Scary Movie

Scary Movie is a 2000 horror comedy film directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, as part of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It is an American dark comedy which heavily parodies the horror, slasher, and mystery genres. Several mid- and late-90s films and TV shows are spoofed, most predominantly Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, along with The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project and Dawson's Creek.

The tagline reads "No mercy. No shame. No sequel.", the last reference being an ironic nod towards the tendency of popular horror movies becoming cash cow franchises. 2001 saw the release of Scary Movie 2, with the appropriate tagline "We lied". Later video covers of the first film frequently drop the tagline's third statement. The film's original titles were, "Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell on Friday the 13th", and "Slasher 911". Scary Movie was followed by four more sequels Scary Movie 2 (2001), Scary Movie 3 (2003), Scary Movie 4 (2006), and Scary Movie 5 (2013). Its title serves as a homage to the production title of "Scream," which was also released through Dimension Films.

Plot
An 18-year-old girl named Drew Decker is alone in her house one night when she receives a call from an unnamed man. After being questioned about scary movies, she is attacked by the killer named Ghostface, who chases her all over the house and outside and rips her clothes off. She continues to run through the sprinklers in only her bra and thong panties but is stabbed in the breast (revealing an implant) and knocked out by a gray car driven by her father (who was getting oral sex and didn't notice her.) Stunned by the impact, Drew is caught and murdered.

The next day, Cindy Campbell arrives at school. She meets up with her boyfriend, Bobby Prinze, and friends, Brenda Meeks, Ray Wilkins, Greg Phillipe, and Buffy Gilmore. News teams, including reporter Gail Hailstorm, are there to interview Drew's classmates. Cindy realizes that Drew's murder occurred exactly one years after they accidentally killed a man during a wild car ride and dumped his body off the pier. One night, Cindy is attacked by Ghostface, but she called the police in time and Ghostface escapes. Bobby soon arrives with the same gloves and knife as Ghostface, and is arrested. The next day, everyone in the group receives a warning note from someone who claims to know about the man they killer. Later, they are killed one by one: First, Greg is killed while watching Buffy win the beauty pageant. Next, Buffy is killed when she plays a game of "Psycho Killer". Then, Ray is killed in the bathroom stall. Ghostface attempts to kill Brenda during the movie, but after Brenda's obnoxious behavior during the film, fellow patrons kill her instead.

Cindy throws a party, Ghostface appears and starts killing guests, starting with Tina, an obese girl that gets crushed by the garage door when trying to escape through the doggy flap, imitating Tatum Riley's death from Scream. Bobby is released from jail, then shows up at the party to speak with Cindy. Cindy is drunk and goes upstairs with Bobby and start having sex. Afterwards, Ghostface stabs Bobby and disappears. As Cindy tends to Bobby's wounds, Bobby shoots Shorty (who is stoned), and reveals he was never stabbed. Then Ray arrives, alive with a bandage on his head, and says that he and Bobby are copying Ghostface. When Cindy requests for a motive, Bobby says that they don't need one, because Scream had no plot, and other horror films also lack logically coherent elements like plot of motive. Bobby sarcastically says that he was driven to it by lack of sex and that he and Ray are homosexual lovers who will start a new life once they kill Cindy, (to which Ray denies being gay) and that they'll get away with it because they're merely copycatting the real Ghostface killer.

To conceal what happened, they decide to stab each other so that the authorities will believe they are victims of the real Ghostface killer. However, after Ray has fatally stabbed Bobby, the real Ghostface killer appears and stabs Ray, who collapses on top of Bobby. Ghostface attacks Cindy, but she manages to beat him. the police arrive and take Cindy to the police station, where they find out that Buffy's mentally challenged detective brother, Doofy, was actually faking his disability and is the actual Ghostface killer. After Doofy escapes with Gail, the sheriff, and Cindy find Doofy's disguise in the street. Cindy looks to the sky screaming and is run over by a gray car. As the credits roll, Shorty, mimicking Randy Meeks' rules of survival in the "Scream" series, explains through videocassette that he didn't make it, but provides rules for surviving a so-called situation, which are actually instructions for surviving a snatch-and-run.

