| Scary Movie 2 | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Keenen Ivory Wayans |
| Written by |
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| Based on | Scary Movie
|
| Produced by | Eric L. Gold |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Steven Bernstein |
| Edited by |
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Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Dimension Films[1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 82 minutes[2] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $45 million[3] |
| Box office | $141 million[3] |
Scary Movie 2 is a 2001 Americansupernaturalparody film directed byKeenen Ivory Wayans. It is a sequel toScary Movie and the second installment in theScary Movie film series. The film starsAnna Faris,Regina Hall,Shawn Wayans, andMarlon Wayans (all reprising their roles from the first film, despite their characters having been killed), as well asTim Curry,Tori Spelling,Chris Elliott,Chris Masterson,Kathleen Robertson,David Cross, andJames Woods. The film was the last in the series to feature the involvement of stars Marlon and Shawn Wayans, and director Keenen until the upcoming sixth installment.
Where the original film was mainly based on theslasher films of the 1990s,Scary Movie 2 parodies an array of supernatural and haunted house films from various decades, namelyThe Haunting (1999),Stigmata (1999),The Exorcist (1973),The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975),The Amityville Horror (1979),Poltergeist (1982),The Legend of Hell House (1973),House on Haunted Hill (both the1959 and1999 versions),The Changeling (1980),What Lies Beneath (2000), andBloodbath at the House of Death (1984). It also spoofs the comedy filmDude, Where's My Car? (2000) and some contemporary films, such asHannibal (2001),Hollow Man (2000), andCharlie's Angels (2000).
Scary Movie 2 grossed $141 million worldwide and received largely negative reviews from critics. A sequel,Scary Movie 3, was released in 2003.
At thehaunted mansion Hell House, teenager Megan Voorheesbecomes possessed by thespirit of Hugh Kane, the house's cruel, wicked previous owner. She interrupts a formal dinner party, thrown by her mother, who seeks help from twoRoman Catholic priests, Fathers McFeely and Harris. After an unsuccessful attempt toexorcise Kane's ghost, McFeely pulls a gun and shoots Megan.
One year later,Cindy Campbell, Ray Wilkins, Brenda and Shorty Meeks areattending college, trying to live new lives after surviving the events of thefirst film. Cindy and Brenda are tagged by socially maladjusted Alex. Shorty is still the same stoner he was before. Ray, still confused about his sexuality, has two new male friends, Tommy and Buddy, the latter of whom becomes romantically interested in Cindy. She rebuffs him but agrees to be friends.
The sinister professor Oldman and his charming paraplegic assistant, Dwight Hartman, plan to study theparanormal activity at the Hell House. They recruit Cindy and her friends as test subjects under the pretense of a psychological experiment onsleep paralysis. On her drive to the mansion, Cindy listens and sings badly along to "Graduation" byVitamin C, who through the radio tells her to shut up.
At the mansion, Cindy encounters a foul-mouthed parrot named Polly and Hanson, a creepy caretaker with a badly malformed hand. Later, the attractive Theo joins the group. They sit down for dinner but soon lose their appetite due to Hanson's repulsive handling of the food.
That night, Cindy hears voices directing her to asecret room, where she and Buddy find the diary that belongs to Kane's wife. Seeing her portrait, they note Cindy's slight resemblance. Meanwhile, the others also experience bizarre encounters: Kane has sex with Alex in her bedroom and quickly departs at the mention of commitment and Cindy gets into a fistfight with the house cat, Mr. Kittles. When Cindy tries to tell Oldman, he dismisses it and sends Theo to take Cindy to bed.
Later, Cindy is possessed by the spirit of Kane's wife, and attempts to seduces Oldman, but quickly returns to normal with no memory of the event. A toy clown attempts to kill Ray, but in a strange turn of events, the doll is molested by him instead. A monstrous weed rolls Shorty into ajoint andproceeds to smoke him, much to Shorty's enjoyment, but gets distracted and lets him escape.
The next morning, Oldman tells Dwight that no one is leaving the house despite the attacks and shows his lecherous nature. Dwight is given the only house keys and told to give them to noone. Theo offersfellatio to Dwight in exchange for the keys, but to no avail; instead, Dwightdoes it to himself. She knocks him out and takes the keys.
After Dwight equips the teens with weapons that can injure their spectral enemy, they are pursued throughout the mansion. Alex attempts to win Kane's love and searches for him, but is killed by Kane dropping a chandelier on her head. Buddy and Cindy are locked in the walk-in freezer, but Cindy uses a collection of random objects to produce aCaterpillar 2-Ton tractor and escapes the freezer.
