Jolt Country

Barely a year after the release of the first film, the Wayans returned to theaters with a largely-unrelated sequel that surpasses the original in almost every way.

The film opens with an Exorcist parody that's funnier than anything from the first film. Andy Richter plays Father Harris, who plays "Shake That Ass" on the piano during the home party scene. "Megan" (played by a young, unrecognizable, and then-unknown Natasha Lyonne) breaks up the party by urinating on the carpet for a full minute, after which her mother apologizes to her guests before shoving her daughter's face in the puddle and hitting her with a newspaper while shouting "bad girl!" Moments later, the perverted Father McFeely (James Woods) arrives and when Megan's mother complains that her daughter will no longer let her touch her, he replies, "yes, sometimes you have to give them candy." McFeely enters the girl's room with Father Harris and when he sees the possessed girl replies "Fuck this!" before attempting to leave. After multiple riffs off dialogue from the Exorcist, the scene ends with hundreds of gallons of pea soup vomit. The scene has nothing to do with the prior film, or this film, but it's funny and gets things started.

Cindy (Anna Faris) is back along with her friends Brenda, Shorty, and Ray (all of whom died in the previous film) along with newcomers Alex (Tori Spelling), Tommy (James DeBello), Buddy (Christopher Masterson, Francis from Malcom in the Middle) and Theo (Kathleen Robertson). In this film, the former high school seniors are now college freshman. Rounding out the cast are the hosts of Hell House: Tim Curry, Chris Elliott, and David Cross. Every scene featuring Elliott or Cross or Elliott AND Cross is gold, Jerry.



The main plot of Scary Movie 2 comes from the Legend of Hell House and those movies in which a group of people get locked in a haunted house overnight. Tim Curry has brought in the students to observe, but soon a real spirit (the evil Kane) arrives and the teens, along with help from the others, take on the evil spirit. Perhaps even less than the first movie, the plot here is so simple as to be mostly unimportant. After arriving in the house, the cast spend the majority of the film alternating between being chased by the ghost and chasing him back.

Unlike the first film, there are many more jokes this time around. There are scene parodies, short parodies, and lots and lots of smaller jokes. Again not all the references have aged well -- while looking for something to wear, Cindy finds a presidential dress with a white stain on it -- but this time they pass by so quickly that it doesn't matter as much. There are certainly things that Gen-Z won't get, like a scene in which Shorty's "brain on drugs" is revealed to be Beetlejuice from the Howard Stern show (my wife didn't even get that one), but again with more things thrown at the wall, more things stick. The one standout aged moment is another commercial parody, this one of the Nike basketball commercial. Not only does nobody remember that commercial, but by the way it's shot it's painfully obvious that Marlon Wayans is the only member of the cast who knows how to dribble a basketball; everything else is shot from the shoulders up or the shoulders down. Another joke is paid off when a character's wheelchair has a blow out and is revealed to be Firestone brand. Remember that controversy?

Where the first film parodies a couple of films, dozens appear here -- but again, it's the quick one liners and stupid jokes that get bigger laughs this time. There's a parody scene of What Lies Beneath, and it's sort of humorous, but minutes later Chris Elliott has his hand stuck in a turkey's butthole and screams "Hiawatha!" for no reason and it's fucking hilarious.



The sexual hijinks are back as well, this time without the nudity. Alex (Tori Spelling) has sex with the ghost and spends the rest of the movie trying to hook up with him again, Ray gets attacked by a Poltergeist-like clown doll only to turn the tables and give it "a balloon animal" where the sun doesn't shine, and wheelchair-bound David Cross demonstrates how he can "toss his own salad." Oh, and Cindy gets stuck to the wall with someone's semen -- again. So, yeah -- R-rated.

By the end of the film, our three heroines have embodied Charlie's Angels and take on Chris Elliott's Handson (who has been possessed by the evil Kane -- not Big Daddy Kane). Dead people return, all is well, and some of the cast would return for Scary Movie 3.