Scary Movie 4

Scary Movie 4
File:Scary movie four ver4.jpg Theatrical release poster
Directed by	David Zucker
Produced by	Robert K. Weiss Craig Mazin
Screenplay by	Craig Mazin Jim Abrahams Pat Proft
Story by	Craig Mazin
Starring	Anna Faris Regina Hall Craig Bierko Bill Pullman Anthony Anderson Carmen Electra Chris Elliott Kevin Hart Cloris Leachman Michael Madsen Phil McGraw Leslie Nielsen Shaquille O'Neal Molly Shannon
Music by	James L. Venable
Cinematography	Thomas E. Ackerman
Edited by	Craig Herring Tom Lewis
Production company	Miramax Brad Grey Pictures Dimension Films
Distributed by	Dimension Films The Weinstein Company
Release dates	April 14, 2006 (2006-04-14)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$40 million
Box office	$178.2 million

Scary Movie 4 is a 2006 American horror comedy parody film and the fourth film of the Scary Movie franchise, as well as the first film in the franchise to be released under The Weinstein Company banner since the purchase of Dimension Films. It was directed by David Zucker, written by Jim Abrahams, Craig Mazin and Pat Proft, and produced by Robert K. Weiss and Craig Mazin. The film marks the final Scary Movie appearances of the main stars, Anna Faris and Regina Hall (who portray Cindy and Brenda, respectively), and concludes the original story arc. This was initially intended to be the final film in the Scary Movie franchise, but Scary Movie 5 was released by The Weinstein Company on April 12, 2013, in a different storyline, with Simon Rex, Charlie Sheen, & Molly Shannon in different roles.

Plot

Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil wake up to find themselves chained to pipes in a bathroom. Their host, Billy the Puppet, reveals that the room is slowly filling with nerve gas with the only way out being to make a basket and get the saws, which have to be used on their feet. Unfortunately, Dr. Phil saws the wrong foot and faints, leaving the two to die.

In New York, the recently widowed Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) visits her brother-in-law, Tom Logan (Charlie Sheen), inquiring about her loneliness with the departure of her nephew, Cody, to the army. Tom's attempted suicide results in his ingesting viagra, which greatly swells his penis and causes his death when he falls off the railing. Afterwards, Cindy takes a job to care for Mrs. Norris (Cloris Leachman), who lives in a haunted house. Next door is Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko), who runs into Mahalik (Anthony Anderson) and CJ (Kevin Hart), learning about their homosexual one-night stand. He is greeted at home by the arrival of his estranged children, Robbie (Beau Mirchoff) and Rachel (Conchita Campbell). Tom and Cindy bond over the following day, Cindy confiding to him about her husband, George's (Simon Rex) death in a fateful boxing match. The two realize their newfound love, but are interrupted by a gigantic triPod which disables electricity and starts vaporizing the town residents.

Cindy converses in mock Japanese with the haunted house's ghost, Toshio (Garrett Masuda), learning that the answer of the invasion is his father's heart. While Tom leaves the city with his children, Cindy reunites with her friend, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), miraculously alive after her death. Following Toshio's directions, the two head to the countryside and end up in a mysterious, isolated community. They are captured and put to trial headed by Henry Hale (Bill Pullman). The result allows them to live but never leave the village. Meanwhile, an emergency United Nations meeting, headed by the eccentric U.S. President Baxter Harris (Leslie Nielsen), who is reluctant to stop reading "My Pet Duck", goes awry when a weapon scavenged from the aliens renders everyone stark-naked.

Tom and his children drive and find themselves in the middle of a war between the U.S. military and the aliens. Excited with the conflict, Robbie runs away, while Tom and Rachel are taken by the triPod. Back at the village, Henry is killed by the village loon, Ezekiel (Chris Elliott), revealing to Cindy that he fathered Toshio, who was killed during Cindy's boxing match. Cindy and Brenda are soon taken by the triPod and sent to the bathroom seen in the prologue. Cindy manages to get through Billy's challenge, but is threatened with the safety of Tom and his children, who are put to traps. Looking at a toilet with the "heart" nearby, Cindy realizes that Billy, through Henry's wife, is the true father of Toshio. Seeing how far Tom would save his children, Billy apologizes for the invasion and releases them. Robbie and Rachel are successfully returned back to their mother (Molly Shannon), who is revealed to have married a much older man. Brenda also becomes acquainted with Billy's friend, Zoltar.

An epilogue set nine months afterward, narrated by James Earl Jones who is subsequently hit by a car, reveals Brenda's giving birth to her child with Zoltar, Mahalik and CJ resuming their relationship, and President Harris being contented with his duck. Meanwhile, Tom appears in The Oprah Winfrey Show and wildly professes his love for Cindy by jumping around, throwing Cindy, and crushing Oprah's hands.