Hanson becomes possessed by Kane and kidnaps an inebriated Shorty. Cindy, Brenda, and Theo team up to battle him with highly stylized fight choreography but are defeated until Cindy successfully exorcises Kane's ghost out of Hanson. Dwight regroups with the teens, and Cindy volunteers to act as bait to lure Kane into a device that will destroy him. The plan succeeds, freeing the group from the house's curse.
Two months later, Cindy and Buddy are in a relationship. They are out on a walk when Hanson appears to take her away with him. Buddy disappears as Hanson gets hit by a car driven by Shorty, who is receiving fellatio from Crane.
The film is a sequel toScary Movie. According to directorKeenen Ivory Wayans, the filmmakers watched over 130 horror films for background research.[4]Marlon Brando was originally cast as Father McFeely and completed one day of filming before he had to leave the production due to illness.[5][6] He was replaced byJames Woods who was paid $1 million for four days work.[7]Charlton Heston had also turned down the Woods role. At one point, former PresidentBill Clinton, who had just left office the year the film was released, was also considered.
Because Miramax had not greenlit the sequel until the massive box office success of the first, the film faced a punishing production schedule that involved coming up with a script and tearing through production and post-production in a total of less than nine months, roughly half the average time for all those steps to be completed on a standard Hollywood production in 2000–2001. It was this rushed production that made the Wayans never want to make anotherScary Movie, and they were not involved in any of the sequels until returning to the franchise with the sixth film.
Unlike its predecessor, the film does not have an official soundtrack. It features a heavilyhip hop andrap catalogue, with somerock andtechno songs.Sugar Ray, who appear on the soundtrack, were also on the soundtrack for thesecond entry in theScream franchise in 1997, which theScary Movie franchise was initially parodying.
The film was released onVHS andDVD byBuena Vista Home Entertainment under theDimension Home Video banner on December 18, 2001,[8][9] with an array of special features, includingcommentaries and variousdeleted scenes.
Dimension Films was sold byThe Walt Disney Company in 2005, with its parent labelMiramax then being sold by Disney in 2010. That same year, private equity firmFilmyard Holdings took control of Miramax and the pre-October 2005 library of Dimension.[10] Following the sale of Miramax to Filmyard Holdings, they licensed the home media rights for several Dimension/Miramax titles toLionsgate Films.Lionsgate Home Entertainment later reissued the DVD, and released the film onBlu-ray on September 20, 2011.[11]
In March 2016, Qatari companybeIN Media Group purchased Miramax from Filmyard Holdings.[12] Then during April 2020,ViacomCBS (now known asParamount Skydance) bought a 49% stake in Miramax, which gave them the rights to the Miramax library and the pre-October 2005 Dimension library.[13][14] Through this deal,Paramount Pictures and beIN became co-owners of the first three films in theScary Movie franchise, which were released between 2000 and 2003.Paramount Home Entertainment reissued the film on DVD and Blu-ray on July 27, 2021, also reissuing many other Dimension/Miramax titles around this time.[15] Paramount Home Entertainment also released the first threeScary Movie films on a Blu-ray pack.[16] This release was a reissue of an earlier Lionsgate release from December 2011.[17] The film was made available on Paramount's subscription streaming serviceParamount+,[18] and on their free streaming servicePluto TV.[19]
Scary Movie 2 opened on the Fourth of July weekend and ranked second at the US box office behindCats & Dogs, with $20.5 million.[20] In North America, the film grossed $71.3 million. With $69.9 million internationally, the worldwide gross comes to $141.2 million. Out of the first fourScary Movie films, this was the least successful to date, untilthe fifth film in 2013.[3][21]
OnRotten Tomatoes,Scary Movie 2 has an approval rating of 13% based on 110 reviews and an average rating of 3.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Instead of being funny, this gross-out sequel plays like a sloppy, rushed-out product."[22] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 29 out of 100 based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[23] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[24]
Awards and nominations forScary Movie 2
| Year | Award | Category | Recipient(s) | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Bogey Awards | Bronze Award | N/a | Won | [25] |
| Teen Choice Awards | Choice Movie of the Summer | N/a | Nominated | [26] | |
| Choice Movie Your Parents Didn’t Want You to See | N/a | Won | [27] | ||
| 2002 | ALMA Awards | Excellence in Make-Up in Television and Film | Rebecca DeHerrera | Nominated | [28] |
| Canadian Comedy Awards | Best Female Performance | Kathleen Robertson | Nominated | [29] |
A sequel titledScary Movie 3, was released in 2003.
