Scary Movie

Parodies

Much of the humor of Scary Movie relies upon specific references to other contemporary films. Roger Ebert remarked in his review that "to get your money's worth, you need to be familiar with the various teenage horror franchises."^[13] The two films on which the script is most heavily based are Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) (both written by Kevin Williamson), using the general narrative arcs of both films, and featuring comedic recreations of key scenes.^[14] The backstory in which the teenagers are responsible for accidentally killing a man following a beauty pageant recalls the same plot point in I Know What You Did Last Summer.^[13] Major references to Scream include the identity of Ghostface and the murder of Drew Decker in the opening scene, a reference to the opening scene of Scream in which the same thing occurs to the character of Casey Becker, played by Drew Barrymore.^[13] Additionally, the characters of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer are mirrored in the film, and the title "Scary Movie" was originally the working title for the project that would eventually become Scream.^[14] At one point the title of this film was going to be "Scream If You Still Know What I Did Last Halloween".^[15] Although the Ghostface mask and costume was a replica, the original costume from the Scream series was used in the scene where Cindy notices the killer outside of the school.

Many scenes and jokes parody or reference other films outside the horror film genre. The fight between Cindy and the killer heavily mimics The Matrix, particularly its use of bullet time.^[13] The final scene, in which Doofy stops feigning his disability and drives away with Gail, is a takeoff of the final scene of The Usual Suspects.^[16][17] When asked about her favorite horror movie, Drew answers "Kazaam" due to Shaquille O'Neal's acting.^[13] Cindy becomes aggressive and roars "Say my name!" during sex with Bobby, similar to the sex scene between Michelle and Jim in American Pie.^[17] The movie theater scene shows a screening of Shakespeare in Love and a trailer for a fictitious sequel to Amistad titled Amistad II with elements of Titanic also appears in the movie theater scene.^[15] When Gail and her cameraman are attacked by the killer, she partakes in a parody of the famous scene in The Blair Witch Project where Hailstorm records an apology to her friends' parents.

The film also makes other pop culture references beyond the scope of film, such as the parodied version of Sarah Michelle Gellar's character Helen Shivers in I Know What You Did Last Summer being named Buffy, which is a reference to her character in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Others include a brief references to Dawson's Creek, Candid Camera, Big Momma's House, Candyman, Friday the 13th and a parody of the Whassup? ad campaign by Budweiser.^[16][15]

The tagline for the movie's poster was "No Mercy. No Shame. No Sequel." When Scary Movie 2 was released a year later, the tagline for the sequel was "We Lied."^[18]

Films parodied

• Scream (1996):^[14] Main parody
  • Scream 2 (1997): Brenda's death parodies Maureen Evans' in the opening theater scene, and Cindy's chase scene references CiCi Cooper throwing a bicycle down the stairs, as well as the killer falling over a chair from Sidney Prescott's chase scene.
  • Scream 3 (2000): Post video of Shorty giving advice what to do in a sequel.
• I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997):^[14] Main parody
• The Sixth Sense (1999):^[14][15] Character of Shorty says "I see dead people".
• The Blair Witch Project (1999):^[14][15] Gail Hailstorm references famous "I'm so scared" scene.
• Halloween (1978): The scene in which Cindy spots the killer outside her classroom window is a direct parody to the scene from Halloween, in which Laurie Strode first spots Michael Myers outside her classroom window.^[14][15]
• Friday the 13th (1980):^[19] Killer says "ch ch ch ah ah ah", a famous sound effect in the Friday the 13th franchise.
• The Shining (1980):^[14] Killer says "Redrum".
• The Matrix (1999):^[14][15] Climax references several fight scenes.
• The Usual Suspects (1995):^[14] Ending parodies the twist ending.
• Psycho (1960):^[14] Bobby references the Norman Bates line when he says "we all go a little crazy sometimes", imitating Billy Loomis in Scream.
• Candyman (1992): Ray tells Cindy that she "branded [Bobby] the Candyman" after Bobby was released from jail.^{[citation needed]}

Home media

Scary Movie was released on DVD and VHS on December 12, 2000, by Disney's Buena Vista Home Entertainment (under the Dimension Home Video banner).^[21] In 2007, it was released on Blu-ray.^[22]

In late 2005, the Weinstein brothers left Disney-owned Miramax to form The Weinstein Company, and took the Dimension Films label with them. Disney/Miramax retained ownership of the films previously released under the Dimension banner, with this including all of Dimension's releases between their 1992 foundation and September 2005.^[23] Disney then sold off Dimension's former parent label Miramax to private equity firm Filmyard Holdings in 2010, and Qatari company beIN purchased Miramax from them in 2016. In 2020, ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Skydance) bought a 49% stake in Miramax from beIN.^[24] This deal gave Paramount the rights to Miramax's library and Dimension's pre-October 2005 library, and the rights to release future projects based on Dimension/Miramax properties such as Scary Movie. Paramount later made Scary Movie available on their streaming service Paramount+,^[25] and reissued the film on Blu-ray in 2020.^[26]

Box office

Scary Movie opened theatrically in the United States and Canada on July 7, 2000, on 1,912 screens, and debuted at number one at the US box office, grossing $42,346,669 during its opening weekend.^[4] It went on to break Air Force One's record for having the biggest opening weekend for any R-rated film.^[27] Additionally, Scary Movie generated the second-highest opening weekend of 2000, behind Mission: Impossible 2.^[28] The film ultimately grossed $157,019,771 in the United States and Canada, surpassing Good Will Hunting as Miramax's highest-grossing film in that market.^[29] It grossed $121,000,000 in other markets, for a worldwide gross of $278 million.^[4]

Critical response

Scary Movie received mixed reviews from critics. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 51% based on 117 reviews, with an average score of 5.50/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Critics say Scary Movie overloads on crudity and grossness to get its laughs."^[30] On Metacritic, the film received a score of 48 based on 32 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".^[31] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.^[32]

Joe Leydon of Variety said 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". Leydon concluded the film is "practically guaranteed to make you laugh until you're ashamed of yourself".^[16] Roger Ebert gave the film three stars out of four, saying it "delivers the goods", calling the film a "raucous, satirical attack on slasher movies." However, Ebert was critical of the film for not being as innovative as other films, saying it lacked "the shocking impact of Airplane!, which had the advantage of breaking new ground."^[13]

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."^[33] 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." Scott remarked "Couch-bound pot smokers, prison sex, mannish female gym teachers, those Whassssup Budweiser commercials—hasn't it all been done to death?"^[15]

Peter Howell of The Toronto Star wrote that the film "doesn't just push the gross-out envelope, it folds, spindles, mutilates and mails it to your mama." He adds, however, that "Scary Movie has a nasty side to it that negates much of the humour. Many jokes are just plain sexist, racist, homophobic, violent . . . and not funny. A scene where a woman is knocked to the ground by an angry man who then proceeds to brutally kick her is sickening to watch. The film's frequent use of profanity also seems gratuitous, even by these standards, but that may be beside the point. By the time you realize the four-letter word count is running high, the plot itself has become repetitious and forced."^[34]