is Dead on Arrival
by June Pulliam
In Hollywood, when a movie is successful, producers greedy for more money make a sequel. But all too often, instead of adding to the story established in the first installment (such as the case with the Star Wars films), the sequel is simply a remake of the original-- same characters, same stars, same jokes, sometimes even the same story line. Freddy Kreuger chases hapless victims around yet again in the Nightmare on Elm Street films. Jason, or his mom, goes on yet another killing spree. Norman Bates re-opens the Bates Motel for two more sequels to Psycho, and you'll never guess what happens. This is pretty much the story of Scary Movie 2. After killing off the heroine in the last scene of the first film and swearing that there would be no sequel, the Wayans brothers bring her back for Scary Movie 2 with no explanation as to how she survived her fatal traffic accident. Since this is a comedy, that would be acceptable-- if the rest of the film had a purpose other than making more money for the Wayans brothers.
Like the original Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2 is a loosely woven tapestry of movie parodies organized around one central parody. The original Scary Movie was a parody of Scream, which itself is a self-referential piece based on all previous horror films. While Scream wasn't the most frightening film ever, fans of the genre could appreciate how its central monster was conscious of the "rules" of stalking established in countless other horror films.
The first Scary Movie was funny and ground breaking because it established an original niche for its story line through the use of racial humor. It has often been observed that horror is a very white genre. Most horror writers are white, as are most of their characters. And horror films are also overwhelmingly about white people. In Live on the Sunset Strip, Richard Pryor mused that the lack of black people in horror was due to their own good sense. A black man coming to live in a house with ghostly voices telling him he wasn't wanted would leave instead of sticking around to see what else might happen. Scary Movie explores what happens when African-American characters get caught up in such a plot against their will. In one scene, a black film crew and a white film crew show up to cover the recent spate of strange deaths. When the black crew learns from the white crew how many people have been killed, they decide it isn't too smart to stick around and see what else might happen.
Scary Movie 2 had one such moment when the group decides to do one of the most dangerous things possible in a horror film separate. The African-American characters are justifiably angry when they discover that the white people want to separate by race and basically sacrifice them as a diversion while they escape. But this moment is just another picaresque episode in a collection of gags, rather than part of an over-riding theme.
Another problem with Scary Movie 2 is that its references were relatively obscure. A parody's success depends on the audience's familiarity with the original text. Scream's clever self-referentiality firmly established it as a memorable piece of horror cinema, worthy of inclusion in the horror film cannon. Thus, Scream is a text that many connoisseurs of the genre know, and provides much material for a successful parody. Scary Movie 2, however, is a parody of a far more forgettable film, The Haunting (itself a remake of Robert Wise's superior version of Shirley Jackson's The Haunting of Hill House). Many viewers wouldn't have been so unfortunate as to have wasted good money buying a ticket to The Haunting, and thus much of Scary Movie 2s references are unknown to much of the audience.
Like its predecessor, Scary Movie 2 parodies many other films, from horror and other genres. But these parodies just aren't funny. The film begins with a parody of The Exorcist where a possessed Regan McNeil hurls copious amounts of vomit at the two priests who've come to help her. After the girl exchanges insults with the priests, and one takes her up on her suggestion to fuck her, there's nowhere else to go with this gag so the priest just loses his temper and shoots her. As we flash into the movie's credits, we realize that what we've just seen is in no way connected to the rest of the plot. Other parodies inserted into the central plot include references to Hollow Man, The Wizard of Oz, What Lies Beneath, Poltergeist, The Fast and the Furious, Charlie's Angels, Dracula 2000 and The Mummy. But these parodies are quite brief, focusing on a particular scene or image from each film that would be familiar to viewers.
What is most unforgivable is that the central plot of Scary Movie 2 is itself quite weak. Several college students are lured to a haunted house for a weekend when they're told they'll be participating in an insomnia experiment. But once they get to the haunted house, the pretense for their being there is stripped away, and the film simply becomes a series of haunted house gags with a sexual twist. An incubus forces Tori Spelling to perform fellatio. Another ghost possessing the central character gets her to make overtures to the professor, only to turn her into a man in drag before his horrified eyes.
Despite interesting and sometimes hilarious moments (which were all too few), the lack of a strong central plot makes this movie nothing more than a loosely collected set of horror skits, and not very funny skits at that. Overall, Scary Movie 2 was an unoriginal and boring pastiche of fellatio follies, pot pranks, and scatological satire.