FleshAndTheFiends Review of Scary Movie 2

Scary Movie 2 (2001)

AWFUL, but a few more laughs than the first one

[2/10 · 21 February 2005]

After an opening Exorcist parody (a film that already received a feature-length comic parody; Repossessed), this immediate sequel sinks right back down to the sheer stupidity of the first one. Lured to a secluded mansion for a sleep study, college students Shorty, Cindy, Ray and Brenda (from the first film), plus some others, find themselves trapped inside with evil spirits. It's all an excuse for unimaginative, low brow "comedy" involving semen, vomit, crap and other bodily functions, sex organs, inflated tits, rape, homosexuals, drug addiction and the handicapped. There are (pretty lame) references to The Amityville Horror, House on Haunted Hill, The Haunting, Poltergeist and The Entity and some surprising ones to Poe's House of Usher and The Black Cat, plus non-horror gags (Rocky, Charlie's Angels, Dude, Where's My Car? etc.) to pad out the running time. Jokes are made about the Clinton/Lewinski scandal, the missing Florida ballots and Firestone tires (things that will instantly date it), plus a marijuana monster and the fighting cat bit is pretty cute. This has a few more laughs than the first film thanks almost entirely to Chris Elliott's inspired comic lunacy as a weird, perverted caretaker with a deformed hand. It took seven people to script this thing. Marlon Brando supposedly turned down 2 million dollars to cameo as a priest and was replaced by James Woods. There's no point to any of this, but as the end rap theme reminds us, "Must be the money."