Review of Scary Movie

Introduction

Gross out comedy hit the big time in the late 90s, after the success of movies such as American Pie. Another good comedy source was the spoof, so here is a mixture of the two...with lots of added raunchiness.

The plot of Scary Movie (or make that agenda) is simple: rip off as many horror movies and pop culture references as possible in 85 minutes. It`s main `parody base` is Scream, hence the appearance of Ghostface, who is killing off local teens, causing mass hysteria and coverage from news teams, including that of Gail Hailstorm (who of course is ripping off Courteney Cox Arquette`s character in the Scream trilogy).

As well as the serial killer premise, there is also a whole host of other goodies to watch out for, such as a blatant bullet-time parody of The Matrix and the "I see dead people" line from M. Night Shyamalan`s The Sixth Sense.

This was written by Shawn (who plays Ray) and Marlon Wayans (who plays Shorty), both of whom have some serious (and rewarding) acting experience under their belts, and it was directed by their older brother, Keenan Ivory Wayans, who also has some acting experience.

Video

It is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, with the palette used well. The visuals are deep, and the colours varied, and there are no compression signs. The print is always crisp and clear, like most Buena Vista titles.

Like most spoofs, Scary Movie does boast quite a few visual jokes, and there is a good contrast between the different scenes. And, since I suppose you could call this a slasher movie, there are quite a few murders on screen, each with a unique style, some mimicking Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and others unique to the Scary Movie world.

Audio

A DD 5.1 track is on offer here, and it features a crisp and clear main audio stream, complimenting the dialogue well. However, the surrounds don`t have an incredibly active life - although certain scenes make use of them, they appear to be slightly flat.

Quibble aside, the dialogue is sharp and on the ball, and is clever in places, but slightly excessive in others.

Features

The extras include:

Behind the Scenes Featurette - with a running time of just over 6 minutes, this is a brief, yet informative, insight into the production. It focuses on how the Wayans came up with the idea, and a few soundbites from the cast.

Deleted Scenes - there are 6 scenes here, starting with the best: `Hop-A-Long Shorty`, an amusing scene showing how the teens are handling the presence of a serial killer! There are 2 more original scenes, involving Gail setting up a surveillance camera and the subsequent scene of Shorty watching the footage gathered from it. The last 3 are just extensions from scenes already in the movie, which add little.

Theatrical Trailer - self-explanatory.

Sneak Peeks - 3 trailers of other Buena Vista releases: Gone In 60 Seconds, Scream 3 and Coyote Ugly.

DVD-ROM Features - a fairly good selection here.

The menus are animated visually, with some soundbites from the movie, and as always, provide chapter selection and language setup. There is also a booklet containing production notes inside the case.

Conclusion

The movie is original (or make that was, since its release, numerous tacky comedies have tried to repeat its success), and although it overdoes it in places, there is no denying that Scary Movie does have its finger on the pulse so to speak.

Keenan Ivory Wayans directs the movie intelligently, emphasing certain things in the foreground and background well.

Disc wise, everything is solid apart from a slightly lacklustre audio track and fairly sparse extras. Where`s the commentary track or more detailed documentary?

Overall, this is a good package, definitely worth a rent, and it wouldn`t be that bad an idea to purchase it either. Sorted!