Ravenous

When I saw SM3 I had seen every movie it parodies but 8 Mile. Didnt matter as I loved the movie. I held off on seeing SM4 till I had seen everything it parodied. However I have yet to see Saw.

One of my favorite jokes in SM3 was the signs parody when Sheen is walking to his wife pinned to the tree, killed by M Night, yet he asks for a ride home. Had I not seen Signs I dont think I would have laughed so much.

So basically, if I go into SM4 without seeing some of the movies it parodies, will I miss anything that is suppose to be funny?

Seantn

I would honestly say skip Scary Movie 4 altogether, it's just not any good...However , as far as the parodies go...I guess it helps to know what they're parodying. Have you seen Million Dollar Baby, The Village, Saw 1 or 2, War of the Worlds, The Grudge? I guess those are the main ones to see. If you hadn't seen any of those, you'd probably not understand what the scenes were trying to poke fun at. I stress the word "trying".

I thought Scary Movie 3 was actually sort of funny, but part 4 was a total misfire.

mdc3000

I thought 4 was on par or better than 3 (which isn't saying a hell of a lot) but I'd say you definitely need to see the movies they are parodying in order for the humour to work.

MATT

RichC2

4 was a huge improvement over 3, but I do think you have to at least know what the other movies are about.

Ravenous

Well I bought SM4 and the only thing I havent seen that is parodied are Saw 1 and 2. Are these the big story arc for SM4 like Signs and Ring were for SM3?

I LOVED pt 3 so I know I'll enjoy this one. Looks like I gotta hold off on it though since I have to see Saws.

RichC2

The story arc follows War of the Worlds (2005).

The main character influecnces are Jigsaw from Saw and the little boy from The Grudge.

There's also references to Brokeback Mountain, The Village, pop culture, and a few others. That said, if you've seen Million Dollar Baby, a particular set of events within the movie are outright hysterical. Though even if you haven't seen it, they're still pretty funny.

SeekOnce

Gotta agree with Seantn here. SM4 just didnt' bring the funny. Though the CG of the WotW pods were pretty impressive. I haven't seen SM3 so I don't know how it stacks against it. But I did see the first two and liked them better than this one.

EdTheRipper

Just watched this the other day. I'd say it definitely helps to have seen the movies they're spoofing.

TNAJason

I had seen all the movies it was spoofing except for Brokeback Mountain(never plan on seeing it either). I love the Scary Movie franchise.

Scary Movie 4>Scary Movie 3>Scary Movie>Scary Movie 2(I hate 2,but love 1,3,& 4)

Lateralus

I think Scary Movie 4 is much better than 3. I have not seen Saw either but the scenes where they parody it is still pretty funny.

The scenes from Brokeback mountain were hysterical, the opening Saw scene was great. I've never seen The Grudge, Saw or Brokeback Mountain and I wish I would have seen them... well everything except Brokeback.

AllHallowsEve

Personally thought Scary Movie 4 was terrible. Sorry guys. Pointless response to the question (I know), but I just saw it & it's still on the brain.

I would go with Seannt and say "skip it altogether". Since you intend on seeing it, in response to your question, I would say see the original movies the parodies are taken from first (If you wanted to see specific ones). If not, then it doesn't matter.

Saw has been out for two years and has a sequel. If you haven't seen it by now, it probably wasn't high up on your priority list to begin with.

DRG

I think SM4 is worlds better than SM3. Mainly because SM4 at least attempts some semblance of a linear story to string the jokes on. The films it parodies are a diverse bunch but at least it made some attempt to connect them in a reasonable way.

While the story is never the point of these films, the good ones at least steal a story structure from something to hang everything on. Hot Shots used Top Gun, Scary Movie used Scream, Airplane used Zero Hour, etc. Even though The Grudge and other films get a lot of screen time, the basic framework of SM4 is War of the Worlds. SM3 tried to give equal time to Signs and The Ring for their framework, but it ended up making both parodies fall flat.

edytwinky

I won't want to trash on this thread but the movie is pretty horrible and not worth your time.

I think if you get the gist of the movies they're spoofing then it's fine, but still not funny enough even if you had watched spoofed movies.

Matthew Chmiel

Scary Movie > Scary Movie 3 > Scary Movie 4

In my mind, the second film in the franchise never happened. Scary Movie 4 has it's share of laughs, but in no means, is it a good movie. Not as good as the third outing, but light years ahead of the travesty of the second one.

And hey, one could do worse. Date Movie anyone?

TomOpus

As long as Anna Faris still shows up, I'm there

Emma311

I thought this was the funniest one. I hadn't seen War of the Worlds before I saw this & everything was still funny. When I did watch War of the Worlds I knew a lot of stuff beforehand but it didn't really bother me.