SCARY MOVIE 2

US, 2001, 82 minutes, Colour.
Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Anna Farris, Tori Spelling, Tim Curry, Chris Elliot, James Woods.
Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans.

Scary Movie 2 is, if anything, even more crass than the original. Its basic framework is a parody of the '99 horror film, The House on Haunted Hill with Jeffrey Rush.

The film also parodies many of the horror films from the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer genre. A brave cast goes through all the motions - however, with all its use of parody of every bodily function, the film sometimes palls in its attempt at humour which ranges from the schoolboy to the adolescent.

The film comes from the same team that made the original which was a box office success, directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans who developed much of his parody craft in the television series Living Colour.

1. The popularity of the original movie? Parody, jokes - crass and gross? The necessity for a sequel - audience expectations?
2. The parody of The Exorcist in the prologue, the imitation of the original with Regan, the head spinning, the bile and the vomiting, the swearing, the vulgarity? James Woods parodying Max von Sydow? The assistant priest? The innuendo? The irreverence? The group singing around the piano and Regan's urinating? The tone of the prologue?

3. The parody of the haunting, the set-up? The transition to the parody of the house on haunted hill? The university, the characters, the setting up of the experiment?

4. Hell House, Hanson and his hands, dirty habits, the food, putting his hand in the food and the reaction of the students? His haunting the place, taken over by the spirit of the dead man? The finale and his death?

5. The professor, lechery? His assistant, in the chair, asserting himself? Jokes on the physically handicapped?

6. The range of students: Cindy and Buddy, the romance, punching each other, their remarks derogatory of each other, the sex scenes? The glamorous girl and her part in the fight against the poltergeist? The student assaulted by the ghost? Shorty and his juvenile jokes? Ray and the camp overtones? Dwight and his being an assistant, participating in the confrontation, the violence and the innuendo?

7. Any character development? Stereotypes?

8. The range of jokes, verbal, physical, scatological? The jokes on bodily functions? Sex?

9. How effective is this kind of parody - or just a passing capitalising on a trend?