Scary Movie 2

Scary Movie 2

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans
Produced by Eric L. Gold
Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Bob Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein
Written by Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Alyson Fouse
Greg Grabianski
Dave Polsky
Michael Anthony Snowden
Craig Wayans
Based on Characters 
by Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Buddy Johnson
Phil Beaumann
Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Starring Anna Faris
Regina Hall
Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Chris Masterson
Kathleen Robertson
David Cross
James Woods
Tim Curry
Tori Spelling
Chris Elliott
Cinematography Steven Bernstein
Edited by Tom Nordberg
Richard Pearson
Peter Teschner
Production
company
Dimension Films
Brillstein-Grey Entertainment
Gold/Miller Productions
Wayans Bros. Entertainment
Brad Grey Pictures
Distributed by Miramax Films
Release dates
  • July 4, 2001
Running time
 82 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $45 million[2]
Box office $141.2 million[2]

Scary Movie 2 is a 2001 American parody film and the second film of the Scary Movie franchise. Though part of the first Scary Movie‍ '​s tagline read "...No sequel", this film's tagline compensated by adding "We lied".

The film parodies a range of horror-thriller films, including The Exorcist, The Haunting, What Lies Beneath, The Amityville Horror, Poltergeist, The Changeling, Hannibal, Hollow Man, and The Legend of Hell House.

The film currently stands as the last film in the series to star Marlon and Shawn Wayans, and the last to be directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans.

Some of the original working titles were Scary Sequel and Scarier Movie.

Plot

The film opens with a parody of The Exorcist, during which teenager Megan Voorhees becomes possessed by the spirit of Hugh Kane, the previous owner of the House. Two priests, Father McFeely and Father Harris visit the house. After McFeely pays a trip to the toilet, they both attempt to drive Hugh's ghost out, but the exorcism does not go as planned, resulting in a chain of projectile vomiting and various instances of pedophilia. Finally, McFeely responds to an insult towards his mother by shooting Megan.

One year later, Cindy Campbell, Brenda Meeks, Ray Wilkins, and Shorty Meeks are at college, trying to live new lives following the events of the previous film (although most of them actually died in the first film, Brenda claims in a deleted scene that her death was a near-death experience). Cindy and Brenda get tagged by a socially maladjusted girl, Alex. Ray, still confused about his sexuality, has two new male friends, Tommy and Buddy.

A charming yet lecherous teacher, Professor Oldman and his paraplegic assistant, Dwight Hartman, plan to study the paranormal activity at a local haunted mansion called Hell House (the same house involved in the opening scene) using the clueless teens. Meanwhile, Buddy's advances are spurned by Cindy, who is recovering from her previous relationship. When Cindy is the first to arrive at Hell House, she encounters a vulgar parrot, and the caretaker, Hanson, who has a badly malformed hand. Later that evening, the group, including sexy newcomer Theo, sit down for dinner. Unfortunately, everybody loses their appetite due to Hanson's repulsive antics.

In the night, Cindy hears voices directing her to a secret room, where she and Buddy discover a treasure chest containing the diary of the wife of the house's dead owner, Hugh Kane. They also find an old portrait of the wife and note Cindy's resemblance to her. Meanwhile, many of the teens fall victim to violent attacks. The ghost of Hugh Kane has sex with Alex in her bedroom, yet departs in the morning when Alex expresses her interest in becoming the new Mrs. Kane. Cindy gets involved in a fistfight with the house cat, Mr. Kittles. A toy clown attempts to kill Ray—but thanks to some quick thinking, Ray perversely turns the tables and rapes the clown. A weed-monster turns Shorty into a joint and tries to smoke him—fortunately, the plant gets distracted by munchies and lets him escape.

Oldman is seduced and killed by the disfigured ghost of the murdered mistress. Shorty later encounters the same ghost, yet he seduces her instead. After Dwight equips the teens with weapons that can injure their spectral enemy, they are pursued throughout the mansion. Buddy and Cindy get locked in the refrigerator. Thinking that Buddy is dying from an encounter with the ghost, Cindy gives him a handjob. The couple then escape the room following a convoluted deus ex machina, in which Cindy uses a collection of random objects in the room to somehow produce a Caterpillar tractor, which she drives through the wall.

