Scary Movie 4 (www.the-usher.com)

"I want to hear about the what happened to the duck first"

As Cindy Campbell (Faris) starts her new job looking after catatonic woman in a strangely eerie Japanese House, her new neighbour Tom Ryan (Bierko) is having trouble with his wayward son and his needy daughter but both of them have no idea what the big storm overhead is about to bring. Aliens are invading and they have a grudge but now one is save in the village and it is up to Tom and Cindy to save the world.

The biggest question in cinema continues for the fourth time and that question is 'Why do audiences find Scary Movie funny?'

The mystery of why the 'Scary Movie' franchise is successful has baffled both critics and cinemagoers alike but as this very audience centric form of comedy reaches its four incarnation the good or bad news is that this is more of the same. When David Zucker took over the franchise from the awful 'Wayans Brothers' for the third film, the bar was raised to a slightly higher level. Now the level still isn't very high but it did rise from the gutter that the Wayans had it in. The problem is however that for a director who really knows about parody after bringing 'Airplane' and the 'Naked Gun' series to the silver screen, the comedy in the 'Scary Movie' films is very basic.

Parodying hit movies is the simplest way to get laughs and it seems to work with its target audience. This time the films up for ridicule are 'The Grudge', 'The Village', 'Saw', 'War of the Worlds', 'Million Dollar Baby' and 'Brokeback Mountain' but the film also has a pop at President Bush and mainly Tom Cruise. The jokes are extremely basic throughout however, never managing to raise anymore more than a smile but mainly it will have you moaning at the fact that they are so awful.

Anna Faris is doing herself a disservice by appearing in these movies. While you can understand that they will probably be a big pay cheque for her to continue appearing in the movies, she is a much better actress than this. She has started to work with some interesting directors appearing in films like 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Lost in Translation' so she should be looking for better movies than this. The same can be said about Craig Bierko. After starring in 'Cinderella Man' with Russell Crowe, he takes a giant leap backwards by appearing in this film. While his impression of Tom Cruise on Oprah is very funny, the script doesn't really give him any chance of shining. The rest of cast don't really have much to work with but there are some decent cameos from Charlie Sheen, Michael Madsen and Carmen Electra, as well as the master of parody Leslie Nielsen.

'Scary Movie 4' will be a hit with its target audience but for any real comedy or cinema fan, this is comedy aimed at the lowest common denominator. Better than the first two movies in the franchise but no real improvement over the third instalment. The film also suffers from having most of its decent gags appearing in the trailer that then leaves little more anyone to enjoy. The only really scary thing it is that there is bound to be a fifth film.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented well.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (13.42 mins)
Entitled 'Tom Ryan's alternative crane screw up', 'Cindy' new job interview', 'Cindy vs. The Sweater', 'The horse need a new solenoid', 'Attack of the ear buds', 'Tom tries to get the crowd's attention', 'A new good-bye for Tom and Cindy', 'The new meeting of Cindy and Brenda', 'President destroys some American history', 'Cindy and Brenda scale the wall', 'Kill the Moron', 'Henry's Toys', 'Chingy and the VIP room', 'Saying goodbye to the ghosts' and 'Brenda and the H-500', these deleted or alternative scenes are accompanied by commentary from director David Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss and writer/producer Craig Mazin.

Bloopers (7.00 mins)
Watch Dr Phil, Shaquille O'Neal, Anna Faris, Anthony Anderson and Craig Bierko make many a mistake and have fun on set.

The Man behind the Laugh - Director David Zucker (3.43 mins)
Stars Anna Faris, Leslie Nielson, Craig Bierko, Michael Madsen, Molly Shannon and Charlie Sheen talk about working with the master of spoof, director David Zucker.

Zany Spoof humour - Zucker Style (2.53 mins)
Writer Craig Mazin and stars Craig Bierko, Simon Rex and Leslie Nielsen talk about the influence of David Zucker on the spoof genre.

The Visual Effects of Scary Movie 4 (8.31 mins)
President of Entity FX Matt Beck, senior visual effects producer Kymber Lim and visual effects producer Alison O'Brien take you behind the scenes of the production of the visual effects. Here we see how they created the iPod attack, the alien tripods, the ass cloud, the storm and the President and the duck.

Youngbloodz (3.25 mins)
The rap duo talk about their seen with the red weed

Rapper� Actors (2.38 mins)
Rap stars Lil Jon, Chingy, Youngbloodz and Fabolous talk about acting in Scary Movie 4.

The Improvisation of Craig Bierko (7.09 mins)
Director David Zucker and actor Craig Bierko introduce the full version of the Oprah interview of Tom Ryan

Feature Commentary with director David Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss and writer/producer Craig Mazin
The Scary Movie production team talk about the fourth film in the series. This fun and chatty commentary comes from three men who really enjoy working with each other. They outline the nine-month process of bringing the film to the screen and talk about the technical difficulties in parodying blockbusters with much larger budgets. This is a good track from three people having fun.

The Scary Truth: A Conversation with the Filmmakers (35.15 mins)
Director David Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss and writer/producer Craig Mazin talk about parodying 'War of the Worlds', 'The Grudge', 'Saw', 'Brokeback Mountain' and 'Million Dollar Baby'. They reveal how they became involved with the series and the history of parody movies. This is an interesting featurette that tries to explain their approach to the films.

OVERALL

Scary Movie fans should rejoice at the bonus features included in this release. With a good commentary, interviewed and deleted and extended scenes, this is a very well put together package that fans will really enjoy.

DVD

Scary Movie

Scary Movie 2

Scary Movie 3

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2006