truths from their lived experiences. And a trans character doesn’t need a soapbox; Miss Mann’s office contained rope bondage instructions on the wall and an SS uniform hung up. It’s a weird scene, so don’t get serious, get weirder.

“Anna getting knocked about might get through if it was really sold as, ‘Hey, it’s a comedy.’ There’s a lot of gay humour that I don’t think would make it into a movie today. I don’t know if you could put an erect penis going through the wall and killing someone today.” —Bo Zenga, producer of Scary Movie.

It’s important to discuss the reception of these jokes for any film which proved influential. Ask anyone who grew up in the 2000s who will likely attribute yelling “Whassup!!” to Scary Movie when it was a topical reference to a Budweiser advert. Getting the killer so high his knock-off Ghostface mask turns into a goofy smile with his tongue sticking out proved so synonymous with Scream that when the video game Dead By Daylight included Ghostface, they later added that Scary Movie mask alongside it. How ingrained the parody had become with the source material, my friend and I had a Scream marathon, and he was convinced through each and every film who the killer would be, only to realise he was misremembering the joke reveal in Scary Movie.

On a $19M budget, Scary Movie would become the ninth highest-grossing film of the year domestically with $278M. It not only demolished Scream 3, which earned $161M, but outperformed the two previous entries and Last Summer. Hall reminisces proudly, “It was huge to have an African-American director open an R-rated comedy that was that big.” To counter what Ebert asserted, how can it be that more audiences were turning up for the parody than the original slasher? Was it a case of black audiences supporting a film that amplified their voices, or was simply everyone so eager to laugh at the current trends of horror?

They chased that success and those trends with four sequels despite the original tagline of ‘No Mercy. No Shame. No Sequel.’ Organically setting up Scary Movie 2 (2001) with ‘We Lied.’ Shameless would be exceedingly accurate as no follow-up fared financially or critically close to the first. Friedberg and Seltzer would seize the opportunity, like parasites, to leech off a franchise they didn’t start with errant spin-offs like Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), and Disaster Movie (2008).

In every sense of the word, they sucked so hard they killed the brand and the genre as a whole. Marlon Wayans would attempt A Haunted House (2013) and A Haunted House 2 (2014) like an EMT desperately hoping to resuscitate their patient. It was time to call time of death… until Marlon, Shawn, and Keenen Wayans announced that Scary Movie 6 is due for release 12 June 2026.

Blumhouse, A24, any film by Jordan Peele, there’s a whole lot of “elevated horror” to punch up at in this modern age. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece; Scary Movie sure isn’t. But we don’t need elevated comedies. Just make us laugh.

USA | 2000 | 88 MINUTES | 2.39:1 | COLOUR | ENGLISH

Cast & Crew

director: Keenen Ivory Wayans.
writers: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer.
starring: Jon Abrahams, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, Anna Faris, Kurt Fuller, Regina Hall, Lochlyn Munro, Cheri Oteri, Dave Sheridan, Marlon Wayans & Shawn Wayans.