Scary Movie 3′s cover for the film.
If there’s anything that can make your love for the story of a legend or a classic teen movie seem like a complete waste of time, it’s a movie spoof. The pure terror that would once accompany watching Ghostface chase around helpless girls crying for help in Scream suddenly becomes pure comedy as you watch the Wayans brothers switch it up in Scary Movie. Dawn of the Dead made pregnant women enemy number one on the zombie apocalypse team, but Shaun of the Dead gave us all hope.
The world of movie spoofs has found a way to dominate some of its more serious companions, making commentary on a movie turn from “this is a great movie” to “this would be a great movie to make a spoof out of.” The great thing is that, whether a movie won an Oscar or a MTV Movie Award, a great spoof can sometimes come out of it.
Scary Movie did something movies around that time weren’t thinking of: it collected every scary movie that got teens’ hearts pounding and threw it into one solid form of pure comedy. I Know What You Did Last Summer and The Blair Witch Project are only two of the several teen horrors thrown into the mix.
Just like any other horror film, Scary Movie opens with the dramatic scene of someone being axed off to foreshadow what is to come. The only thing that throws off the usual tingling set of goosebumps that appear on your arm is the fact that Carmen Electra is the first face you see and overly large aluminum filled popcorn bag is growing by the second in the background. From there the movie just gets better by highlighting how the casual “we killed someone, we must never tell anyone line” used in horror flicks is a fail that any person in or out of the movie should be able to see. Not to mention the Wayans brothers making any scene into the sly joke you were secretly thinking while watching some of the originals.
Along with any horror film that includes teenagers screaming for help follows a happy, get-back-on-your-feet teen film to make you wonder why the guy or girl you had a crush on in high school didn’t look quite as mature as the 20 year-olds in the classic films. Here to save the day from watching Save the Last Dance or Varsity Blues is Not Another Teen Movie—a film that brings our then future Captain America, Chris Evans, and every teen-flick you’ve neglected to see up close and personal.
The Breakfast Club is a classic. Practically every movie that premiered in the 80s with Molly Ringwald in the mix is pure gold and American Pie set a bar all on its own. But the great thing about Not Another Teen Movie is that it shows how ridiculous most of the scenes we’ve memorized the lines or found ourselves comparing ourselves to are. Making a homemade banana split on one’s body in Varsity Blues must have been genius then. Making a homemade banana split on Chris Evans…well, genius is genius.
Another contender in the pack of movie spoof gold has to be one of the best yet. Not only does it blend relationship issues and British slang into about two hours of hilarity. But there are zombies in the mix too. Shaun of the Dead and all its greatness can hardly be measured in one paragraph so I’ll go to another one for this.
Shaun of the Dead makes all fears of an impending zombie apocalypse as realistic and witty as the two can get. One man willing to do all it takes to save his family and love of his life is nothing new to the screen. But one man willing to travel with an idiotic best friend through backyards, false scenarios, and a pub is another story. While the zombies do appear real and there are moments that make you want to trade spots with the protagonist to lend a helping hand, more than anything Shaun of the Dead brings wit to a trend that is popularizing television and big screens worldwide.
Watching classic films—whether if they are teen, horror, or zombie flicks—brings back the memories of the good ol’ early 2000s and late 90s. But catching a classic spoof movie combines it all into one, making any movie night a better night.