| Scary Movie 5 | |
| Director: | Malcolm D. Lee |
| Producer: |
|
| Starring: | |
| Cinematography: | Steven Douglas Smith |
| Editing: | Sam Seig |
| Music: | James L. Venable |
| Studio: | |
| Distributor: | Dimension Films |
| Runtime: | 86 minutes[2] |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Budget: | $20 million[3] |
| Gross: | $78.4 million |
Scary Movie 5 (stylized as Scary MoVie) is a 2013 American parody film directed by Malcolm D. Lee, written by David Zucker and Pat Proft, and produced by Zucker and Phil Dornfeld. It is the standalone sequel to Scary Movie 4 (2006) and the fifth installment in the Scary Movie film series. It is the second and last film in the series to be distributed by The Weinstein Company, as well as the only one not to involve Miramax Films.[4] The film stars Ashley Tisdale, Simon Rex, Erica Ash, Katrina Bowden, Terry Crews, Heather Locklear, J. P. Manoux, Mac Miller, Jerry O'Connell, Molly Shannon, Snoop Dogg, Kate Walsh and Katt Williams.
The film is the only installment of the franchise not to feature Cindy Campbell (played by Anna Faris) or Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall). It premiered on April 11, at the Hollywood's ArcLight Cinerama Dome.[5] The film parodies various horror films and other popular culture.
Scary Movie 5 was released on April 12, 2013.[6] The film received negative reviews from critics. With a gross of $78.4 million against a $20 million budget, it is the lowest-grossing film in the Scary Movie series despite being a box office success. A sequel, Scary Movie 6, is in development with the Wayans brothers' involvement after 18 years.
Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan get together to make a sex tape with over 20 cameras in his room. They do all sorts of bedroom antics, including gymnastics, riding a horse, and having clowns jump in. Sheen is pulled into the air by a paranormal force and thrown against walls, shelves, and doors until he lands on the bed again. Frightened, Lohan decides to go home when she also flies into the air; becoming possessed she throws Sheen into the camera, killing him. The text explains that Sheen's body was found that day but he did not stop partying until days later and that his three children were found missing, Lohan was arrested, again, and a reward was put out for the missing kids.
Several months later, Ja'Marcus and D'Andre are walking in the Humboldt County woods in California, searching for cannabis to steal. Afterwards, they hide in a cabin in the woods. Inside, they see three strange creatures, later confirmed to be Sheen's children, and turn them in for the reward. The feral children are placed in isolation at a child development research center for a few months until they are deemed well enough to be returned to familial custody.
Sheen's brother Dan Sanders and his wife Jody come for them. They can only have them if they agree to stay in a large suburban middle-class home fitted with security cameras. She is reluctant to take them at first but soon adapts. In an attempt to bond with their new children, Jody auditions for a ballet performance, Swan Lake, and is given the lead, the Swan Queen.
Meanwhile, a continuing pattern of bizarre paranormal activity in their new home makes them investigate further. They eventually learn from the children that the attacks on their home are by "Mama", their mother, who is under a curse and wants them back to sacrifice both herself and the children. Maria, the Hispanic live-in maid and housekeeper, is frightened and keeps trying various rituals, Catholic and otherwise, to ward off the evil spirits in the house.
During the day, Dan is frustrated with the modest progress of his test subjects at a primate intelligence research facility; ironically, he is not bright enough to realize that one of the chimpanzees, Caesar, is now actually much smarter than he is. One night, the pool drain invites others to a party. In the morning, Maria sees the mess in the pool and does more rituals, causing Dan to fire her. Because Dan doesn't understand her Spanish, their fighting leads to the lab releasing all of the apes.
Jody and Dan, with the help of Jody's close friend Kendra Brooks who she had met at ballet, must quickly find a way to lift the curse and save their family. Along the way, they seek help from psychic Blaine Fulda, a complete fraud, and dream extractor Dom Kolb, who helps them understand that the solution to their problems lies in the mysterious Book of the Evil.
However, Jody and Kendra are oblivious to the book's power, wreaking havoc on the four friends. They take turns reading the book's two passages: one that unleashes demons, "gort klaatu barada nikto", and the other that frees them from possession. When "Mama" takes the children to a cliff to sacrifice them, Jody fails to lift the curse with the book, but manages to knock the evil spirit into Ja'Marcus and D'Andre's pool, where a shark devours her.
Realizing the love for her adopted children is all she needs, Jody gives the Swan Queen part to Kendra, who performs the dance in the style of a stripper. The audience applauds enthusiastically, including Jody, Dan, the children, Kendra's family, and Madea. The narrator is revealed to be Caesar, who tells the audience that humans should enjoy the time they have on Earth, saying that apes will one day to take over the world.
In a post-credits scene, Sheen wakes up, realising the whole movie was a dream. After Kolb tells Sheen he will be sleeping with Lohan, a car crashes into the room, killing him. The driver is Lohan; she gets out, throws Kolb the car keys and says, "You were driving".
The main films parodied in Scary Movie 5 include Paranormal Activity, Black Swan, Mama and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Other films parodied are Sinister, Inception, Ted (only in the unrated DVD),[12] Evil Dead (which was released a week prior to the film), The Cabin in the Woods, Insidious and The Help.[13]
The film is directed by Malcolm D. Lee and co-written and co-produced by David Zucker, who previously directed Scary Movie 3 (2003) and Scary Movie 4 (2006). Anna Faris, who starred in the previous films in the franchise, confirmed that she would not return for the fifth film.[14] Tisdale's involvement in the film was confirmed in June 2012.[15] [16]
Lohan and Sheen joined the cast in August 2012.[17] [18] Terry Crews joined the cast on August 14, 2012.[19]
Filming began in September 2012.[20] [21] The first promotional image of the film, featuring Lohan and Sheen in the very first scene of the movie, was released on September 20, 2012.[22] [23]
The only actors from any of the previous installments to appear in this film are Sheen,[24] Rex, Shannon, and Hammond. They do not portray their original characters, Sheen stars as himself, Rex plays Dan, Shannon plays Heather, and Hammond plays a doctor.
