Comedy Film Review

Scary Movie 3 (2003) Directed by: David Zucker

Scary Movie 3 is the third film of the Scary Movie parodic series which mocks mainly
thriller/horror films, the first film mocks Scream, the second mocks I Know What You Did
Last Summer and this film mocks The Ring, 8 Mile and The Matrix. The storyline is
theres a killer video tape going around, when you watch the video and the phone rings
after to tell you youre going to die in seven days and you do.

Scary Movie 3 uses several comedic theories and different types of humour, one of them
being the superiority theory also known as schadenfreude humour, where an audience
laughs at other peoples misfortune and the benign violation where morals, social norms
and dignity is violated. This is a favourite because a lot of comedy in this film is,
incongruity theory is where our expectations are defied and something else happens
instead of what we expect, because many people have seen the films or know the
elements that have been mocked by this film, expectations are set and humorous
alternatives are presented which interweaves with other recognisable scenes to redefine
these films. For an audience who doesnt do well with horror or thriller films this film is
great because it takes most of the scare out and replaces it with laughter and releases
quickly the tension built from thriller film making techniques.

An example of the superiority theory is during the paint scene, George, Mahalik and CJ
are in a car, CJs in the backseat shooting people with a paintball gun, throwing paint
from buckets out the window on peoples cars and gets an extended roller and starts
painting people in the street, he passes a bucket of paint to George whos driving and
tells him to try it, without taking the lid off her throws the whole tub out the window and
knocks a cyclist off their bike, then CJ shouts sorry out the window. This is also an
example of how morals and social norms are violated in comedy because it is immoral to
vandalise other peoples property. Another great example of schadenfreude in Scary
Movie 3 is Cody, he is damaged many times including getting hit by a car, a basketball, a
knee and is held up at a fast spinning ceiling fan which tosses him out the window and a
few moments later we see him staggering through the house in the background covered
in dirt.

The best scene in Scary Movie 3 has to be The Oracle this scene will be fairly familiar
as it is spoofing The Matrix, when Cindys best friend Brenda dies seven days after
watching the tape, Cindy finds it and watches it herself and turns to George and his best
mates Mahalik and CJ for help when she gets the phone call. CJ moves the story
forward by advising Cindy to see his Aunt Shaneequa - the oracle from The Matrix. Why
this scene works well is because it has a good set up, theres tension building with the
idea that Cindy has a ticking clock on her life and she knows something is going to come

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for her, when the oracle proves to be psychic our interest is intrigued, but at the same
time the scene isnt scary serious because Cindy has been hit with a vase breaking that
tension. Before they watch the tape, there is some toilet humour where the chairs they
sit in make fart noises, Cindy sits and theres a short noise and when Shaneequa sits
theres a long exaggerated fart this builds comedy tension. The Oracle speaks
recognisable lines from The Matrix which is interrupted by spoof Morpheus (Orpheus)
watching TV - reminding us what we expect to happen isnt going to happen which in
itself is funny because we are constantly reminded we are being fooled if we think we
know something. When they watch the killer video tape we see a random lighthouse,
which does look a bit like a cigarette and when thats pointed out the other characters
reaction is the joke and due to the previous comedy tension built we release some of it in
laughter whereas just that bit on its own isnt that funny. They pause the video when
theres a fly on the screen, we already know from Brendas death that Tabitha (the
murderer in the video) can cross dimensions so when the fly lands on the TV and
Shaneequa hits it with a fly squatter it hits Tabitha in the TV she reaches out and hits
Shaneequa back and from there it quickly escalates into a chaotic dimensional petty
fight which becomes overdramatic and hilarious because of the way its presented, the
attitude from Shaneequa whilst being verbal and her husband Orpheus having to hold
her back and try to calm her down before she goes full crazy, and none of them seemed
surprised, scared or shocked that dimensions have been crossed its just disregarded.
This kind of fight contrasts with clichd fights and what wed expect to see as theres not
usually any verbal during a fight.

This scene is a favourite because it is stupid, it mocks and diminishes the tension
horrors and thrillers have on an audience, its ability to make people feel afraid or
uncomfortable or like something is coming, it gives alternate funny reactions to fear from
what wed expect such as fighting back instead of running. Parody mashups make the
original films powerless and takes their dignity away by taking the seriousness out of it in
addition to changing our expectations of the original films and characters, also what
makes this scene great is you dont require any intellect or knowledge of the films to
understand it.