Hanson himself gets possessed by Kane. Cindy, Brenda, and Theo team up to fight him, but wind up defeated when they are in their bra and underwear. Eventually, Dwight and the teens regroup, and agree to use Cindy as bait to lure Kane into a device that will destroy him. Just as they activate the device, they realize Cindy is still standing on it. Ray springs to action and saves her. The plan succeeds, freeing the group from the house's curse.

Two months later, Cindy and Buddy are in a relationship and go out for a walk. However, Buddy disappears without notice when Cindy discovers Hanson at the hot dog stand. As Cindy backs away in fear, Hanson pursues her, and, in the midst of screaming, gets struck by a red car driven by Shorty similar to the scene in the first film.

Cast

Soundtrack

Unlike the first film, no official soundtrack was released. Most of the songs featured in the film either have characters singing along to them or serve as background music. For instance, both "Hello Dolly" and "Shake Ya Ass" are sung by characters at a party during the opening sequence (the latter intended to be a humorous juxtaposition with the former, the titular song from the 1960s musical). "Sorry Now" by Sugar Ray begins during the title screen and plays as the film transitions to the college setting featuring Cindy and Shorty. "Graduation (Friends Forever)" is on the radio as Cindy drives to Hell House, and she sings along badly until Vitamin C interrupts her to tell her to stop. Later in the film, "Let Me Blow Ya Mind" plays on a radio as Theo attempts to seduce Dwight and "Smack My Bitch Up" is heard during Cindy, Brenda and Theo's fight against the possessed Hanson. "Ride wit Me" is the first song featured during the end credits, followed by "So Erotic" and "When It's Dark".

  1. "Hello Dolly" – Jerry Herman
  2. "Shake Ya Ass" – Mystikal
  3. "Tubular Bells" – Mike Oldfield
  4. "Smack My Bitch Up" – The Prodigy
  5. "Graduation (Friends Forever)" – Vitamin C
  6. "U Know What's Up" – Donell Jones
  7. "So Erotic" – Casey Crown featuring J Dee
  8. "Ride wit Me" – Nelly featuring City Spud
  9. "Insane in the Brain" – Cypress Hill
  10. "Evel Knieval" – Deadly Avenger

Other songs in the film:

Parodies

This film parodies and references many other films of the horror, thriller, and mystery genres.

