Crap Parody Films

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Inspired by the Leslie Nielsen thread, and I didn't want to go too off- topic within that thread.
Another inspiration from that thread was for mine self to take a break from reading A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu in the original,  and to use lockdown free time wisely by viewing the film " Plump Fiction" ( 1997) all the way through, as it's up for all to see on YouTube, having originally seen only a small extract of it on telly during my first winter in Tallinn, Estonia when I would watch any old crap that Estonian Telly would purvey.
" Plump Fiction" is, as you might imagine, a scathing satire of Quentin Tarantino films, with particular emphasis on " Pulp Fiction". Amongst its cast are Dan Castellanta, playing a Forrest Gump analogue, Sandra Bernhardt not acting very well, and some actress whose name escapes me playing a slightly overweight Uma Thurman's character In Pulp Fiction, not overacting very well. Two actors playing Micky and Mallory from " Natural Born Killers" are also included, and the actress playing Mallory actually gives a creditable performance, top accent, and everything. A youngish  Jennifer Coolidge is in there as well, playing one of the nuns in the " Reservoir Nuns" segment, although I actually didn't recognise her.
The " Reservoir Nuns" sketch, in which a group of strippers disguised as nuns plan a daring robbery is actually the best part of the film, mainly for the segment in which we see the black background white lettered Pulp Fiction- like caption reading " Reservoir Nuns" , then leads into the nuns goofing off during a parody of the opening titles to " The Monkees" . This is funny because, firstly the actual Monkees theme tune is played, not a re- recorded version, with the lyrics amended to " Hey, Hey, we're the Reservoir Nuns", but just the actual fucking Monkees theme being played, with the nuns re- enacting scenes from them famous iconic opening titles ( being pushed through the street on a big double Bed, that scene where Peter Tork is watering a  wee little sapling which immediately, through the magic of stop motion becomes a big fucker of a tree, that scene where they're high- stepping it with the top hat and canes, etc.), all absolutely apropos of fucking nothing. You just find yourself laughing at the ludicrousness of it all, especially the scene where the nuns are high stepping and grinning away, like they're genuinely enjoying being part of these needlessly replicated opening titles. I tried to track it down in isolation on YouTube, but was unable to do, which is a shame, as it's a genuinely amusing scene in an otherwise terrible, terrible film , which also takes a scathing , satirical pot- shot at the near- completely forgotten  film " Nell", in which Jodie Foster played a sort of female Charlie Chuck, and a nod towards " Clerks", of all things.
It's not the very worst Crap Parody Film, of course. That honour goes to " 2001: A Space Travesty", and always will. But if you ever find yourself presented with the opportunity to see that Reservoir Nuns Doing The Monkees Opening Titles, then I warmly recommend it.

[Alberon]

I think the most pointless parody I've seen is in a miserable waste of film called Meet the Spartans which was a takeoff of shit CGI-fest 300.

The narrator describes one character as being something like 'angry as Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3'. So suddenly she has the black Spider-Man costume on and does an acrobatic move before ripping the face mask open like in Spider-Man 3 (I suppose, I haven't seen it). And that's it.

It was just the lack of any attempt to justify it or attempt to be funny in anyway that made it stick in my mind.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

That would be from the same people who kindly brought us " Date Movie" and " Epic Movie" , and the like. The idea seems to be that they for example, will refer to James Bond as in " Look, there's James Bond! "  " Oh, really? What's he doing? "  " Er...Not much. He's just wearing a tuxedo and wielding a gun, and being James Bond. Because James Bond is also in a film at the moment, you see. " " Oh, I see. Ha Ha, Good One! ", and that will be the limit of their comic invention.
I think those people have been told to stop making films by now, though.

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

That would be from the same people who kindly brought is " Date Movie" and " Epic Movie" , and the like. The idea seems to be that they for example, will refer to James Bond as in " Look, there's James Bond! "  " Oh, really? What's he doing? "  " Er...Not much. He's just wearing a tuxedo and wielding a gun, and being James Bond. Because James Bond is also in a film at the moment, you see. " " Oh, I see. Ha Ha, Good One! ", and that will be the limit of their comic invention.

Exactly. A proper satire/parody work still needs a coherent narrative, and if you're going to parody an entire genre (as opposed to e.g. Hot Shots which is primarily a Top Gun parody, or Spaceballs which is a Star Wars parody with some extra bits thrown in), then you should ideally parody tropes rather than just stitching together a bunch of people acting out their favourite scenes from movies but with sex and cursing thrown in.

[Tony Tony Tony]

I happened across one such film recently it was called Cockwork Orange and was hopeless.