Cast

 * Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell
 * Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks
 * Shawn Wayans as Ray Wilkins
 * Marlon Wayans as Shorty Meeks
 * Jon Abrahams as Bobby Prinze
 * Shannon Elizabeth as Buffy Gilmore
 * Lochlyn Munro as Greg Phillipe
 * Cheri Oteri as Gail Hailstorm
 * David Sheridan as Doofy Gilmore
 * Carmen Electra as Drew Decker
 * Rick Ducommun as Mr. Campbell
 * Kurt Fuller as The Sheriff
 * Jayne Trcka as Miss Mann
 * Kelly Coffield Park as Teacher
 * David L. Lander as Principal "Squiggy" Squiggman
 * Andrea Nemeth as Heather
 * Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tina
 * Keenen Ivory Wayans as Slave
 * Jim Shepard as Old Man in Theater
 * Doreen Ramus as Old Woman in Theater
 * Jessica Van der Veen as Woman in Theater
 * Ted Cole as Young Man In Theatre
 * James Van Der Beek (uncredited) as Dawson Leery

Parodies

 * Scream - The main parody, characters Bobby and Ray remark how Scream didn't have a plot. The killer is Ghostface.
 * Scream 2 - The theater scene with Brenda. Also, Ray being stabbed through the ear with the killer's penis (parody of Scream 2 character Phil Stevens being stabbed in the head by Ghostface while pressing his head against the bathroom stall to eavesdrop)
 * Scream 3 - Shorty filming his tape How to Survive a Trilogy
 * I Know What You Did Last Summer - Main Parody, The Killer uses a Hook, He is also similiar to The Fisherman. When the friends acidently run the fisherman over, The notes which say "I Know What You Did Last Halloween".
 * Halloween - When Cindy looks outside and the killer is looking at her and when she looks back and he is gone. Also at the end, when the killer has gotten up and walked away after being shot through a window.
 * The Matrix - Cindy vs. The Killer
 * The Usual Suspects - When Cindy drops her mug after finding out that Doofy is the killer
 * The Sixth Sense - "I see dead people..."
 * The Blair Witch Project - Gail and Kenny running in the woods and Gail is talking to the camera afterwards. The Heather character is named after Heather in Blair Witch.
 * I Still Know What You Did Last Summer - The character of Shorty Meeks is a parody of Jack Black's comic relief character Titus Telesco from I Still Know What You Did Last Summer. Shorty's hair, clothes, drug addiction and personality serve as a parody of the character. Also Shorty in the basement getting stoned surrounded by a recreated greenhouse of marijuana where his friends are brutally slashed to death serves as a parody of Titus' furnace room greenhouse and his brutal slashing. Bobby and Ray both insult Jack Black's character in their motive explanation with Cindy at the end.
 * The Exorcist - The "Look, if it's about that time I puked green slime and masturbated with a crucifix, it was my first keg party, Bobby!" line. Cindy make "Exorcist" roars while having sex with Bobby; The Exorcist is also the opening parody of Scary Movie 2.
 * The Shining - When Buffy is about to be killed, the killer whispers the word "Redrum".
 * Two of a Kind - When Greg is getting killed, the "acting" scene is the same as the one with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta.
 * American Pie - As Cindy is having sex on top of Bobby, she starts to get aggressive and says "Say my name!"
 * American Beauty - When Bobby is on the bed and Cindy is covered with semen on the ceiling like Angela in AB covered in rose petals.
 * Drop Dead Gorgeous - The beauty pageant scene with Buffy.
 * Kazaam - When asked what her favorite horror movie was, Drew answers "Kazaam"; being told that that isn't a horror movie, she replies, "Yeah, well, you haven't seen Shaq act."
 * Amistad - One of the previews at the theater is Amistad 2. (It is possible they used this to parody answering with Wes Craven's 'Wishmaster".
 * Budweiser "What's Up?" Campaign- When the Killer first calls Shorty on the phone.
 * Titanic - "I'm the king of the world!" line and scene spoofed in the Amistad 2 trailer.
 * Friday the 13th - When stoned, Ghost-Face imitates Jason Voorhees' signature breath in order to scare Shorty and his friends.
 * Urban Legend - Heather and her unseen boyfriend parked out in the woods, Heather's boyfriend had stepped out about 5 minutes prior to Gail and Kenny's arrival informing her that her boyfriend has most likely been killed and she's going to be slaughtered next. This plays upon the Damon Brooks and Natalie Simon hanging tree scene from the hit 1998 slasher film. However in Jamie Blanks' 1998 horror film Damon was merely hitting upon Natalie in his parked car in the woods, Natalie was rebuffing him, Damon had stepped out to urinate and was set up to hang from his car, Natalie was only attacked but escaped seeing Damon's smashed up, hanging corpse and Heather was attacked and stabbed to death. The character Brenda Meeks is also named after the female killer of the film Brenda Bates.
 * Halloween H2O: 20 Years Later - Buffy's death scene, Buffy attempts to flee the killer and falls gruesomely breaking her leg before being pinned by the killer. The leg break and out of screen stabbing motion of the meat clever parodies Jodi-Lynn O' Keefe short chase and death by Michael Myers in Steve Miner's hit 1998 slasher film sequel. Also, Greg's balcony death which is largely a parody of Ryan Philippe's balcony death from I Know What You Did Last Summer is also a parody of Halloween H20. The beginning scene of H20 features the victim Marion Whittington before a living room window overlooking her house and the police signal them whilst sparring with the killer. She also struggles with the knife to prevent the killer from stabbing her and upon being turned around has throat slit in the exact slow motion as Greg does at Buffy's Pageant.

