‘Scary Movie’ and the Brutal, Gruesome Death of the 2000s Parody Film

Society might be collapsing around us in 2022, but it’s comforting to know that at least film franchises will outlive us all.

In a throwback for the ages, the beginning of the year featured the release of a next-gen Scream film, Scream 5, proving that the killer is never really dead - especially if there is money to be made at the box office during a pandemic. 

Over the years, the horror genre has evolved – moving from blockbuster slasher killer-on-the-run narratives to more cerebral, psychological mind fucks like Us, The Invisible Man, Parasite and Midsommar. Whether moviemakers have developed more intellectual, craft-making tendencies or we as an audience have acquired slightly more pompous viewing habits, one thing remains: parodying modern horror films (well) has become basically non-existent. 

This latest Scream release brings back memories of the slew of parody films that came in thick and fast off the back of the initial movie's success. Do you remember Scary Movie? I hadn’t given it much thought until now, but I gotta ask, what the fuck happened to horror parody films - and why did they die such a gruesome, brutal death?

To try and really understand where it all fell apart, we’ve gotta go back to the release of the first horror parody film that sparked a generation of copycats. On the 31st of August, 2000, we’d just survived the impending digital doom known as the Y2K glitch - where technology pundits predicted a “bug” would create a computer apocalypse resetting all programming - and I spent every waking hour thinking about how I could get my hands on a pair of pink Etnies. Somewhere between all of that, Scary Movie was released to the world – receiving critical and financial acclaim. 

Created by brothers Keenen Ivory Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Marlon Wayans (The Wayans Brothers, obviously) the film spared nobody and poked fun at the big horror hitters: Scream, I Know What You Did Last Summer, The Sixth Sense and The Blair Witch Project.

These early 21st century slasher flicks undoubtedly ruled the box office at the time: preppy, fresh-faced stars led the helm and inspired posters in dorm rooms, high school bedrooms, and retrofitted onto t-shirts. Jennifer Love-Hewitt! Neve Campbell! Freddie Prinze Jr! How could you not poke fun at these characters?  Their perfectly gelled hair, their puka shell necklaces and their unwavering commitment to continue walking into dark rooms where the killer was *always* waiting for them. Scary Movie was an easy win. It hardly had the spoof stylings of the Mel Brooks-led parody films of yesteryear, but for a pre-teen like me, the dick and boob jokes had me rolling on the floor. A legion of fans agreed, prompting a generation of kids to repeat “WAZZZZZZUPPP” at any given moment. We had a new catch phrase and we sure as shit weren’t going to let it go unspoken.

After the release of Scary Movie, the dollars came rolling in to the tune of almost USD$300 million. A star was quickly born in Anna Faris and plans were laid out to roll this cash cow all the way to the bank. A new franchise was born. 

Throughout the early 2000s, Scary Movie 2 (2001), Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006) were released, and with each new film in the franchise it became clear the gag was up. In 2013, when literally nobody asked for it, they released Scary Movie 5 without most of the original stars. The film’s creators, the Wayan brothers, had flown the coop as well, and wayward Hollywood vets Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan joined the cast in perhaps an ominous sign of the film's quality. As to be expected, the movie was a critical and box office bomb - the jokers had become the joke, and I had long stopped rofl-ing, lol-ing and lmao-ing with my friends.

So, how did it all go so wrong? 

Was this a sign that horror parody films had copped a stake through the heart and were dead and buried for good? 

Parody films are nothing new – in fact, they’ve been around since the 1900s. The first iterations poked fun at detective genres like Sherlock Holmes, before moving into the 70s with western spoofs like Mel Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. Leslie Nelson took over in the  80s and 90s, marked with the parody badge of honour thanks to the popular The Naked Gun franchise. But there was something about the success and fall of the early 2000s parody films that marked the death of something special. 

Outside of the Scary Movie franchise there were plenty of studios keen to jump on the bandwagon, all with varying degrees of success. Honourable mentions go to Austin Powers (1997 - 2002), Not Another Teen Movie (2001), Shaun Of The Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007) thanks to their irreverent scripts, talented comedic actors and, in the case of, Austin Powers, ability to generate a tidy sum at the box office. Dishonourable mentions go to Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Superhero Movie (2008), Disaster Movie (2008) and Extreme Movie (2008) because, well, they weren’t very funny.

However, as the buck rolled on and the parody movies kept coming, things started to get really desperate. Successful parody films always honoured the originals with witty, acerbic and smart hot takes - whereas the slew of 2000s spoofs that continued to get greenlit were just….dumb. 

If we’re wanting to point fingers at who to blame for murdering the horror-parody film genre (and spoof film genre at large), there are a few culprits that collectively marked the end.

Firstly, plenty of movie buffs will aim their crosshairs at Canadian filmmakers Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. The pair had a hand in writing the original script for Scary Movie, and subsequently went on to write and produce spoofs like Date Movie, Epic Movie, Disaster Movie and Vampires Suck. For many, these two have blood on their hands – sullying the good name of parody and making a mockery of the mocking. In the end, it seemed they stuck to the same tired formula just to make a quick buck.

And look, it might be a bit of a hard pill to swallow, but the audience must take some part in why things crumbled.

I hate to use the words “cancel culture”, but given the state of play, it’s hard to see where a genre of film that is based on poking fun at others could thrive or even find an audience in 2022. The films that are getting made today are nuanced, self-referential and weave narratives that tie extremely close to things we’re facing in the real world. With all of that under the belt, it doesn’t leave a lot of room for a parody film to come in and pounce on the tropes. I certainly wouldn’t want to be in that pitch meeting.

Getting a film greenlit, made, produced, sold and marketed in the middle of a pandemic - and while the in-cinema experience takes its final breaths - is somewhat of a gargantuan feat in the current times. To have someone come and shit all over that with a parody film? Tough to make that work.

I’m not sure if parody films will ever have a resurgence – at least in that that familiar, “WAZUUUUPPP” kinda way.  I’m certainly not a movie prophet.

But there might be a time in the not-too-distant future where things start to get really grim and all we have to keep us warm is a silly little parody film. For now, though, it feels like there’s no space for it. But hey, once Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk start hosting kick-ons on Mars, we might just be ready for Scary Movie 12.