All it seemed to consist of was a series of ladies whose clothes kept falling off.

[BeardFaceMan]

The meaning seems to have changed, they're not really parody movies like Airplane, they're reference movies. Not sure when this started to creep in (maybe around the time of Scary Movie?) but actual jokes and ridiculing tropes or scenes were just being replaced by references. "Oh look, remember this thing?", it's one small step away from Peter Kay's stand-up act. I say Scary Movie because there was one bit that stuck in my mind, it was Scary Movie 2 (which I was watching because David Cross was in it, honest) and there's a bit where a character dies and there's a cutaway to a parrot who says "You are the weakest link, goodbye." No actual joke, the catchphrase had no business being there, you're just supposed to laugh at the catchphrase from that mean lady from the telly. These parody movies now seem to take this road a lot more. Tom Lennon & Ben Garant were supposed to be handling a Naked Gun reboot/revival (I think Ed Helms was going to be Drebin's son or something like that) and those guys know how to do silly so I'd be on board for that, but I haven't seen any news about that for yonks. 

[up_the_hampipe]

Jason Friedberg & Aaron Seltzer are responsible for all of this.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I remember watching the first Scary Movie at the cinema and fucking hating it. It probably wasn't even that bad, but the morons filling the theatre just guffawing along with any half-formed shit that hit the screen made it unbearable. "Oh, it's the Budweiser whassup advert, verbatim. Hahahaha. Brilliant. Well worth £8 to see this." People howling at the idea of Ghostface being high. Fuck's sake.

The later ones did get worse if what I've caught of them flicking past ITV2 is anything to go by.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

The first " Scary Movie" actually got a fair bit of critical acclaim at the time, didn't it? Four stars in The Guardian, that sort of thing. I had a similar reaction to Mr. Babkins  when I saw it at the actual cinema, the sheer " Makes MAD magazine look like Mort Sahl" inanity of it all. Plus the fact they were spoofing a film which was already a perfectly acceptable satire , a bit like Cracked Magazine spoofing " Hot Shots".

[up_the_hampipe]

Scary Movie is funny in parts, although probably hasn't aged well. 3 & 4 were funnier, due to the Zucker takeover. 2 was an absolute abomination though.

[Egyptian Feast]

Silence Of The Hams, an Italian-Corman co-production starring Billy Zane as Jo Dee Fostar with Dom DeLuise as Dr Animal Cannibal Pizza, is so lame it is actually pretty funny. I'd imagine its aged a lot better than the Friedberg-Seltzer movies due to having a couple of actual jokes.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

David Cross, Chris Elliot and Tim Curry all appear in " Scary Movie 2". This saddens me.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Silence Of The Hams, an Italian-Corman co-production starring Billy Zane as Jo Dee Fostar with Dom DeLuise as Dr Animal Cannibal Pizza, is so lame it is actually pretty funny. It seemed bad in the 1990s, though I'd imagine its aged a lot better than the Friedberg-Seltzer movies due to having a couple of actual jokes.

Martin Balsam's in that , re-enacting his role in " Psycho". His character's actually called " Martin Balsam". John Astin's also in it, just so that reference can actually be made to his having appeared in " The Addams Family". I dunno if this is a reflection of the Italian sense of humour , but very often the humour comes across as genuinely childish, as in the 'joke's could have been written by a child , and could only possibly appeal to children , for example, the Martin Balsam character says " Goodbye" to the Italian feller multiple times, ' cos He's having trouble getting his car started, and upon his eventually leaving, the Italian feller says something like " Gosh, he never even said " Goodbye".

[Egyptian Feast]

I think the 'could've been written by a child' aspect was probably why I ended up enjoying it. If Friedberg and Seltzer had outsourced the writing to a bunch of kids gakked up on sugary drinks, the 'Movie' series would've undoubtedly been much funnier.

[BritishHobo]

The fact that Scary Movie parodied Scream should have been the big sign of the shit that was coming. You're going to parody a film that's already a self-aware take on horror movie tropes? Imagine someone making a sci-fi parody film and they mainly take shots at Gravity Quest. Hey, you know that movie Gravity Quest, how about all that wacky stuff that happens in space in that movie?!

I saw Epic Movie in the cinema - for some reason I was really excited to see it, I'm not sure why. I was like thirteen, I guess I was excited to see something that I thought was a cool adult comedy? Maybe that early-teens thing of thinking that if something shits on things for children (Harry Potter, Willy Wonka, Narnia etc) then it must be really clever and edgy? Either way, what a fucking disappointment. Just loads of bits of films I'd already seen, with random people shouting random things during them. They'd clearly spent huge amounts of time perfectly recreating costumes and (the look of) sets, far more than they'd spent on the jokes. That bit in a trailer for a Dreamworks animated film where one character says something awkward or embarassing, or does a slapstick thing and gets hurt, and they do a record-scratch and cut in all the other characters looking embarassed, that's every joke in these films.

