About a year ago I took a look at the original Scary Movie as a way to lighten things up after looking at some fairly grim movies and video games for the previous season of The Witching Hour. Now here we are in the year 2019 and we are going to look at the sequel, Scary Movie 2. That is kind of appropriate as this film made its theatrical debut about a year after the premiere of the original movie in the franchise.
Let’s just get this out of the way – Scary Movie 2 is not as good as the first one. That is likely due to the rushed production in order to get the movie finished and into theaters within a year of the original. With that being said, I actually like the sequel a little better. While a funny film in its own right, Scary Movie was largely a spoof of Scream whereas Scary Movie 2 pokes sun at several supernatural themed movies. I had always been more interested in supernatural horror flicks as opposed to slasher flicks anyways.
Scary Movie 2 begins with a parody of The Exorcist featuring James Woods in the role of Father McFeely. If you look closely, you’ll see that is Natasha Lyonne (American Pie, Orange is the New Black) in the role of the possessed Megan. Look even closer and you may notice that the tongue prosthetic used here is the same one used in the original The Exorcist.
Anna Faris reprises her role as Cindy while Marlon and Shawn Wayans return as Shorty and Ray, respectively. Regina Hall is back as Brenda and the crew are joined by new characters including Buddy who is played by Christopher Masterson (Malcom in the Middle). Tim Curry joins the cast as a Professor who is desperate to prove the existence of life after death. He rounds up the students in his class (including the survivors from the first movie) and his handicapped assistant, Dwight, for what he claims is an overnight study at a mansion known as Hell House. In reality, he intends to use these students to lure the spirits of the supposedly haunted house led by the ghost of the former lords of the manor, Kane.
While the returning cast does a fine job with their characters and Curry is despicable as the lustful Professor, the movie is stolen by Hanson – the mansion’s caretaker with an underdeveloped hand. He’s played by Chris Elliot and he is hilarious.
Aside from the rushed production, the biggest flaw of Scary Movie 2 is that most of the humor is based on events that were current at the time but are now severely outdated. I mean, how many younger people are going to recognize the specific events that inspired this gag?
Or this one?
With all of that said, if you enjoyed the first film then Scary Movie 2 is certainly worth a watch. It is raunchy and a bit politically incorrect in today’s sensitive times but if you can get past that, the movie is a lot of fun.
