The Daily Dig: Scary Movie (1991)

You will swoon over the sets, throwback masks, and Halloween costumes in “Scary Movie”, but the story is a bit of a snooze.

A nervous young man is terrorized by the paranoia of an escaped lunatic infiltrating a local haunted house. Let’s dig into 1991’s SCARY MOVIE, directed by Daniel Erickson!

As I See It

First things first: No, not THAT Scary Movie. This one is no spoof.

The imagery attached to the film and the trailer had me very excited to check this one out. The fact that a green John Hawkes was starring in it, too, made this a must-watch.

A film that reportedly put Austin “on the map” as far as indie filmmaking (this is before the Rodriguez boom, apparently) shines when it focuses on the absurd.

Long, low-angle, close-up shots. Wide-eyed characters. Oddball gags. It’s all fun and looks amazing, honestly. The sets are spectacular.

Where it fails is in pacing and story. It just becomes too boring. It felt too much like a backdrop. Like content that’s clipped and played behind some EDM DJ. Some gags get repeated as well, and that just feels disrespectful to the audience.

I enjoyed myself, but the chance to knock your socks off was missed.

Famous Faces

John Hawkes (Warren) had a number of bit parts in many memorable genre films throughout the years. Freaked (Cowboy), Congo (Bob Driscoll), Night of the Scarecrow (Danny), From Dusk till Dawn (Pete, Liquor store clerk), and I Still Know What You Did Last Summer (Dave), to name a few. It was his role as Sol Star in David Milch’s brilliant series Deadwood that I believe put him on the radar to land some chunky parts, and then his gig as Kenny Powers’ brother Dustin in Eastbound & Down alongside Danny McBride, which really showed how talented he is.

Butch Patrick (Eddie) is Eddie Munster from The Munsters.

Of Gratuitous Nature

Nothing to sneer at.

Heartthrob

I really do love John Hawkes. I think he has a ridiculous range that has yet to be fully exploited, which is bananas since he’s been at it since the early eighties.

Ripe for a Remake

There have been quite a few films in recent years that are set at Haunts. The aptly named Haunt starring Damien Maffei comes to mind, as does Hellfest. None of those have the Raimi-esque whimsy of Scary Movie, but I think the spirit is close enough that another one could venture into the zone of over saturation.

Spawns

No progeny to report.

Where to Watch

The diligent folks at AGFA have released a Blu-ray, which you can obtain through a couple of distributors specializing in genre deep cuts. You can also stream it on Tubi.