Cast

• Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell
• Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks
• Craig Bierko as Tom Ryan / Horrace P. McTitties
• Leslie Nielsen as President Harris
• Bill Pullman as Henry Hale
• Carmen Electra as Holly
• Chris Elliott as Ezekiel
• Vanessa Minnillo as Ashley
• Michael Madsen as Oliver
• Molly Shannon as Marilyn
• Beau Mirchoff as Robbie Ryan
• Conchita Campbell as Rachel Ryan
• Anthony Anderson as Mahalik
• Kevin Hart as CJ
• DeRay Davis as Marvin
• Cloris Leachman as Ms. Norris
• Henry Mah as Mr. Koji
• Patrice O'Neal as Rashed/CrackHead
• Garrett Masuda as Toshio Saeki
• Kathryn Dobbs as School Teacher
• Link Baker as Zoltar (voice)
• Angelique Naude as Waitress
• Rorelee Tio as Yoko
• Allison Warren as Polish Delegate
• Edward Moss as Michael Jackson
• Champagne Powell as Don King
• Dave Attell as Knifeman
• John Reardon as Jeremiah
• Kimani Ray Smith as Cutman
• Dale Wolfe as Hang Gliding Man

Cameo appearances

• Shaquille O'Neal as himself
• Dr. Phil as himself
• Simon Rex as George Logan
• Charlie Sheen as Tom Logan
• Debra Wilson as Oprah Winfrey
• James Earl Jones as Narrator / Himself
• Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson as girls in Tom's bed
• Lil Jon as himself
• Fabolous as himself/gunman
• Chingy as himself
• Crystal Lowe as Chingy's girl
• Bubba Sparxxx as hoodlum
• Bone Crusher as hoodlum
• Sean P and J-Bo as YoungBloodZ

Parodies

As with the other films in the series, Scary Movie 4 parodies a wide array of movies and television shows.

• Saw (franchise) – Billy the Puppet serves as the parody antagonist.
  • Saw – the opening scene with Shaq, Dr. Phil and the Billy puppet. The same set would be reused in future installments of the actual franchise.
  • Saw II – Cindy and Brenda both wear Venus Flytraps, and Cindy must retrieve a key hidden behind her eye.
• The Village – Central parody
• The Grudge – Main parody
• War of the Worlds – Central parody
• Million Dollar Baby – Cindy's boxing match against a female Mike Tyson.
• Brokeback Mountain – CJ and Mahalik’s sexual encounter inside the tent.
• Hustle & Flow – Cindy's brief first marriage.
• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo – Tom Logan's penis gets attacked by a cat.
• Scooby-Doo – Cindy unmasks "the creatures", discovering Old Lady Henderson and Pig Face Joe.
• The Oprah Winfrey Show – Tom Cruise’s "jumping the couch" incident.
• President Bush's 9/11 book reading incident – President Harris listening to a girl reading a book about a duck at the Edna R. Penhall Elementary School, while being informed about the alien attacks.
• Final Destination - The freakish fatalities at the boxing match; also, James Earl Jones is run over by a passing bus while he narrates mankind's victory through love, similar to Amanda Detmer's character in the film.
• King Kong – Kong is featured on the cover poster.
• La Rosa de Guadalupe - Cindy's hair moving

Reception

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed a total of $40.2 million, the third best opening weekend of the Scary Movie franchise. It has the best Easter weekend opening weekend ever, beating Panic Room which made $30.1 million in its opening and also the second best April opening, only $2 million behind Anger Management's record. As of October 18, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $90,710,620 at the United States box office and $178,262,620 worldwide.

Critical response

Like its predecessor, the film received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 37% based on 125 reviews. Though for the most part it was received less favorably than the first three Scary Movies, with only the second one getting worse reviews, The New York Times' review was relatively positive: "Organized on the principle of parody, not plot..., it's an exercise in lowbrow postmodernism, a movie-movie contraption more nuts than Charlie Kaufman's gnarliest fever dream."

Carmen Electra won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress for her performance in this film and Date Movie.

Home release

The film was released on DVD on August 15, 2006 in rated (83 minutes) and unrated (89 minutes) editions with deleted scenes, bloopers, and outtakes. About 1,581,754 units were sold, bringing in $22,308,989 in revenue.

External links

• Official website
• Scary Movie 4 at IMDb
• Scary Movie 4 at AllMovie
• Scary Movie 4 at Box Office Mojo
• Scary Movie 4 at Rotten Tomatoes
• Scary Movie 4 at Metacritic