(Dir. Keenan Ivory Wayans. Cast: Anna Faris, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Tori Spelling, Tim Curry, James Woods.)
Another glaring example of the current bout of sequelitis, SCARY MOVIE 2 promises little and delivers less. The first one was a pretty successful spoof of the SCREAM and similar "postmodern horror" mini-genre of the mid-nighties. As such, it was a valid and even vaguely amusing footnote to an important but recently deceased cycle of films.
SCARY MOVIE 2, on the other hand, aims for the rather bemusing target of late 90s haunted house movies. Now, there were only two of these, THE HAUNTING and HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL, these were both remakes and they hardly impinged on the popular consciousness for more than a nano-second each. Given all this, you have to wonder if it was worth dedicating a whole feature to sending them up.
Much has been made of the opening sequence, and rightly so since it is much better than the other sequences, to which it bears no relation. It's a take-off of THE EXORCIST mixed with AMITYVILLE HORROR, two 70s classics that quite a lot of people have actually seen. Distinguished veteran James Woods is pretty funny in a rare comic turn as Max Von Sydow crossed with Jim Carrey. There's some
As for the main cast, Faris, Wayans and Wayans (all returning from the first one) are all fine in decent roles. The supporting players, though, get much shorter shrift. Tim Curry shows us Brits once again that de-camping to Hollywood may be good for our tans, but often is not so healthy for our careers. His lecherous professor character is so thinly drawn and basically pointless as to beggar belief. Tori Spelling is dealt an even worse hand as a college student who refuses to accept that her distasteful liason with a ghost is just a one night stand. Actually, that might sound quite funny, but rest assured, it comes across as simply offensive.
There are still a few laughs as the mind-numbing plot lumbers on, but there are a hell of a lot of jokes that fall totally flat, too. The twist at the end is okay, neatly counter-pointing as it does the first movies last moments, but by this time it's far too late in the day. Catch it on video, if someone else is paying.
Chris Denton.
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