I always remember there was one joke during an X-Men bit where Wolverine does the middle finger but with his claw!!!!! which is undermined a tiny bit by the fact that Wolverine already does that in the actual X-Men movie.

[Jumblegraws]

The fact that Scary Movie parodied Scream should have been the big sign of the shit that was coming. You're going to parody a film that's already a self-aware take on horror movie tropes? Imagine someone making a sci-fi parody film and they mainly take shots at Gravity Quest. Hey, you know that movie Gravity Quest, how about all that wacky stuff that happens in space in that movie?!.

Galaxy Quest. Gravity Quest is what your hypothetical shit parody might be called.


I saw this selling for £16 in HMV some years back. It didn't even get a theatrical release in the UK. It's been on my mind ever since and might remain so until I actually watch it. That's what happened to me with Xtro.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I always remember there was one joke during an X-Men bit where Wolverine does the middle finger but with his claw!!!!! which is undermined a tiny bit by the fact that Wolverine already does that in the actual X-Men movie.

I always get the impression the people who make these films have, at most, just seen the trailers or posters for the movies they parody.

[BritishHobo]

Galaxy Quest. Gravity Quest is what your hypothetical shit parody might be called.

Such a basic error proves how perfect I am to make it. Charlie Sheen plays Alan Rickman and then John McClain runs in and goes 'yippee ki yay mother f...!!!!' but we don't say fucker because we want a 12 rating. Daenerys from Game of Thrones shoots him with an arrow instead before he can say it!

[SavageHedgehog]

I think the most pointless parody I've seen is in a miserable waste of film called Meet the Spartans which was a takeoff of shit CGI-fest 300.

The narrator describes one character as being something like 'angry as Spider-Man in Spider-Man 3'. So suddenly she has the black Spider-Man costume on and does an acrobatic move before ripping the face mask open like in Spider-Man 3 (I suppose, I haven't seen it). And that's it.

It was just the lack of any attempt to justify it or attempt to be funny in anyway that made it stick in my mind.

Aye, this was grim, even compared to the other Setzer/Freidberg "efforts". It's even worse than you remember too; the narrator tells us crap parody stalwart Carmen Electra is "filling up with venom, just like Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3 while she is literally on screen becoming the black-suit Spider-Man from Spider-Man 3. Give us a little credit guys, even if we are watching Meet the Spartans.

I'm a bit ashamed to admit I was genuinely excited about Scary Movie 3 before it came out, when I learned David Zucker was directing, but I do think it's easily the best of the series. 4 does still have a few good gags, 5 has hardly any but I found it surprisingly easy to watch. All are somehow leagues better than the other "Movie" Movies.

[Huxleys Babkins]

I always get the impression the people who make these films have, at most, just seen the trailers or posters for the movies they parody.

A lot of the parodies in these movies are actually parodies of key scenes from movie trailers, not the movies themselves. They can't presume the audience has seen the movies and knows any more than "black suit makes Spider-Man bad" or "beard man shouts 'This is Sparta", so that's the level they gun for. It's why they fall back on TV commercials and catchphrases so often too. Safe, bland references always.

[Brundle-Fly]

Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) They were often brilliant at film parody but the franchise was in its final death throes at this point. Carry On films always had something to enjoy in them even if they're a bit crap (usually the performances, groaners and general nostalgia) but this one just stinks. The cast has that whiff of desperation as if they're resigned to the fact they simply can't compete with the Confessions films and rest of the British sex comedies that were popular at this time. Don't want to hear Kenny's ropey French accent (or see his arse), Larry Dann was no Jim Dale and wtf was Beryl Reid thinking?

TRAILER
Mildly NSFW (FH)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zo5YsXkjJo

[up_the_hampipe]

I saw Epic Movie in the cinema - for some reason I was really excited to see it, I'm not sure why. I was like thirteen, I guess I was excited to see something that I thought was a cool adult comedy? Maybe that early-teens thing of thinking that if something shits on things for children (Harry Potter, Willy Wonka, Narnia etc) then it must be really clever and edgy? Either way, what a fucking disappointment. Just loads of bits of films I'd already seen, with random people shouting random things during them. They'd clearly spent huge amounts of time perfectly recreating costumes and (the look of) sets, far more than they'd spent on the jokes. That bit in a trailer for a Dreamworks animated film where one character says something awkward or embarassing, or does a slapstick thing and gets hurt, and they do a record-scratch and cut in all the other characters looking embarassed, that's every joke in these films.

