Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6575 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-08-14
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 83 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
The fourth instalment of the spoof horror franchise follows pretty much the template that the second and third films in the series adopted. So there's a smattering of funny jokes to stick in the trailer, recreations of big scenes from other popular movies, and Anna Faris boldly trying to hold the whole enterprise together.

Scary Movie 4 is thus a spectacularly easy movie to assess. Forget the inspired and downright hilarious original, and instead look to its sequels. Did you find them laugh-fests? Did you think they were entertaining? And did you actually like them? If so, Scary Movie 4 isn't going to disappoint either.

But it will let down pretty much everyone else. It's not that its terrible. It's a passable way to spend a brain-dead hour and a half. It's just such a waste. There are some great gags to be made at the expense of Saw, War Of The Worlds, Brokeback Mountain and Million Dollar Baby (the film's main targets), but Scary Movie 4 just doesn't make them. Instead, it too often relies on a stilted pratfall, someone smacking their head, or some other bumbling sequence that doesn't work as well as it should. Granted, there are laughs, but nowhere near the number that the original film delivered.

Which, as mentioned earlier, makes this an easy film to judge. There's a strong chance you already know whether Scary Movie 4 is your bag or not, and thus the only recommendation here is to go with your gut feeling. You're unlikely to go wrong.

The DVD: A superb two disc set, with the extra features really compensating for some of the fallibilities of the main feature. There's bountiful behind the scenes material, amusing sequences that didn't make the final cut, and obligatory bloopers too. --Simon Brew

Synopsis
No spoof is left unturned in director and parody-meister David Zucker's SCARY MOVIE 4, the latest instalment in the popular horror-cum-humour series. Among several returnees from previous films, Anna Faris reprises her role as Cindy Campbell, the eternally unlucky and hilariously clumsy heroine. In a send-up of 2004's THE GRUDGE, Campbell is assigned as full-time nurse to a mysterious old lady in a house haunted by the ghost of a small boy. In a takeoff of 2005's WAR OF THE WORLDS, next door lives Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko), a divorced dock worker somewhat in charge of his two kids, who is called into action as Alien TriPods (remove the Tr for a hint at the inspiration for their invention) seek to destroy Earth. The two meet and quickly fall in love. Joined by Cindy's ever-present sidekick, the flirtatious Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), the protagonists must save the planet from aliens and solve the mystery of the ghostly boy. One of the stops along the way includes a sharp lampooning of THE VILLAGE, complete with appearances from SCARY MOVIE veterans Carmen Electra and Chris Elliot, and other cinematic spoofs, including BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, and SAW. The satirical wit extends beyond the movies, containing personal jabs both self-inflicted (Charlie Sheen, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dr. Phil) and not (Mike Tyson, Michael Jackson, and George W. Bush). Ultimately, there is more than enough funniness to sate the SCARY MOVIE or slapstick comedy fan's appetite.

Customer Reviews

Something defiantly fell off on this one
First off, I have to mention how excited I was to see the 4th film of scary movie!!!! I was looking forward to seeing it, but I have to say- at the end of the movie I found myself feeling slightly disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it's an OK film, but it sadly lacked the comedy of the other 3 films. I was very pleased to see Brenda back; however, not even she could bring this up to the standards of the others.

It felt as if each scene was rushed and just randomly placed together- for some reason, it didn't all seem to fit well with each other, it was like "OK, we've done one spoof- quickly we have to do the next one" and everything seems so rushed and unfinished.

Two good aspects of this movie are the USE of parody and cameos. The parodies are done so well that you can keep track even if you haven't watched the 'original' movies yet. And the makers of this movie aren't too shy having half their cast existing out of cameos. In most movies this would fail, but for Scary Movie it does the trick. Scary Movie guarantees lots of familiar faces from movies, sports, and music industry.

Some actors, who haven't had the most success in recent years, like Leslie Nielsen for example, are enjoyable in this movie. They show that with a good direction they are still funny and capable of doing comedies. The writers and producers need to ensure that the next movie (if there is to be another) is not rushed, and endeavour to produce a film that is as funny as the original and its 2 sequels. If they fail, the Scary Movie franchise may end up a parody of that other great such as Police Academy.

Scary Movie 4 marks itself as a decent comedy. There were some funny moments in here that save it from complete boredom. This movie will help you pass a few hours and serves up some slight laughs every now and then.

Best of the Series
Having enjoyed all of the Scary Movie films over the years I thought the latest was the best so far. The spoofs and gags come thick and fast. Anna Faris as ever was on fine form and the guy who spoofs Cruise in War of the Worlds was a welcome addition to the series. No films are sacred and everything is spoofed from the Village to War of the Worlds to Brokeback Mountain. It's worth buying for "the Cruise losing his mind on Oprah" spoof which is quality! If you love slap stick, dumb, fun humour then Scary Movie 4 comes highly recommended.

Disappointing
This film had so few laughs compared to the earlier Scary Movies. I think it took about 30 minutes for the first genuinely funny joke. SM4 seems to concentrate mainly on spoofing Saw, The Village and War of the Worlds, and only the Saw spoofs really have many laughs. The saving grace is the guy who's supposed to be the Tom Cruise character from War of the Worlds. He has most of the best lines and pulls off most of his gags quite well, particularly the Oprah sofa gag. The last 15 minutes its quite good but not nearly good enough to save this from being a big disappointment.