It’s only been three years since the Wayans Brothers first brought their mega-spoof film “Scary Movie” to theaters. After one sequel and plenty of criticism, the sibling duo backed away from the franchise, leaving the studios to make their own decision. Unfortunately, they chose wrong by creating a third and, with any luck, final “Scary Movie.”
In the third installment of the series, the filmmakers change gears to spoofing the more serious horror/suspense films released lately including “The Ring,” “Signs” and “The Others” as well as other, non-horror films like “8 Mile” and “Matrix Reloaded.”
“Scary Movie 3” once again centers around Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), all grown up now and working as a news reporter. While Cindy’s investigating mysterious crop circles in Tom Logan’s (Charlie Sheen) farm, she’s dragged into another horrifying experience after watching a strange video that threatens your life after seven days.
“Scary Movie 3” is high on jokes and low on humor, missing with virtually every scene and creating just enough comedy to please any boy under the age of 15. “Airplane” and “Naked Gun” veteran director David Zucker does little to help revive the series in any way, but does include some great cameos by the Coors’ Twins, Jeremy Piven, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy and “American Idol’s” Simon Cowell.
It’s hard to believe that this series is still popular enough to survive, but with reports of a fourth “Scary Movie” already in pre-production, it seems that anyone past puberty will have to deal with the consequences.
2.5 / 5 Stars
Starring: Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Leslie Nielsen, Jeremy Piven
Director: David Zucker
