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The first Scary Movie film came out in the year 2000. Scary Movie 2, 3, and even 4 followed, but the first is without a doubt still my favorite. The working title of the film had been 'Scream If You Know What I Did Last Halloween' and 'Last Summer I Screamed Because Halloween Fell on Friday the 13th' had also been considered, but in the end they settled with 'Scary Movie' as the final title, one that fits quite well really.

Scary Movie takes the storyline of 'Scream' and turns it into a comedic spoof. Although 'Scream' is the main film parodied here, they've also lifted plot line development from 'I know What You Did Last Summer', have given the film a 'Matrix' and a 'Blair Witch Project' style sequence, and also make reference to 'The Sixth Sense' and 'The Exorcist'. There are also links to other films such as 'Halloween', 'Titanic', and even 'Dawson's Creek', so it's not just films that are parodied with Scary Movie; popular culture also. Not only does the script draw heavily from others films, but the characterization also. You will recognize all of the key characters present in this film from others, something which at times can be greatly amusing.

The film begins with Carmen Electra's character Drew answering the phone to the films killer while she is making herself some popcorn to sit down and eat whilst watching a film. In the vain of 'Scream' she is quickly killed and we are then introduced to the characters that we will spend most of the remaining duration of the film with; Cindy, Bobby, Buffy, Gregg, Ray, Brenda, and Brenda's stoner brother Shorty. Although not a part of the group of friends and main plot, Shorty is still an important character within this parody who is involved in some amusing scenes. The group are talking and Cindy and Gregg reveal that they've both had messages that simply state 'I Know What You Did Last Halloween'. With them reminiscing we now get a flashback to last Halloween when the six of them were driving along an empty road when they hit something in the road, turning out to be a person. The group are shown to pack the body they hit into their boot before proceeding to drive off and dump him into a lake and agree never to talk about this occurrence again. One by one the group begin to be killed off, developing the popular 'Who's Next' Horror convention, climaxing in the house party scene from 'Scream'.

The tagline of the film is "No mercy. No shame. No sequel." The problem with this tagline lies in the fact that there have actually been three sequels, but when the second film was released it had a tagline of "We Lied" so that clears that one up.

Since the success of Scary Movie, other films have come about such as 'Epic Movie', 'Date Movie', 'Not Another Teen Movie', and even an independent film fun poking 'My Big Fat Independent Movie'. It is clear that the success the Scary Movie franchise has enjoyed has spurred others into action, causing others many try and replicate this fantastic success from parody.

The film has made an estimated gross revenue of $278,019,771, not at all a bad figure given that the budget of Scary Movie was around the $19 million mark. The film has an 88 minute running time and features key roles from actors such as Anna Faris, Carmen Electra, Shannon Elizabeth, and even Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans; two of the films producers. It was directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, edited by Mark Helfrich, and distributed by Dimension Films.

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