  • The film's central parody is The Legend of Hell House.
  • The opening scene is modeled after The Exorcist.
  • The walking scene on Campus with Cindy & Brenda references to the 90's cult classic "Clueless".
  • The thermal goggles which the characters use to see ghosts and the weapons they use references Thir13en Ghosts.
  • Hollow Man – The equipment which the group employs to fight an invisible enemy (thermal goggles, smoke, and so on) and use of a defibrilator to escape from a freezer room.
  • House on Haunted Hill – The labyrinthian basement, weapons with limited ammo, and Professor Oldman being lured to his death.
  • Charmed – Hugh Kane's vanquishing is the same as many of the vanquishings the sisters do on the show.
  • Brenda's reaction to the walking skeleton could be taken as commentary on the film's use of imagery no longer considered scary today.
  • In the scene in which Hanson removes the top of Shorty's head and he then said "Hello Cindy", is similar to a scene in Hannibal.
  • The scene where Ray and his friend read their back tattoos to each other repeatedly references a scene of Dude, Where's My Car?.
  • What Lies Beneath is parodied in a scene where Cindy seduces the professor in the kitchen, and then Ray suddenly appears in the same dress.
  • The scene in which a clown hides under Ray's bed and then pulls him underneath, the marijuana plant growing large and coming to life and Alex being dragged across the walls of the bedroom are all parodies of scenes from Poltergeist.
  • In the sequence where an invisible ghostly presence penetrates Alex and then has sex with her, heavily references Dracula and The Entity
  • Poltergeist II – Hanson sings "God is in his holy temple" and the use of Kane as the name of the evil spirit.
  • Stephen King's It is referenced in a scene in which gardening tools form the letters "IT" across a wall in the room where Shorty hides in the third act of the movie. Tim Curry, who plays Professor Oldman, also played the role of Pennywise the Clown in the film adaptation of It.
  • The Rocky Horror Picture Show – Hanson is a parody of the character, Riff Raff. Tim Curry played the role of Dr. Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
  • Cindy, Brenda and Theo fighting Hanson in the style of Charlie's Angels. Furthermore, Tori Spelling's character is named after Lucy Liu's character (Alex Munday) from the same film, in which also Tim Curry co-starred.
  • Save the Last Dance – Shorty teaches Cindy how to be "black".
  • Mission: Impossible II – The wheelchair duel between Dwight and Kane parodies the motorcycle sequence between Ethan and Sean.
  • MacGyver – Cindy uses everyday items to build a mini-bulldozer and escape the refrigerator.
  • Paulie – A foul-mouthed blue-crowned parrot named Polly appears throughout the movie .
  • The Amityville Horror – Reverend McFeely tries to bless the house and ends up with flies all over him, only for the scene to change and reveal he is actually sitting and straining into a toilet, resulting in explosive diarrhea. The two red eyes in the dark looking through the window from the movie also appear in the scene.
  • Buddy hands Cindy a book titled "Harry PotHead", a clear reference to Harry Potter.
  • A scene where a basketball falls down the stairs is similar to The Changeling until the scene switches over to a parody of a Nike commercial.[3]
  • Dawn of the Dead – Ray has on a suit similar to Peter's SWAT team suit.
  • The dialogue between Cindy and Buddy in the freezer, when she is giving him a handjob has been taken from Titanic.
  • The use of the quote "do you feel lucky, punk?" from Dwight is a parody of Dirty Harry.
  • Twister – When Cindy is fighting Hanson and creates the tornado, which has various objects and even a cow blowing around inside it.
  • Scanners – Hanson's head explodes.
  • Rocky – Cindy's fight with the cat (editing style, blows, unseen cameras flashing and the cat's triumphant raising of its "fists").
  • Weakest Link – When the parrot says "You are the weakest link. Goodbye" after Alex gets knocked out by the chandelier.
  • The skeleton chasing Cindy sequence is based on Wishmaster.
  • The scene with Cindy singing badly along to the radio in the car then getting told to "shut up" by the radio could be a parody of Urban Legend because the opening featured a woman singing along to the radio badly.
  • The scene where Dwight and Hanson are trading insults about each other's disability is based on the scene from Wild Wild West where Jim West and Arliss Loveless trade insults on West's race and Loveless's disability.
  • The scene when Cindy is fighting with the cat and the name of the house is from the film The Legend of Hell House.
  • Ray carrying the paraplegic Dwight on his back is reminiscent of Chewbacca attaching the destroyed C-3PO to a harness on his back in The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Cindy having flashbacks while reading the diary and learning about the dead wife is a parody of the 1988 film Night Screams.

Reception

Box office

In North America, the film grossed $71,308,997. Worldwide, it grossed $141,220,678. Although it was a hit, out of the first four Scary Movie films, this was the least successful to date – until the fifth film was released twelve years later.[2][4]

Critical response

Despite its box office success, the film received mostly negative reviews. Achieving a rotten 15% rating on Rotten Tomatoes[5] and a score of 29% on Metacritic. Metacritic.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "SCARY MOVIE 2 (18)". British Board of Film Classification. July 16, 2001. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Scary Movie 2 (2001)".
  3. ↑ "Nike Commercial".
  4. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for April 12-14, 2013". Box Office Mojo. 2013-04-16. Retrieved 2013-04-16.
  5. ↑ "Scary Movie 2". Rotten Tomatoes.
  6. ↑ "Scary Movie 2". Metacritic.

External links

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