Rating
In British Columbia, the film Scary Movie was given an 18A rating by the provincial FCO, but was re-rated on appeal by the Motion Picture and Liquor Appeal Board to a 14A. This resulted in a record number of complaints to the British Columbia Film Classification Office from parents who felt the film should have been rated 18A. Many parents wrote letters to their local newspaper warning others that the film may be inappropriate for their fourteen-year-olds. Theatre owners complained about the inappropriate rating as well.

Reception
The film received mixed reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, 53% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 109 reviews.

Joe Leydon of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a positive review, remarking that the film was "unbounded by taste, inhibition or political correctness" and that "the outer limits of R-rated respectability are stretched, if not shredded" by the movie. By contrast, Roger Ebert did not find the film as innovative, saying that the film lacked "the shocking impact of Airplane!, which had the advantage of breaking new ground." However, Ebert did give the film 3 stars out of 4, saying it "delivers the goods", calling the film a "raucous, satirical attack on slasher movies."

Bob Longino of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution felt that the film's crude humor detracted from the film, saying that Scary Movie "dives so deep into tasteless humor that it's a wonder it landed an R rating instead of an NC-17."[8] Other reviewers, such as A.O. Scott of the New York Times, argued that the jokes were "annoying less for their vulgarity than for their tiredness."[4] Scott remarked in his review, "Couch-bound pot smokers, prison sex, mannish female gym teachers, those Whassssup Budweiser commercials -- hasn't it all been done to death?"

Posters
Scary Movie has 3 posters. The first poster features the characters Greg Phillipe, Drew Decker, Ray Wilkins, Shorty Meeks, The Killer and Buffy Gilmore. The second poster features the same cast but with the addition of Cindy Campbell and Bobby Prinze, and the killer is absent on the poster. The poster for the original score is the same as the second poster, but featuring Gail Hailstorm in the cast.

