Scary Movie 4 (2006) [Unrated & Uncensored] – DVD

**/**** Image B+ Sound B+ Extras C
starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman
screenplay by Craig Mazin & Jim Abrahams & Pat Proft
directed by David Zucker

by Travis Mackenzie Hoover The problem with Scary Movie 4 isn't that the jokes are cheap–indeed, we'd be disappointed if they weren't. No, the problem is that the film has no real point-of-view beyond a) black people are funny; b) gay people are funny; c) lascivious black women are hilarious; and d) recent horror movies fit together (however uneasily). The torrent of hit-or-miss gags is perhaps par for the course, but these bits aren't held together by some overarching idea or sensibility–there's no satire of current horror titles, just a parade titles and the lazy ethnic/sexual/bathroom humour that is this sort of movie's bread and butter. Which probably won't mean squat to the people who've made the series a cash cow, but anyone looking for genuine comedy (as opposed to listless shtick) is advised to look elsewhere.

After a dumb name-dropping opener in which Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil exchange Saw pleasantries, we're more or less introduced to innocent Cindy (the redoubtable Anna Faris) as she's moved into the house from The Grudge, which just happens to be next door to Tom Cruise–I mean, Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko)–in War of the Worlds country. Though Cindy and Tom immediately fall in love, their relationship gets put on hold by the appearance of Japanese ghosts in Cindy's abode and by the arrival of alien tripods in everyone else's. Long story short, everybody winds up on the run, with Cindy and friend Brenda (Regina Hall) seeking answers in The Village and the rest running scared–except, of course, for the President (Leslie Neilsen), who just wants to know what happens in the story with the duck.

I can be reasonably tolerant of this sort of thing: I was 13 once, too, thus my mind can grasp the attraction to obvious jokes like the ones featured here. Still, I've long since outgrown the revue-type spoof; mostly, I stared blankly into my monitor as the writers tried desperately to link some rather disparate material while just as desperately avoiding any take on the material. Although I was somehow out of town for the first three instalments of the Scary Movie franchise, it's not hard to make out the signs of sequel fatigue: nobody's really interested in doing anything creative, instead merely going through the motions so as to justify paychecks and grease the wheels of commerce. And while that can sometimes result in a freewheeling shambles, here it's resulted in a big whimper, if not a big yawn.

I would not insist on the annoyance of the racial and sexual humour (which manages to rope in not just horror films but Brokeback Mountain and Million Dollar Baby, too) if it weren't so endemic to the film's problem. Scary Movie 4 is so hung up on the innate hilarity of difference that it's clear it hasn't got anything else in its arsenal: the "surefire" gags of black men with gold chains and two dudes sloppily sucking face are there because the writers know they don't have to break a sweat coming up with a punchline. The transgressions against straight white propriety do the work for them–and everybody breaks for lunch. Leaving aside the issue of appropriateness, it shows the tendency of mainstream comedy to lead away from wit, though the film's success likewise shows such witlessness' indestructible appeal.

THE DVD
Distributed on DVD through Genius Products, Dimension's "Unrated & Uncensored" edition of Scary Movie 4 has its issues. The 1.85:1, 16×9-enhanced image is a little too heavily saturated: certain colours seem to be floating on top of the image, while shadow detail is generally poor. The Dolby Digital 5.1 audio is similarly compromised: although it gives nice ominous rumbling and hum through the surround channels, a certain confusion in terms of the best style for this mix comes through loud and clear. Extras are as follows:

Feature Commentary with director David Zucker, writer/producer Craig Mazin and producer Robert K. Weiss
The jokey track is notable for its singling-out of deviations from the theatrical PG-13 cut, the MPAA rationales for changes, and a few technical points as well, but it's most telling for Zucker's explanation of his confederates' method: "We don't do satire and we have no point." I couldn't have said it better myself.

Deleted Scenes
There's nothing in these 15 scenes that would upset the movie's narrative arc: just random jokes, like Anna Faris being attacked by her own oversized turtleneck and two variants on the Tr-iPod attack (including earphones that crush a minivan). Zucker, Mazin, and Weiss are on hand for optional commentary on why they consider many of these to be failed jokes.

Bloopers (6 mins.)
What it sounds like. If you like this sort of thing, it's the sort of thing you'll like.

"The Man Behind the Laugh (David Zucker, Director)" (3 mins.)
Many of the participants describe what it's like to be directed by Zucker–or rather, what it's like to hear him crack up after every take, which is pretty much the director's M.O.. No more interesting information is on offer.

"Zany Spoof Humor- Zucker Style" (2 mins.)
David Zucker defined a style with Airplane!; it was funny. That pretty much covers the terrain of this clip, although one or two bits of his ironclad rules of comedy see the light of day.

"An Interviewer's Worst Nightmare" (5 mins.)
A DVD first: a blooper reel for the featurettes. Various cast members crack jokes, miss questions, wonder what the question was, and generally speaking fluff their lines in a context where they don't even have any scripted dialogue.

"The Visual Effects of Scary Movie 4" (8 mins.)
At last, a not-entirely jokey feature: several FX people describe the challenges of a low budget, a tight schedule, and the necessity of creating digital "ass clouds." Not as in-depth as you'd like, but not bad.

"Youngbloodz" (3 mins.)
Back to thin jokes: rappers Youngbloodz describe their ecstasy over one very lame weed-related line and kill enough time to fill three minutes.

"Rappers… Actors" (2 mins.)
It is established that rappers are featured in Scary Movie 4, and that this is a good thing. Duly noted.

Also on board are the film's trailer and a weblink; trailers for The Protector, Lucky Number Slevin, Pulse (the American rethink), and Clerks II begin on startup.

91 minutes; Unrated; 1.85:1 (16×9-enhanced); English DD 5.1; CC; Spanish subtitles; DVD-9 + DVD-5; Region One; Dimension/Genius