The film was largely shot in and around Atlanta, Georgia in the fall of 2012, with additional filming January and February 2013 at Sunset Gower Studios in Los Angeles. Zucker reportedly handled additional filming and reshoots while Malcolm D. Lee was starting production for The Best Man Holiday (2013).
| Scary Movie 5: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack | |
| Type: | Soundtrack |
| Artist: | Various Artists |
| Released: | April 23, 2013 |
| Recorded: | 2013 |
| Genre: | Film soundtrack |
| Length: | 44:34 |
| Label: | Lakeshore Records |
Scary Movie 5: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack of the film and was released on April 23, 2013.[25] [26]
| Scary Movie 5: Original Motion Picture Score | |
| Type: | film |
| Artist: | James L. Venable |
| Released: | May 14, 2013 |
| Recorded: | 2013 |
| Genre: | Score |
| Label: | Lakeshore Records |
| Chronology: | James L. Venable film scores |
| Prev Year: | 2010 |
| Next Title: | Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie |
| Next Year: | 2013 |
Scary Movie 5: Original Motion Picture Score is the soundtrack of the film scored by James L. Venable it was released on May 14, 2013.[27] All songs were written and composed by Venable.
Scary Movie 5 was released on DVD and Blu-ray on August 20, 2013.[28] An unrated version was also released.
Scary Movie 5 grossed $32 million in North America and $46.4 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $78.4 million.[3] In North America, the film opened to #2 in its first weekend with $14.2 million, behind 42, making it the lowest-grossing opening weekend for a film in the Scary Movie franchise.[29]
It was expected to take in about half as much as its predecessors, around $17 million in its opening weekend.[30] [31] [32] The film held up reasonably well in its second weekend, slipping two spots to #4 with an estimated $6,296,000.[33] In its third weekend, the film dipped 43.8% to #7 earning an estimated $3,457,000. The film held a spot in the top ten for the fourth weekend in a row, falling to #9 with a gross of $1,441,360. Scary Movie 5 fell to #13 in its fifth weekend earning $675,942 and slid to #15 in its sixth with $420,253.[34]
Scary Movie 5 was not screened for critics in advance.[35] The film received negative reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 4% based on 52 reviews and an average rating of 2.29 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Juvenile even by Scary Movie standards, this fifth installment offers stale pop culture gags that generate few laughs."[36] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 11 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[37] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "C−" on a scale of A+ to F.[38]
IGN gave the film a 1.0 out of 10.[39] Stephanie Merry of The Washington Post gave the film zero stars saying, "The movie is so appalling that even a film fan who guffawed her way through The Aristocrats would feel nothing but a deep emptiness as the end credits begin to roll, wondering if one solid joke was too much to ask from a movie that bills itself as comedy."[40]
Joe Neumaier of The New York Daily News gave the film one star saying, "Like so much of this whole series – hatched in 2000 by the Wayans brothers and intermittently directed by Airplane! veteran David Zucker, though newcomer Malcolm D. Lee takes over here – the mere mention of a familiar pop culture figure or title is supposed to be hilarious. It often isn't, and in fact the constant name-dropping and gross-out humor gets tiresome (in a movie that's at least 10 minutes too long). Luckily, folks like Snoop and good sports like Sheen and, yes, Lohan, break up the monotony. Until, like an undead beastie, the boredom and dumb jokes come roaring back."[41]
Rafer Guzman of Newsday felt that "Even the talented people – comedian Katt Williams as a fake psychic, high-energy actor Jerry O'Connell in a send-up of the 'Fifty Shades of Grey' books – get chewed up and spit out by this relentless anti-laugh machine. Scary Movie 5 doesn't even have the imagination for a worthwhile gross-out joke. When the best you can offer is a poopy toothbrush, it's time to pack it in."[42] Darren Franich of Entertainment Weekly said "Hitting theaters seven years after the last Scary Movie, the new film doesn't even feature the ameliorating presence of Anna Faris, who gave the earlier films a certain spoofy grace. In her place is High School Musical refugee Ashley Tisdale, her face frozen in an eye roll of mild irritation. Who can blame her? The film hopscotches between too-late riffs on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Inception, Insidious, and Black Swan. At a running time of 86 minutes, it's about as long as an episode of Saturday Night Live, except with less laughs and worse storytelling."[43] Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter said "The filmmakers' desperation is evident from the fact that a good chunk of the running time is devoted to spoofing the recent Jessica Chastain starrer Mama. While that film was indeed a sleeper hit, it hardly seems memorable enough to warrant such sustained treatment, and indeed the comic payoffs are nil."[44]
The film has earned three nominations at the 34th Golden Raspberry Awards including Worst Supporting Actress for Lindsay Lohan, Worst Screen Combo for Lohan and Charlie Sheen and Worst Prequel, Remake, Ripoff or Sequel.[45]
Director Malcolm D. Lee was very critical of the movie: "It was just a bad movie. Believe me. Don't bother going to see that movie. Or renting it, or anything. It's not worth your time".[46]