Trivia

 * Cameo (James Van Der Beek): Van Der Beek appears at the window when Cindy and Bobby are about to make love, and "I Don't Want to Wait" by Paula Cole plays in the background, which is the theme to "Dawson's Creek" which stars James Van Der Beek.
 * Casting directors Mary Vernieu and Anne McCarthy left the film after both a lengthy casting period and over differences with the director. A third casting director, Christine Sheaks, was brought aboard. Sheaks had little to do, since most of the film was cast by Vernieu and McCarthy.
 * "Scary Movie" was the working title of "Scream", the main movie parodied.
 * The cameraman played by Dan Joffre is called Kenny. Not only is this a reference to "Scream", where the cameraman (W. Earl Brown) in the movie had the same name, but is also the last name of Francis Kenny, Scary Movie's cinematographer.
 * Released by the same studio (Dimension Films) as the "Scream" films.
 * In one of the first scenes in Cindy's bedroom. She says, "Would like to have a little bump-bump?" This line was originally written for "Scream", but it was later *changed to "Would you like to have a little raw footage?"
 * The principal (Principal Squiggman) is played by David L. Lander, who played greaser Squiggy on "Laverne & Shirley" (there's a bottle of Schotz beer, from the brewery where Laverne and Shirley worked, in his office). The principal in *"Scream", which "Scary Movie" parodies, was played by Henry Winkler, who played greaser Fonzie on "Happy Days".
 * The lunch room menu at the high school reads "Same Old Shit".
 * The name of the high school is "B.A. Corpse High School".
 * In the scene outside the Sheriff's dept with Gail Hailstorm reporting, the Steveston County Sheriff's Dept sign shows it was founded in 2017.
 * When Ray and Brenda are in the movie theatre, the preview screen reads: "The following preview has been approved for immature audiences only.
 * The role of Brenda was originally offered to Aaliyah but she turned it down.
 * Jennifer Coolidge was offered the role of Miss Mann, but she turned it down.
 * After the release of "Scary Movie 2", the covers for Scary Movie were modified - *the "NO SEQUELS" is marked over with a large red X.
 * Director Cameo (Keenen Ivory Wayans): the slave in the Amistad 2 trailer.
 * The script for "Scary Movie" is actually a combination of two scripts Dimension Films bought in 1998: "Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell On Friday The 13th" written by the Wayans brothers and Phil Beauman; and "Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween" by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. (The latter two are the "two of the six writers of Scary Movie" who went on to make "Date Movie", "Epic Movie" and other sub-standard parody movies.)
 * Jared Leto was offered to play Bobby during the early stages of casting. He eventually declined, in favor of doing "Requiem for a Dream" which also starred Marlon Wayans.
 * Alicia Silverstone was offered the lead role of Cindy Campbell, but she turned it down.
 * In the theatrical trailer, one scene shows a close up of a character holding up a chip and saying, "This stuff is good!". In the R-rated version it's revealed the character is actually holding up a joint.
 * In the scene where Cindy is in Miss Mann's office, there is a Nazi SS uniform hanging to the right of Miss Mann.
 * Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Lochlyn Munro all later appeared together in "White Chicks."
 * The original script featured a cameo role for Jamie Lee Curtis as Cindy would discover her hiding in a closet in her house while the killer was chasing her up the stairs.
 * In a deleted scene, Shorty and Brenda have "safe" sex while holding firearms. The scene was eventually cut, and the two were re-written as siblings while Ray is Brenda's boyfriend.
 * Most of the brand names seen in the movie have been slightly changed. For example, when the killer is telling jokes, there is a character wearing a t-shirt with "Toke" written in a can printed on it referring to Coke. All of the drinks seen in the garage refrigerator have been misspelled, such as "Cult" instead of "Colt."
 * This is the only film in the "Scary Movie" franchise without a supernatural element.
 * Buffy's last name is Gilmore, a reference to the series Gilmore Girls that premiered in the same year of the film.
 * Christopher Masterson who played Buddy in Scary Movie 2, makes a cameo in this one. He can be seen in the scene where Cindy receives the anonymous note in class.