Scary Movie, 2000 - Scary Movie 2 - 2001

I'd seen Scary Movie when it came out in the theaters last year, and I loved it. I thought there was some disgustingly funny humor in the film, and I was glad to see Keenen Ivory Wayans back where he belonged.

He'd drifted, you see. The poor guy thought he was an action star for a little while, with A Low Down Dirty Shame and Most Wanted and The Glimmer Man. Sheesh. But, I will say that the 90's was an era in which lots of people thought they were action stars, or could be, so it was just par for the course.

The Wayans', all five of them, are comedians, pure and simple. Keenan's career started, for rea, with Hollywood Shuffle directed by comedy favorite Robert Townsend. In 1988, Keenan got his opportunity to direct, in what was one of the funniest films in the late 80's, I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, in which he also starred, along side his brother Damon Wayans. It provided the launchpad for what would become one of the funnier late night television programs since the beginning of SNL, In Living Color.

It would be quite some time later that he would begin, again, making money as a director. Almost 10 years later.

After a rash of copycat horror flicks flooded the market post-Scream, a spoof on horror films was just what the public was looking for. Other spoof films, most of them starring Leslie Nielson, had spotted the screen, but did not take the risks that the Wayans' were willing to.

Scary Movie is a conglomerate of a number of different films, but specifically the Scream movies. There's some Usual Suspects thrown in, some I Know What You Did Last Summer, some Matrix, but it relies heavily upon the Wes Craven/Kevin Williamson films.

By far, in this film, there are some of the most disgusting scenes ever put to film, truly bad taste comedy that I loved, from the get-go.

It has a pretty decent cast, too. None of those crap television actors like Jennifer Love-Hewitt or Katie Holmes or James van Der Beek... crap like that. They did cast people who looked similar, though, because that's the joke. Shannon Elizabeth, Ana Faris, Dave Sheridan, Jon Abrahams, Regina Hall and Lochlyn Munro all fill out a great cast. They looked like they were actually enjoying themselves during the shoot, which is always great.

They also cast two of the Wayan's brothers, Shawn and Marlon, both of which were pretty much out of the television picture by the time this film rolled around, and both of which were two of six writers on the film.

Phil Beauman and Buddy Johnson are two of the other writers on this film, both of which worked on a new film coming out later this year called Not Another Teen Movie. Should be interesting. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer helped write the comedy spoof Spy Hard. The duo are also working on the scripts for Liberace and H.R. Pufnstuf, both slated for 2002.

A well rounded writing team, which comedies like this need. Groups of people, like this, always create better comedies. Just look at the Zucker brothers movies, with the leagues of writers that they use. I was pleased to see a large group credited with this film.

The production on 1 is ten times better than 2. It really looks like they took the time to make a flat out great movie, the first time around.

Part 2 had a huge amount of writers, including the two Wayans brothers, a third Wayans, Craig Wayans, and 4 others. Alison Fouse, Michael Anthony Snowden, Dave Polsky and Greg Grabianski, all first time writers, and it shows. This film, Part 2, is not half as good or smart as the first film. Part 2 was pretty much just a conglomerate of films, pieced together to make jokes. There was a very threadbare plot that incorporated The Haunting, Exorcist, Mission Impossible II, Hollow Man, House on Haunted Hill, Poltergeist and a few others thrown in there. I did not like part 2 as much as part 1, but, again, there were some really funny parts to 2 that made up for the jigsaw puzzle of a film.

Most of the same actors are in 2. Marlon and Shawn are back, along with Anna Faris and Regina Hall. Also, we have a slightly more celebrity type cast, with Tim Curry, James Woods, Chris Elliot, Andy Richter and Tori Spelling (who must really be hard up for work, jesus, I won't spoil it for you, but she must be HARD up for work).

One of the things that fascinates me about these productions is the amount of Producers. Part 1 had 14 producers, including the three Wayans brothers, Harvey and Bob Weinstein and nine others. Jesus!

Not much to comment about on these two films. They're spoofs. If you enjoy gross humor, you'll dig these films, especially part 1. Part 2, eh, I could take it or leave it, and it's not something I would watch over and over again, for laughs. I hope the Wayans brothers do not attempt to make a third film because, regardless of the financial draw that the second one will have at the box office... a third one would be completely and utterly useless.