By the end of the 1990’s, the big slasher movie boom had all but run out of steam, allowing the sub-genre to be ripe for spoofing. In came the Wayans family, all of whom had had previous experience with spoofs in the eighties with their classic “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka!” Keenan Ivory Wayans took the lead directing “Scary Movie” for Dimension Films, which not only goofed on many of the films released during that period, but had a good time with it, too.
While “Scary Movie” promised “no sequels,” we did get them because—it’s Hollywood, after all. We received about four sequels to be exact, and they all arrived with very diminishing returns. Sadly, the more the movies went on, the worse they became, so it’s ironic that the series gets worse in order of the films’ release.
Here’s my ranking of the series from best to worst.
Scary Movie (2000)
Not surprisingly, the first movie is pretty much the best one. Anna Faris’ debut as Cindy Campbell, the protagonist of the slick and funny “Scream” spoof is hysterical, and the Wayans’ have a great time spoofing everything from this decade. There are great takes on mainly “Scream,” but they also spoof “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “The Sixth Sense,” “The Blair Witch Project,” and “The Usual Suspects,” only to name a few.
A lot of the gags are still hilarious as the Wayans enlist some great comic talent to fill in for the major roles. For example Cheri O’Teri doing a take on Courtney Cox’s character is just hysterical, and where the original had Henry Winkler as the principal, David Lander appears as Principal Squiggy. Although it kind of falls apart in the finale, it’s still damn funny.
Scary Movie 2 (2001)
Not as good as the original, but the Wayans do give a good effort here, this time leaning in on the supernatural horror movies. They tackle everything from “The Haunting,” “Thirteen Ghosts,” “Poltergeist” and “What Lies Beneath” just to name a few. There’s also some great comedic work by David Cross and Chris Elliot. Mainly though, the movie squeezes by thanks to the hysterical prologue where director Wayans stages a laugh out loud spoof of “The Exorcist.”
The combination of James Woods and Andy Richter as the pair of priests is priceless, and Woods displays shocking comic timing in his short time on screen. As for the rest of it, it’s a solid sequel that doesn’t hold up as well as the original, but is still worth a laugh or two.
Scary Movie 3 (2003)
Dimension Films did the Wayans family dirty. They pretty much took the whole “Scary Movie” series from them and pushed on without them. The reins are handed over to David Zucker who delivers a funny follow up to the original films, but they’re still pretty much lacking in what made the first two films so unique. The series digs more in to non-horror fare, offering up spoofs of “8 Mile,” and “The Matrix,” while also satirizing fare like “The Ring,” and “Signs.” Primarily the writers dig at “The Ring” giving Cindy a child, while new cast member Simon Rex garners most of the laughs. It’s not a great sequel, but it definitely has its moments.
Scary Movie 4 (2006)
It’s kind of sad that this is the final misadventure of Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks, because “Scary Movie 4” is funniest when it’s focusing on co-star Craig Bierko. Bierko does a hysterical impression of Tom Cruise in a spoof of “War of the Worlds,” and is the center of the best of the film’s material. Cindy’s plot is sadly messy, sparse, and lacking in a lot of laughter in spite of the best efforts by folks like Bill Pullman and the returning Chris Elliot.
Poor Anna Faris almost seems to play second banana this time around to Bierko who really carries this sequel. The movie truly shines when we follow his character Tom Ryan, while Faris and even Leslie Nielsen take a back seat. Hell, the movie even ends on Bierko mocking Tom Cruise’s infamous “Oprah” appearance.
Scary Movie V (2013)
This is “Scary Movie” sans Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks, and just about everything that made the previous movies so fun. Rather than leaning in to horror satire, this leans more in to tabloid fodder, thus making the movie painfully dated. Former Disney star Ashley Tisdale picks up the reins for Anna Faris, and falls terribly short of her predecessor. This is a pale imitation of the previous films spoofing the likes of found footage films and James Wan based horror like Paranormal Activity, Mama, Sinister, Insidious, as well as Evil Dead, and The Cabin in the Woods. It’s often unfunny, and all the gags miss by miles. It’s probably a good thing we won’t see another “Scary Movie” for a good, long while… or at least until Dimension gets the bright idea for a reboot.