‘Scary Movie V’ Movie Review

Film: “Scary Movie V”;

Cast: Charlie Sheen, Regina Hall, Lindsay Lohan, Simon Rex, Ashley Tisdale and Snoop Dogg;

Director: Malcolm D. Lee;

Rating: *

If you are weak-hearted, then this film is for you! No it will neither make your heart stronger nor help you get rid of your troubles, but it will surely keep you in splits.

For the un-initiated, the “Scary Movie” series is supposed to be a comedy series. So there is nothing scary about this film.

“Scary Movie V” is a spoofy comedy that makes a mockery of chillers and other great films. The scenes are direct rip-offs from films released not so long ago. The central plotline and characters of the film are taken from “Mama”, a movie that hit theatres barely three months back. And the other list of films include: “Sinister”, “The Planet of the Apes”, “Black Swan”, “Inception”, “Insidious”, “Paranormal Activity”, “The Help”…and the list continues.

The film begins with a take-off from “Paranormal Activity”. Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan appearing as themselves are in Charlie’s bedroom. There are cameras capturing every activity in the room as Charlie feels there is a supernatural entity lurking around. His routine comical sex-romp comes to an end one fine day when the supernatural entity rams him into a wall.

Just like in “Paranormal Activity”, an on-screen subtitle mentions “Charlie’s body was discovered on May 15th and his corpse didn’t stop partying until May 23.”

What follows is a spoof on “Mama”.

Snoop Dogg and Mac Miller, again as themselves, walk in the woods, there they find an abandoned cabin and hit upon Charlie’s three feral kids. The kids are handed over to Charlie’s “brother and sister-in law”, Dan (Simon Rex) and Jody (Ashkey Tisdale). What follows is a series of slapstick comedy and more “Paranormal Activity”.

To complete this jamboree, there is the Mexican Maid, an Exorcist, a gang of Apes, four bright kids enacting a horror massacre, a ballet performance which is a take from “Black Swan”, a whoring Santa showing his raw butt. There is also a lot of humping and jumping around as the list continues.

Yes, this is a mad comedy composed mostly of jokes that were much funnier when you saw the original. This one created less laughs and has the worse story-telling possible.

There is nothing great about the production value of the film either.

The cast seem to have a jolly good time delivering what is expected from them. This is very evident from the clips that followed while the credits rolled.

Director Malcolm D. Lee, a spoof specialist after his earlier Blaxplotation spoof “Undercover Brother”, seems to have done a rushed job with “Scary Movie V”. He has created ideal situations that are supposed to be hilarious, which often isn’t the case. In fact, the constant name-dropping, gross out humour and touching reference points to earlier films, could make this viewing tedious and boring.

“Scary Movie V” is for the no-brainers to laugh out at situational instances. It is the worst in the series.