Studio:

Theatrical: Dimension Films (USA)

DVD: Dimension Home Video (USA)

 

Video:

Aspect ratio: 2.35:1

Feature film: 1080p

88 minutes

Supplements: SD

 

Audio:

English 5.1 Uncompressed (48 Khz/16-bit)

English DD 5.1 Surround

French DD 5.1 Surround

Spanish DD 2.0 Surround

 

Subtitles:

English SDH, French & Spanish

 

Extras

• Behind the Scenes Featurette

• Deleted Scenes

• Theatrical Trailer

 

18 chapters

Standard Blu-ray case:

1 disc

Release Date: October 23, 2007

 

Scary Movie ~ Comment

Few things separate one person from another than their sense of humor – perhaps even more than their position on abortion.  And few comedies test the question as keenly as the Wayans Brothers' 2000 Scary Movie, the knock down, drag out parody of just about every horror movie - and a few others thrown in for smiles - you've ever screamed at, or wanted to hide in the closet from, or felt guilty about what you really did last summer, or run desperately and foolishly into the arms of a stalker, killer or random psychopath.

 

 

 

One's response to a movie like this depends in part to your sense of proportion, since taken by themselves there are a number of truly funny bits.  The quantity and frequency of those bits will tell the tale.

 

Humor of this sort – dare I call it "black" – cries out for stereotypical faces and body types, and seems to argue against the need for any real acting ability.  That said, there is one actor that manages to bring it off in every scene – and this would be Kurt Fuller as The Sheriff. (We know Mr. Fuller from any number of similar types in such serious fare as Alias, CSI, The West Wing and as Karl Rove in That's My Bush) When he offers racy photos of himself to a nubile survivor of the slasher in place of the expected book of fiends, he manages to infuse his lines, lame though they may be, with a delicious, careless lasciviousness that is something to behold.

 

There must be many like myself who have long complained about the lack of non-blockbustery films on high definition video. So, you know what I found really funny: that Buena Vista, the name almost synonymous with Disney, felt that Scary Movie - a movie without a single big screen chase or special effects shootout – should see a Blu-ray incarnation.  I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

 

Scary Movie ~ The Score Card

 

The Movie : 5

It's night and a beautiful, buxom babe (the beautiful and buxom Carmen Electra) answers the phone to: "What is your favorite scary movie?"  She is by herself and very quickly realizes that the guy on the other end of the line means business.  She is not a complete dummy and, even though she keeps all the lights on, she goes about the house locking the doors.  One thing leads to another and the inevitable creepy guy in a black cape with a horror mask chases her about the property with a carving knife.  He deals a fatal blow but, alas, not the final one, not yet: she has a momentary reprieve as she spies her father who comes tearing up the driveway as her mother performs fellatio on her unseeing dad, whose car pretty well treats her like football.  It's that kind of movie.

 

 

The rest of the plot pretty well follows Wes Craven's 1996 Scream with the obligatory serial killings of high school kids, several of whom are friends who, exactly one year ago, threw a man off a pier that they thought they had accidentally (and, as it turned out, repeatedly) killed.  They figure he has returned from the not-so dead to make them pay for their crime.

 

Image : 9.5 (9/10)

The score of 9 indicates a relative level of excellence compared to other Blu-ray DVDs.  The score in parentheses represents: first, a value for the image in absolute terms; and, second, how that image compares to what I believe is the current best we can expect in the theatre.

 

I remembered my reaction to the laserdisc of Ed Woods' Plan 9 From Outer Space: that it wasn't fair that a movie so worthless should be so well preserved.  But the fact is that Scary Movie is surprisingly and shockingly benchmark.  The only fault I found with the image was that it told me more than I wanted to know.