Review: Scary Movie 4

David Zucker owes his career to the spoof genre. In fact, he practically invented it. Going back to Airplane! in 1980, he has spoofed the spy movie (Top Secret!), the detective movie (the Naked Gun series), the teen movie (High School High), the sports movie (BASEketball) and the scary movie (do I have to spell out this one?). He's also working on a superhero spoof (Superhero!) that's slated for next year. The only person who has the same kind of chops in the spoof genre is Leslie Neilsen, who had languished in sporadic TV roles and cheap Canadian productions until he got his big break with Zucker's Airplane! Since then, he has appeared in numerous spoofery, both memorable and forgettable, including the Naked Gun trilogy, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Spy Hard, Wrongfully Accused, 2001: A Space Travesty, and Scary Movie 3.

Zucker and Neilsen team up again for Scary Movie 4, the movie that proves that just because there's a lack of source material, doesn't mean you shouldn't pump out another sequel. The first movie was funny, based on the then-resurging horror movies like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The second film had some great scenes spooferizing The Exorcist and The Haunting, and still seemed somewhat relevant. By the third film, the series had lost it's Wayans pedigree, and Zucker took over the reins, calling on The Ring and Signs for material. The plot began to get over-reaching and the premise was starting to look tired. Now that the fourth movie has surfaced, you get the feeling that the material is getting thin. The movie draws on Saw, The Grudge, The Village and War of the Worlds for spoofage, and it all looks thrown together messily. The only thing that remains from the original Scary Movie are the two leading ladies, Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell and Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks. Not a problem, since people will still go out and see it in droves. And it's not like the movie is not without comedy, there are some good scenes, like when Cindy converses with the Creepy Japanese Boy in subtitles, while actually saying things like "Subaru Mitsubishi Suzuki Kawasaki?". Or when Neilsen, as the President, is listening to a child reading a book in class, and when he is told of the alien invasion, he wants to wait until he finds out what happens to the duck, before moving into action, ala Prez Bush on 9/11. It's moments like those that make for great spooferation, but when they come so few and far between, it just isn't worth it to sit through a protacted gag about a blind villager coming into the town hall to relieve herself, believing it to be her home, even if it is Carmen Electra.

So this is the basic flow of the story. Cindy Campbell, looking for work as an in-home nurse, moves into the Grudge house, where weird things happen. Next door, Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko, who reportedly turned down the role of Chandler on Friends. Nice one), plays a father who has to protect his kids (with Conchita Campbell, the Vancouver-born mini-actress who plays Maia on The 4400) from the giant TriPods who surface and turn on the Destroy Humanity mixlist. They both run their separate ways. Cindy meets up with Brenda and search for clues to bring down the aliens at an agrarian village. Meanwhile, Tom tries to keep his family safe from aliens, pop stars and himself. They all meet up later, piece things together and play a game for the fate of humanity.

If you're in the mood for a good example of spoofification, rent Naked Gun or Not Another Teen Movie, but if you don't mind seeing Leslie Neilsen's 80-year old ass or Charlie Sheen with a ginormous boner, then by all means. Just know that there are much better instances of spooferentialism out there. I just like saying spoof, it's a fun word to say. Spoof, spoof, spoofy spoof.

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