As opening weekend for Scary Movie 5 looms, let’s take a look at 2001’s Scary Movie 2.
In 2000, Scary Movie was a box office success, lampooning teen slasher flicks like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The Wayans Brothers had created a spoof movie that brought new life into a dying genre, and it was pretty clear that a sequel would be made.
Then, in 2001, this happened.
Scary Movie 2. There was plenty of anticipation, expectations, and hype surrounding this sequel. The majority of the original cast was back for more juvenile, gross-out hijinks, along with the talents of Tim Curry, James Woods, Andy Richter, David Cross, and Chris Elliott. This time the action would revolve around parodies of haunted house movies like The Haunting (1999), What Lies Beneath (2000), and The House on Haunted Hill (1999).
The result was probably the worst Scary Movie to date. A mish-mash of weak jokes and gags make this sequel feel like everyone involved is trying too hard to make the audience laugh. And if you try and force people to laugh they generally don’t. Granted, the film did have promise thanks to an inspired spoof of The Exorcist (1973) that opens the film, but the whole thing unravels pretty quickly and comes across as if it were hastily put together.
Now, I can’t sit here and honestly say that this movie is 100% horrible. Probably only 90-95% of it is. The performances by the cast are hilarious, and the better jokes and gags do help make the sequel tolerable at points. But in spite of these things I think it’s easier to watch clips from this particular Scary Movie on YouTube than to sit through it in its entirety.
If the Wayans had stuck with spoofing the Scream series, Scary Movie 2 would have probably been a bigger box office success. I think it would have held the target audience’s interest far better, and would have had a stronger storyline since it would be piggybacking on Scream 2’s plot.
I applaud the Wayanses for the effort here. They were able to write, direct, produce, and star in a sequel a year after the original was in theaters, which is no small feat. But if they had taken a little more time and even tried to spoof more teen horror movies, I’m sure the film would have been stronger and more than likely they wouldn’t have lost the franchise.
It’s mere speculation on my part, but I believe that the failure of Scary Movie 2 to do bigger numbers than its predecessor led to the Wayanses losing the series to a new set of filmmakers (whom we will talk about tomorrow). However, this brief article from TMZ and the accompanying clip featuring Marlon Wayans. To say he’s bitter about being ousted from the series is an understatement.
Click here for TMZ article and video clip.
I think Scary Movie 2 is the weakest entry in the series. None of the movies it spoofs were big hits, nor were they movies that teens flocked to see like Scream. Because of this the target audiences lost interest quickly, and this sequel went on to be the lowest rated and also earned the least at the box office.
Looking at the sequel’s stats: Scary Movie 2’s opening weekend totals was a mere $20 million, and it went on to gross $141 million worldwide. It ranks fourth in box office totals of all the Scary Movie films to date, SM3 and SM4 hold the #2 and #3 spots, respectively.
Scary Movie 2 also holds the lowest percentage of the franchise on RottenTomatoes with a painfully low score of 15%.
Had the original’s success just been a fluke in the spoof movie universe? Would Scary Movie 2 mark the end of the series? Of course not! And tomorrow we will explore the rebirth of Scary Movie with Scary Movie 3 and see if a change in filmmakers led to greater success of further failure. Stay tuned!
Are you a fan of Scary Movie 2? Leave a comment and let us know what you think!
Check out the rest of the retrospective below:
Movie Review: Countdown to Scary Movie 5 – Scary Movie
Movie Review: Countdown to Scary Movie 5 – Scary Movies 3 & 4