Director: Malcolm D. Lee.
Cast: Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex, Erica Ash, Gracie Whitton, Ava Kolker, Katt Williams, Lidia Porto, Charlie Sheen, Lindsay Lohan, Tyler Posey, Katrina Bowden, Terry Crews, Molly Shannon, Sarah Hyland, Snoop Dogg, Bow Wow, Jerry O’Connell, Mike Tyson, Heather Locklear.
Running time: 85 minutes.
Certificate: 15.
Synopsis: After Charlie Sheen is murdered by a ghost, his three children are found in a cabin in the woods. Sent to live with their uncle Dan (Simon Rex) and his partner Jody (Ashley Tisdale), the children appear to have brought a spirit back with them. Meanwhile, Dan is testing drugs on chimps to enhance their intelligence, and Jody battles for a prestigious position within a ballet company.
It’s been seven years since the SCARY MOVIE franchise was last seen loitering around the multiplex. In that time the spoof genre has been repeatedly molested, with the likes of STAN HELSING, MEET THE SPARTANS and DISASTER MOVIE showing an absolute disregard for what was once known as comedy. However, the SCARY MOVIE films aren’t completely innocent in the downfall of a once illustrious expression of hilarity.
Starting with a painful sequence featuring Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan, the scene sets the tone for the rest of the film, showcasing one of many jokes that continuously miss and go on for longer than they need to. Where we’re supposed to find Sheen and Lohan’s references to their past misdemeanours chuckle worthy and even charming, it comes off as self-indulgent and shallow.
Somewhere along the line, the people behind spoofs have forgotten what it was that made them funny in the first place. SCARY MOVIE V continues this tradition of massaging idle minds by simply throwing out images that people recognise from other places. Despite there being a plot, the film continuously descends into irrelevant tangents which help extend the running time, and unfortunately this is true of almost all recent spoofs, with a few exceptional exceptions such as BLACK DYNAMITE.
In a film that keeps it strictly slapstick without an inkling of wit or inspiration, the cast also lack comedic timing, mistakenly delivering lines as if they were jokes. With proceedings never stooping to the unpleasant levels of EPIC MOVIE or DISASTER MOVIE, that’s a real shame, especially when the ensemble are obviously enjoying themselves. But you’ll find no Leslie Nielsens here.
SCARY MOVIE V has changed nothing of the formula laid down by Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg, and to sit through the film is to subject yourself to a world where talent and relevance have been sucked into a huge black hole. Ultimately, this comedy isn’t fun or funny, with the end credits and a joke including a remote control car the only things worth remembering.
SCARY MOVIE V is out in UK cinemas now.
