Scary Movie 4

Director: David Zucker

Starring: Craig Bierko, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Leslie Neilsen, Carmen Electra

Anna Faris returns as loveable, if dimwitted, Cindy Campbell in this latest instalment of the horror spoof series, walking into, and sometimes causing, disastrous situations. The film begins with Cindy, now working as a carer, moving into a house haunted by a malevolent ghost child and setting about finding out who killed him and why. However, she is soon distracted by the handsome neighbour next-door, divorced dad Tom Ryan (Bierko). When the world comes under attack from alien TriPods, Tom flees with his children, whilst Cindy, reunited with randy Brenda Meeks (series regular Regina Hall) ends up in a time-warped village, where she finds the missing father of the ghost child, and sets out to free him from his curse and save the world from the alien invasion.

As with the previous films, Scary Movie 4 is an interlinked collection of horror film parodies, with The Grudge, The Village, and Saw just some of the movies all targeted this time round. However, it is non-horror, sci-fi film War Of The Worlds that provides the most inspiration and material. Replacing the Wayan brothers at the helm is David Zucker, a director not unfamiliar with the parody and slapstick genre, having virtually invented it over 25 years ago with Airplane! and nurtured it with the hilariously silly Naked Gun series. As a result, Scary Movie 4 is slicker, faster and better integrated than the preceding Scary Movie films. His comic gift can be seen best through Zucker regular Leslie Neilsen, here playing Bush-like President Baxter Harris, blundering into a situation he doesn't understand and can’t control. The script by long-time Zucker collaborator screenwriter Jim Abrahams is pacey and humourous, and celebrity cameos from the likes of TV's Dr. Phil and basketball star Shaquille O'Neal add sparkle to the proceedings.

Alex Coe