DVD A group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a suspiciously familiar masked killer who appears to know about a deadly secret from their past.
Details
One evening, whilst out having fun in a car, a group of teenagers accidentally hit and apparently kill a man. Not knowing what else to do, they dump the body in the sea and agree never to speak of the incident again. A year later, however, somebody appears to know exactly what they did and the friends begin finding themselves stalked by a rather familiar looking masked killer.
At the centre of the group is Cindy Campbell, who quickly realises that the mysterious killer isn't simply interested in frightening them. As her friends begin meeting increasingly ridiculous ends, Cindy attempts to discover who is behind the mask and why they're apparently seeking revenge for what happened the previous year.
Does all this sound familiar? Well, if you've seen Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, you'll be completely at home with the basic plot. However, absolutely nothing is taken seriously and the familiar situations are simply an excuse for an increasingly ridiculous collection of murders, misunderstandings and completely inappropriate behaviour from just about everybody involved.
Picture & Sound
The picture is excellent, remaining bright and colourful throughout the film. With many scenes taking place at night, the transfer copes particularly well with the darker material and there are no obvious signs of artifacting or outlining. The bit-rate remains high throughout and detail is consistently impressive. To be honest, the picture quality far exceeded my expectations and perhaps the film's enormous box-office success encouraged a little more effort to be lavished on the DVD.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is also very good, with dialogue firmly fixed in the centre channel and a reasonable amount of activity in the surrounds. It's the musical soundtrack that really gives the rear speakers the biggest workout, although several of the film's more elaborate parodies also make good use of them. The Matrix sequence is particularly effective, whilst the closing credits contain various cast members chattering away in the rear channels.
Menu & Extras
The extras aren't particularly extensive, but there's enough here to add some value to the package. The deleted scenes are the obvious highlight, providing a few more jokes that failed to make the final cut, whilst the behind-the-scenes featurette offers a brief look at the making of the film. Things are rounded off with the theatrical trailer and some DVD-ROM material.
Interestingly, this Region 1 disc is also encoded for Region 4 playback, giving Australian DVD owners something of a head start over the rest of us. One word of warning though: the disc refused to play on my region-free PC DVD-ROM drive. I suspect this was more likely to be a software compatibility problem than RCE, but it's worth bearing in mind if you're planning to watch it on a computer.
Overall
This is a real comedy classic and, if you enjoy spoof films, you'll have no problem with this one. It's effectively the new Airplane! for the 21st century, firing jokes at the screen so quickly that even when one misses the target there's usually another one arriving a few seconds later. Some of the humour is extremely crude and subtlety certainly isn't high on the agenda, but that's all part of the fun.
Most of the ammunition is aimed squarely at Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, but the Wayans brothers don't stop there. I managed to spot references to Baywatch, The Blair Witch Project - which had me in stitches - Amistad, Shakespeare in Love, The Matrix, The Sixth Sense, Friday the 13th and even The Exorcist. I'm sure there are plenty more that completely passed me by.
Anna Faris makes an excellent straight-faced centre for all the madness as Cindy, whilst Regina Hall, Shannon Elizabeth and the Wayans brothers throw themselves into the increasingly ridiculous material with absolutely no concern for their dignity. Dave Sheridan's Doofy is also wonderfully stupid and provides some of the film's best moments.
Of course, whether you'll enjoy any of this depends entirely on your sense of humour. The film is crude, tasteless, frequently juvenile and determined to offend just about everybody at some point. If that sounds like a criticism then you're probably watching the wrong film. If, on the other hand, the sight of The Blair Witch Project being mercilessly ripped apart sounds appealing, then there's plenty here to keep you laughing.
Unfortunately, sensing a cash cow in desperate need of milking, the producers have already decided to make a sequel. This rather flies in the face of the film's wonderfully confident tagline - "No Mercy. No Shame. No Sequel." Still, if they can come up with another ninety minutes as funny as this then perhaps we can forgive them.
It may not be sophisticated, it certainly isn't clever and your grandmother probably won't approve, but Scary Movie is consistently funny and one of the most enjoyable spoof films to appear in years. The DVD could have done with a few more extras, but the excellent presentation and sheer entertainment value of the film make it an easy recommendation.
Special features
- Deleted Scenes
- Behind the Scenes Featurette
- Theatrical Trailer
- DVD-ROM Enhanced
