AN ARTICLE BY: MATHEW TSCHIRGI
READ MORE OF MY MOVIE REVIEWS AND INTERVIEWS AT: WWW.MOVIEWATCHERS.20M.COM

The first Scary Movie was a box-office smash, generating $157 million in the US alone. This also made Scary Movie the highest-grossing R-rated movie, until Hannibal beat it out in 2001 with a current US box office of $160.84 million. Since the original made so much money, it's only natural that Miramax wanted to release a sequel. Not surprisingly, the title is Scary Movie 2 and it's due out in theaters this July!

I participated in a conference-call phone interview with Tori Spelling and asked her some questions about Scary Movie 2 and future aspirations for her career. From what I gathered from the phone interview, it seems that the basic plot of Scary Movie 2 is pretty close to the recent re-make The Haunting, starring Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

SIGNAL: Hi, Tori.

TORI SPELLING: Hi.

SIGNAL: I was wondering, do you think the original Scary Movie pushed the limit of what's considered an R-rated movie?

TORI SPELLING: Um, well, uh, no. I mean, they pushed it more and they had to cut back to get that R rating. And, um, if you guess people think they pushed the limits, we've really pushed the limits on this one. (She laughs) 'Cause it's even funnier and, and, more out there, and outrageous.

SIGNAL: What's the most disgusting scene in Scary Movie 2?

TORI SPELLING: Oh, gosh, I can't give that away, but, um… It has to do with my character, I think. (She laughs) There were some pretty graphic things in Scary Movie 1, um, and one scene in particular, and, uh, keeping in that format in with my character in this one, kind of.

SIGNAL: How was it working with Marlon Brando and Tim Curry?

TORI SPELLING: Um, actually, I haven't gotten to work with Marlon Brando yet.

SIGNAL: OK.

TORI SPELLING: Not in the scene he's in. But, uh, Tim Curry is awesome… I've been such a huge fan of his and he's great. I mean we're all a pretty close group at this point because we've been filming for a month. Well, I have to say he's one of the main people I hang out with the most. He's really cool. He said it was hard for him at first being with a bunch of young people, but he fits right in. He's so funny.

SIGNAL: You mentioned earlier the differences between, working, like, on TV and Film and a recent movie you did, House of Yes, was a movie based off a play. Was it different working with actors [in the movie] because it's based off a play and with Theatre?

TORI SPELLING: It was definitely different because, um, actually the writer of that who adapted it from the play was the director. Because it was a play, he was pretty hard-core about sticking to the dialogue, so we couldn't ad-lib. In fact, if I left, like, an "a" out. (She laughs) And he would say, "No, there's an 'a' in there, and you have to add that or a 'the'" and so… I didn't have liberty to kind of do my own thing, um… And, like, with this, you know, if I come in one day and I can think of something funnier than what's written, Keenan [Ivory Wayans, the director of Scary Movie 2], says, "Go for it! Do it!"

SIGNAL: Have you ever wanted to write or direct, like a movie or a TV show or anything like that?

TORI SPELLING: Um, I actually directed an episode of 90210, and while I enjoyed it, um, I think I enjoyed being in front of the camera more. Uh, it was difficult, a lot of work. Um, not something I probably would want to do again. As for writing, I love writing, and I would love to get more into writing more in the future.

SIGNAL: OK, thank you very much.

TORI SPELLING: Thank you.

[E.N. - Mat sucks. He forgot to ask about Tori Spelling's work on Saved By The Bell as Screech's love interest, after I specifically asked him to do so.]

SCARY MOVIE 2: A 'HAUNTING' SEQUEL?
By: Mathew Tschirgi

The basic plot of Scary Movie 2 sounds very similar to the plot of The Haunting, a movie that came out in 1999 starring Liam Neeson and Catherine Zeta-Jones. This movie was actually a remake of the 1963 movie, also called The Haunting, which was based off the book by The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. The following are two capsule reviews of both versions of The Haunting. Although I haven't read the book, Stephen King highly recommends it in his nonfiction analysis of the horror genre, Danse Macabre.

THE HAUNTING (1963): Dr. John Markway (Richard Johnson) is a doctor who invites three guests (Elanor [Julie Harris], Theodora[Claire Bloom], and Luke [Russ Tamblyn]) to investigate the existence of ghosts. Elanor has is able to detect the presence of ghosts, but everyone else think she's insane. What is causing the haunting? Considering this movie is in black and white and is a more psychological horror film, it still has a very slow pace. I feel asleep twice while watching it. The basic plot of the movie is pretty much the same the 1999 remake-a bunch of scenes are word-for-word identical to scenes in the more modern version! The acting seemed pretty good and this movie has very few special effects, unlike the newer one. **1/2 out of ****.

THE HAUNTING (1999): Dr. David Marrow [Liam Neeson] is a doctor who invites three patients with sleep-disorder problems (lanor [Lili Taylor], Theodora [Catherine Zeta-Jones], and Luke [Owen Wilson]) to join him in a study of sleep therapy in a spooky house. In this re-make, much of the dialogue is the same. Catherine Zeta Jones does a pretty bland job as Theodora, Owen Wilson plays Luke the same way as he acts in other movies he's been in, but Lili Taylor is excellent as Elanor. It has some of the psychological spookiness of the original, but towards the end it has special effects scares, including a different FX intensive ending that comes off as extremely stupid. I didn't fall asleep during this movie, but I did cry out in frustration at how stupid the second half of the movie is. ** out of ****.