Scary Movie 4

Scary Movie 4

Theatrical release poster
Directed by David Zucker
Produced by
Screenplay by
Story by Craig Mazin
Starring
Music by James L. Venable
Cinematography Thomas E. Ackerman
Edited by
  • Craig Herring
  • Tom Lewis
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • April 14, 2006 (2006-04-14)
Running time
 83 minutes[1]
Country United States
Language English
Budget $40 million[2]
Box office $178.2 million

Scary Movie 4 is a 2006 American comedy horror parody film and the fourth film of the Scary Movie franchise, as well as the first film in the franchise to be released under The Weinstein Company banner since the purchase of Dimension Films. It was directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin, and Pat Proft, and produced by Robert K. Weiss and Craig Mazin.

The film marks the final franchise appearances of the main stars, Anna Faris and Regina Hall (who portray Cindy and Brenda, respectively), and concludes the original story arc. This was initially intended to be the final film in the Scary Movie franchise, until Scary Movie 5 was released by The Weinstein Company on April 12, 2013, in a different storyline, with Simon Rex, Charlie Sheen, and Molly Shannon in different roles.

Plot

Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil wake up to find themselves chained to pipes in a bathroom. Their host, Billy the Puppet, reveals that the room is slowly filling with nerve gas with the only way out being to make a basket and get the saws, which have to be used on their feet. Unfortunately, Dr. Phil saws the wrong foot and faints, leaving the two to die.

In New York City the recently widowed Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) visits her brother-in-law, Tom Logan (Charlie Sheen), inquiring about her loneliness with the departure of her nephew, Cody, to the army. Tom's attempted suicide results in his ingesting viagra, which greatly swells his penis and causes his death when he falls off the railing. Afterwards, Cindy takes a job to care for Mrs. Norris (Cloris Leachman), who lives in a haunted house. Next door is Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko), who runs into Mahalik (Anthony Anderson) and CJ (Kevin Hart), learning about their homosexual one-night stand. He is greeted at home by the arrival of his estranged children, Robbie (Beau Mirchoff) and Rachel (Conchita Campbell). Tom and Cindy bond over the following day, Cindy confiding to him about her husband, George's (Simon Rex) death in a fateful boxing match. The two realize their newfound love, but are interrupted by a gigantic triPod which disables electricity and starts vaporizing the town residents.

Cindy converses in mock Japanese with the haunted house's ghost, Toshio (Garrett Masuda), learning that the answer of the invasion is his father's heart. While Tom leaves the city with his children, Cindy reunites with her friend, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), miraculously alive after her death. Following Toshio's directions, the two head to the countryside and end up in a mysterious, isolated community. They are captured and put to trial headed by Henry Hale (Bill Pullman). The result allows them to live but never leave the village. Meanwhile, an emergency United Nations meeting, headed by the eccentric U.S. President Baxter Harris (Leslie Nielsen), who is reluctant to stop reading "My Pet Duck", goes awry when a weapon scavenged from the aliens renders everyone stark-naked.

Tom and his children drive and find themselves in the middle of a war between the U.S. military and the aliens. Excited with the conflict, Robbie runs away, while Tom and Rachel are taken by the triPod. Back at the village, Henry is killed by the village loon, Ezekiel (Chris Elliott), revealing to Cindy that he fathered Toshio, who was killed during Cindy's boxing match. Cindy and Brenda are soon taken by the triPod and sent to the bathroom seen in the prologue. Cindy manages to get through Billy's challenge, but is threatened with the safety of Tom and his children, who are put to traps. Looking at a toilet with the "heart" nearby, Cindy realizes that Billy, through Henry's wife, is the true father of Toshio. Seeing how far Tom would save his children, Billy apologizes for the invasion and releases them. Robbie and Rachel are successfully returned to their mother (Molly Shannon), who is revealed to have married a much older man. Brenda also becomes acquainted with Billy's friend, Zoltar.

An epilogue set nine months afterward, narrated by James Earl Jones who is subsequently hit by a car, reveals Brenda's giving birth to her child with Zoltar, Mahalik and CJ resuming their relationship, and President Harris being contented with his duck. Meanwhile, Tom appears in The Oprah Winfrey Show and wildly professes his love for Cindy by jumping around, throwing Cindy, and crushing Oprah's wrists.

Cast

Cameo appearances

Parodies

As with the other films in the series, Scary Movie 4 parodies a wide array of movies and television shows.

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $40.2 million,[5] the third best opening weekend of the Scary Movie franchise. It has the best Easter weekend opening weekend ever, beating Panic Room which made $30.1 million in its opening and also the second best April opening, only $2 million behind Anger Management's record. As of October 18, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $90,710,620 at the United States box office and $178,262,620 worldwide.

Critical response

Like its predecessor, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 37% based on 125 reviews.[6] Though for the most part it was received less favorably than the first three Scary Movies, with only the second one getting worse reviews, The New York Times' review was relatively positive: "Organized on the principle of parody, not plot..., it's an exercise in lowbrow postmodernism, a movie-movie contraption more nuts than Charlie Kaufman's gnarliest fever dream."[7]

Carmen Electra won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance in this film and Date Movie.

Home release

The film was released on DVD on August 15, 2006 in rated (83 minutes) and unrated (89 minutes) editions with deleted scenes, bloopers, and outtakes. About 1,581,754 units were sold, bringing in $22,308,989 in revenue.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Scary Movie 4 (15)". British Board of Film Classification. April 4, 2006. Retrieved November 9, 2016.
  2. ↑ "Scary Movie 4 - Box Office Data, Movie News, Cast Information". The Numbers. Retrieved 2012-06-11.
  3. ↑ Hallenbeck, Bruce G. (2009). Comedy-Horror Films: A Chronological History, 1914-2008. McFarland & Company. p. 197.
  4. ↑ Hallenbeck, pp. 196-197
  5. ↑ "'Scary Movie 4' Cracks Easter Record". Box Office Mojo. Amazon.com.
  6. ↑ Scary Movie 4 at Rotten Tomatoes Flixster
  7. ↑ Lee, Nathan (2006-04-14). "Parody Without Plot in 'Scary Movie 4'". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-02-02.
  8. ↑ "Scary Movie 4 – DVD Sales". The Numbers. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
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