This is a hard movie to review. You can't really comment on it's set design, costumes, art directions, character development, underlying themes. The only question really is whether it's funny.
The film is a parody of others films like I know what you did last summer, Scream, The Matrix and many others. Because it's a hodgepodge of all these other different movies though it really is all over the place, though this original comes the closest to have a single steady storyline compared to the sequels. The film is basically a parody of some 1990s slasher movies, the killer is now no longer a monster like in the 1980s but could be a normal person, perhaps one who goes to the School with their other friends for instance. The laughs it hopes to give is largely based on toilet humour, sex gags, use of drugs, breast implants, race, it's pretty low brow stuff. Where it's at it's best is being a little meta, mocking the idea of casting a group of actors in their late 20s early 30s to play characters in a high school horror movie for instance while doing just that. I did find the character Ray quite funny, for me he's the best one in the story. The trouble with the movie is a film like Scream is already a bit of a meta film, with a slight comedy edge and you can't really spoof a comedy. Scream as flawed as it is, is still more intelligent than Scary Movie, with some of it's now dated references to popular adverts at the time for instance. The film plays with obvious jokes of victims falling over, freezing and turning into a nervous wreck making bad choices when trying to escape the killer. To be honest though this is probably more believable than someone who's never faced anything like that in their life suddenly turning into action man when under attack. The character in this film are pretty disposable, one dimensional and unrealistic, they're so self absorbed you just don't care about them. Even for a comedy. The film lacks depth or subtly, the best moment I thought with the spoof trailer in the cinema. Other jokes though are very laboured, the female PE teacher called Ms Man. The film looks quite cheap, colours are bright, the cinematography is basic and it looks like it was designed to cost very little and hopefully make a great deal. Nothing is too low for the comedy to touch either, the mentally handicapped, the abuse of the elderly, suicidal teachers....this has it all. Other examples of the humour are very surreal, a horse in a garage for instance. The film is very early 2000s, the fashion, the hair styles, the stoner culture, the music, the IT girl, the heavy sarcasm and streak of meanness which underpins a lot of the jokes. I loved this film a lot when I was young but now I think it doesn't hold up very well.
The film is a parody of others films like I know what you did last summer, Scream, The Matrix and many others. Because it's a hodgepodge of all these other different movies though it really is all over the place, though this original comes the closest to have a single steady storyline compared to the sequels. The film is basically a parody of some 1990s slasher movies, the killer is now no longer a monster like in the 1980s but could be a normal person, perhaps one who goes to the School with their other friends for instance. The laughs it hopes to give is largely based on toilet humour, sex gags, use of drugs, breast implants, race, it's pretty low brow stuff. Where it's at it's best is being a little meta, mocking the idea of casting a group of actors in their late 20s early 30s to play characters in a high school horror movie for instance while doing just that. I did find the character Ray quite funny, for me he's the best one in the story. The trouble with the movie is a film like Scream is already a bit of a meta film, with a slight comedy edge and you can't really spoof a comedy. Scream as flawed as it is, is still more intelligent than Scary Movie, with some of it's now dated references to popular adverts at the time for instance. The film plays with obvious jokes of victims falling over, freezing and turning into a nervous wreck making bad choices when trying to escape the killer. To be honest though this is probably more believable than someone who's never faced anything like that in their life suddenly turning into action man when under attack. The character in this film are pretty disposable, one dimensional and unrealistic, they're so self absorbed you just don't care about them. Even for a comedy. The film lacks depth or subtly, the best moment I thought with the spoof trailer in the cinema. Other jokes though are very laboured, the female PE teacher called Ms Man. The film looks quite cheap, colours are bright, the cinematography is basic and it looks like it was designed to cost very little and hopefully make a great deal. Nothing is too low for the comedy to touch either, the mentally handicapped, the abuse of the elderly, suicidal teachers....this has it all. Other examples of the humour are very surreal, a horse in a garage for instance. The film is very early 2000s, the fashion, the hair styles, the stoner culture, the music, the IT girl, the heavy sarcasm and streak of meanness which underpins a lot of the jokes. I loved this film a lot when I was young but now I think it doesn't hold up very well.