Scary Movie *** (2000, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Jon Abrahams, Marlon Wayans) – Classic Movie Review 621

A serial killer stalks a group of American high-school idiots, a year after they killed a man by accident. Yes, it’s also the plot of I Know What You Did Last Summer!

Director Keenen Ivory Wayans’s 2000 hugely popular horror spoof is tacky, very non-PC (and defiantly so) and made so crudely that it could be Carry On Screaming. But it’s also sometimes very funny and inventive, and occasionally even hilarious in places.

It sometimes seems so near the originals that you think you’re actually watching Scream, Halloween and I Know What You Did Last Summer all rolled into one. Scary Movie is rude, crude and patchy, and burdened with lots of failed gags, but it’s lifted by some really big laughs.

It’s also lifted by some very game, eager-to-please performances by Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams, Rick Ducommun, Carmen Electra, Regina Hall, Shannon Elizabeth, Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans, all of whom turn out to be quite funny people.

Shawn and Marlon Wayans are the writers, along with Buddy Johnson, Phil Beauman, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

Scary Movie took £10million in the UK and $157million in the US on a cost of under $20million. They promised no sequels, but that turned out to be the biggest laugh of all, as one followed immediately in 2001 and another in 2003, another in 2006 and another after a long gap in 2013. So, that’s right, we’re up to Scary Movie 5 by 2013.

© Derek Winnert 2014 Classic Movie Review 621

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com