That reminds me of dragging my dad to see Meet The Spartans. I was 14. It was so, so bad, I was really embarrassed that I'd suggested it and I don't think I was allowed to pick out films for a while after that.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Carry On Emmanuelle (1978) They were often brilliant at film parody but the franchise was in its final death throes at this point. Carry On films always had something to enjoy in them even if they're a bit crap (usually the performances, groaners and general nostalgia) but this one just stinks. The cast has that whiff of desperation as if they're resigned to the fact they simply can't compete with the Confessions films and rest of the British sex comedies that were popular at this time. Don't want to hear Kenny's ropey French accent (or see his arse), Larry Dann was no Jim Dale and wtf was Beryl Reid thinking?

TRAILER
Mildly NSFW (FH)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zo5YsXkjJo

Imagine being so proud of that awful bird statue special effect that you put it in the trailer.

The nicest thing I can say about Carry On Emmanuelle is that it's not as bad as Carry On England.

[Egyptian Feast]

I saw this selling for £16 in HMV some years back. It didn't even get a theatrical release in the UK. It's been on my mind ever since and might remain so until I actually watch it. That's what happened to me with Xtro.

Fucking hell, that one passed me by. Imagine being a budding young actor, struggling through humiliating audition after humiliating audition, working shit jobs to keep yourself alive until you finally get your big break and experience the belly-tingling thrill of appearing on a movie poster for the first time, but it's for this film and you're the poor likeness of Jonah Hill unenthusiastically 'shopped in by a depressed cunt on a grim Monday morning. Bleakness.

The title alone deserves a kick in the balls. Don't Be A Menace In South Central etc.etc. didn't come to my local video store at the time (CB4 did, at least) so I never heard about it until some fella enthusiastically recommended it at the pub years later and I thought he was taking the piss. It has been enthusiastically recommended by many (mostly stoners) since, but I never got around to it. Should I have?

I quite liked Scary Movie at the time, because Scream really got on my tits on a second viewing and I enjoyed seeing it having the piss taken out of it almost scene for scene (like Gus Van Sant did with Psycho, lol). The only thing of lasting worth to me was Anna Faris' expression after smelling her fart in the bathtub, but so many films don't have anything as good as that going for it, so it qualifies as a success for me.

[studpuppet]

There was the time when my mum and her friends 'accidentally' hired Flesh Gordon from the video shop. Luckily there were no kids around when they put it on...

[Poirots BigGarlickyCorpse]

Don't Be A Menace In South Central etc.etc. didn't come to my local video store at the time (CB4 did, at least) so I never heard about it until some fella enthusiastically recommended it at the pub years later and I thought he was taking the piss. It has been enthusiastically recommended by many (mostly stoners) since, but I never got around to it. Should I have?

Don't Be a Menace is... okay. You'll enjoy it if you've seen Boyz N The Hood (from where it draws most of its inspiration), are familiar with "hood movies" in general and/or like the Wayans Brothers in general.

A Million Ways To Die in the West. It's supposed to be a story of a fish-out-of-water who calls out the dangers and bleakness of life in the Old West but it's just two and a quarter hours of Seth MacFarlane sucking himself off while Charlize Theron agrees with everything he says. There are three good things about the movie - an early scene where Seth and his buddy windmill their fists at each other in the middle of a barroom brawl while shouting "Oh wow this is really violent! Nobody else needs to get involved in this!", the Moustache Song, and Liam Neeson's bare bottom. And I found out two days ago that it isn't even Liam Neeson's bottom, it's his stunt double's. Absolute garbage and the reason I've never, ever watched The Orville.

[Brundle-Fly]

Imagine being so proud of that awful bird statue special effect that you put it in the trailer.

The nicest thing I can say about Carry On Emmanuelle is that it's not as bad as Carry On England.

Oh yeah, that is rotten.

[Egyptian Feast]

two and a quarter hours

No fucking way. You could watch This Is Spinal Tap instead and still have enough time for most of Duck Soup.

Two and a quarter hours for a Western spoof starring Seth MacFarlane. What has the world come to? I blame Judd Apatow.

[Gulftastic]

Not Another Teen Movie is not bad. Has some good stuff. And Captain America, her out off of The L Word, her out off of My Name Is Earl and a naked lass. And Molly Ringwald.

[Brundle-Fly]

There was the time when my mum and her friends 'accidentally' hired Flesh Gordon from the video shop. Luckily there were no kids around when they put it on...

First time I saw a fully naked woman. I sneaked out of a boring Disney movie into another screening at the time.