For those of you who missed all the previous “Scary Movies,” do not worry. You will not be lost in the most recent addition to this wacky series.
Also, in order to understand how to judge “Scary Movie 4,” I have developed an equation that should accurately assign the correct number of stars to a parody movie such as “Scary Movie 4.” What it basically determines is that a “Scary Movie” is only as good as each movies it parodies.
“The Grudge,” the story of a woman (originally played by Sarah Michelle Gellar) who finds herself haunted by the dead son who was killed by his father while caring for a catatonic women: 2 Stars.
“War of the Worlds,” another Speilberg alien movie in which the aliens come down in giant tri-pods (such a filmmaker thing) to ravage Earth for resources (originally staring the now crazy Tom Cruise) as a dad who was never there: 3 Stars.
“Saw” and “Saw II,” Jigsaw traps two men in a bathroom forcing one of them to kill to the other to survive. The sequel takes a different approach with the same psycho in a mask playing games with a house full of people who have drug addictions: A Combined 2 Stars.
“Brokeback Mountain,” a love story between two gay ranchers in the 1960’s who can’t express their love for one another: 4 Stars.
“The Village,” the move everyone thought would be scary, set in a late 19th century village that is haunted by weird creatures on the outskirts. The main character Lucius Hunt (Joaquin Phoenix) wants to leave the village and is egged on by an attractive blind woman Ivy, who has a sense about things: 1.5 Stars
Average score: 2.5 Stars.
The bottom line is that, on the scale of the previous “Scary Movies,” the fourth one does pretty well. The truth is the movie will be much funnier to those of you who actually sat through all the bad movies above. It will almost make it seem worth it to have spent the ten dollars to see “The Grudge.”
“Scary Movie 4,” is directed by Adam Zucker, who serves as the reigning king of screwball movies thanks to his past hits of “Airplane,” and some of the Naked Gun movies. The film features the usual cast, minus the Wayans brothers, who haven’t been involved since “Scary Movie 2.”
Cindy Campbell (Anna Harris) begins this movie by moving in as a nurse for a catatonic women, only to find herself haunted by a creepy Japanese boy. Campbell instantly falls for her neighbor Tom, (aka. Tom Cruise’s character in “War of the Worlds”). From this point on the world is ravished by the tri-pods and insanity ensues. Regina Hall returns as Brenda Meeks, the black girl who tries to stay away from all the “crazy white people,” but who keeps getting sucked back in.
Like in all other “Scary Movies,” expect near-vomit moments, like when Cindy accidentally washes the catatonic women in urine. There are also notable cameos from Hue Heffner’s girlfriends, Dr. Phil and Shaq, which just add to the hilarity of the film.
The film steps beyond a simple parody film, venturing into parodies of real life events.
Leslie Nielsen plays the president in the movie, and one point he is seen trying to break away from a book reading at an elementary school classroom, as the world around him gets destroyed.
This movie will give you the experience of all the year’s bad scary films, in one. With the new influx of scary films, I think we can expect many more “Scary Movies” in the future.
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