I recently watched Wrongfully Accused (1998 starring Leslie Nielsen) and got a craving for more parody films so I picked 4 more recent films made between 2008-2013. Disaster Movie (an appropriate title for all 4), Vampires Suck (they are not alone), 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (yes that’s the full title), and The Starving Games (that’s not that bad a title). All of the films are rated 14A and were my first viewings of each.

Disaster Movie
2008, 14A, 1h 27m
Distributor – Lionsgate, Budget – $20 million
IMDB – 1.9

Disaster Movie largely parodies films with city destroying, large weather phenomenons, in addition to the over peppering of pop culture references. A group of twenty somethings stumble through a city in the midst of constant disasters and celebrity impersonators. Kudos to the cast of this film as a number of them played multiple roles in it (often the brief impressions) especially Ike Barinholtz who played no fewer than 7 roles, (more recently he appeared in both Neighbors films 2014-2016 and Suicide Squad 2016). This version was the Unrated Cataclysmic Edition on dvd is rated as one of the worst movies made. The film was written and directed by the team of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer who also cowrote Scary Movie (2000), in addition to writing and directing Date Movie (2006), Epic Movie (2007), Meet the Spartans (2008), Disaster Movie (2008), Vampires Suck (2010), The Starving Games (2013), Best Night Ever (2013), Superfast! (2015), and are currently working on Star Worlds Episode XXXIVE=MC2: The Force Awakens the Last Jedi Who Went Rogue. The lead role was played by Matt Lanter who also provided the voice for Anakin Skywalker in various Star Wars productions (2008-2017), the voice of Venom in various Spider-man productions (2014-2016), is currently on the tv show Timeless (2016-2018) and will next be seen in Pitch Perfect 3. Matt Lanter also re-teamed with the writing/directing team for Vampires Suck in a starring role. Nicole Parker was previously in Meet the Spartans, Funny People (2009 starring Adam Sandler), and 115 episodes of MADtv (2003-2009). The film also has Carmen Electra and in her film acting debut, Kim Kardashian.

Vampires Suck
2010, 14A, 1h 22m
Distributor – Fox, Budget – $20 million
IMDB – 3.5

Vampires Suck largely parodies Twilight (2008-2012) or any production with vampires and werewolves where the lead character is caught between caring about two boys leading up to their school’s prom. This film was a noticeable improvement from the team’s previous Disaster Movie. The pacing is more fluid, stopping too often to make a joke at every possible moment is distracting and the laugh may not be worth the interruption. Jenn Proske in the lead role was able to make the conflicting feelings between the two apparent and played the wounded teen well. Matt Lanter made their dynamic work and proved to be great in this genre of film. Stealing scenes was Diedrich Bader (known for The Drew Carey Show 1995-2004 and Office Space 1999) who knows how to handle comedy and is perfectly suited for a role like this. This film is the highest rated of the 4 and made enough at the box office to guarantee the film makers will continue making these types of inexpensive comedies (not unlike similar lower budget horrors). Also appearing in the film was Chris Riggi who would later be in the decently rated films Hated (2012), To Redemption (2012), The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Fairfield (2014), Living with the Dead (2015), and Get Happy! (2015). Two smaller roles of note include Ken Jeong (known for The Hangover franchise 2009-2013 and the tv show Community 6 seasons 2009-2015) and Dave Foley (known for the tv show The Kids in the Hall 1988-1995 and more recently Dr. Ken starring Ken Jeong 2015-2017).

30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
2013, 14A, 1h 20m
Distributor – Sony, Budget – $3 million
IMDB – 2.6

30 Nights… largely parodies the Paranormal Activity franchise as a family moves into a house that has spirits within it. Also like the Paranormal Activity films, some of the movie is filmed from a point of view perspective, some speak right to the camera, and some is a fixed security camera angle. Similar to the pair of A Haunted House films (2013-2014 starring Marlon Wayans), there are moments that may be seen as scary, which is not a common pairing for a comedy, especially in a parody film. Writer and director Craig Moss had the same duties on a similarly long named parody film in 2010 (The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It), also Breaking Wind (2012 parody of the Twilight films), and 3 Bad Ass films (2012-2015 starring Danny Trejo). French Stewart (known for 3rd Rock from the Sun 1996-2001), Danny Woodburn (who was also in Bad Ass) were both in the film, but stealing scenes were the 2 helmet camera wearing Ghost Brothers. Included in the blu-ray was a behind the scenes feature (as does The Starving Games) which quickly showed activity on the set and brief interviews with cast and crew.

The Starving Games
2013, 14A, 1h 23m
Distributor – Ketchup Entertainment, Budget – $4.63 million
IMDB – 3.3

The Starving Games largely parodies The Hunger Games (2013) as a girl is entered into a competition to be the last one alive and win some food. Characters parodying those in The Hunger Games were all done well, some could have been interchanged into that franchise (at least costume wise). The pacing improvements that were made by the film makers in their last 2 films (Disaster Movie followed by Vampires Suck) continued with this film, it is alright to spend some time getting to know characters in a parody film (mixing up the rapid fire pace is effective like mixing physical comedy with spoken humor). Gags that I always appreciate are the ones where they truly highlight how silly the films these parodies are based on actually are (usually a play on common sense). Diedrich Bader again shines in a supporting role, some actors can do more than others with less screen time. Lead star Maiara Walsh was previously in 23 episodes of Desperate Housewives (2009-2010), and would go on to appear in more un-comedic roles in VANish (2015), Summer Camp (2015), and Chasing the Rain (2016 starring Matt Lanter). The film also had Cody Christian who would later appear in 29 episodes of Pretty Little Liars (2010-2015) and 30 episodes of Teen Wolf (2015-2017). Brant Daugherty would later appear in 27 episodes of Pretty Little Liars (2010-2016) and will next be seen in Fifty Shades Freed (2018 starring Dakota Johnson). A highlight of casting was the impersonators of The Expendables cast (3 films 2010-2014 starring Sylvester Stallone), especially the Bruce Willis look alike (who was his actual stunt double in Live Free or Die Hard in 2007).

Links

Disaster Movie
IMDB
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia

Vampires Suck
IMDB
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia

30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
IMDB
Wikipedia

The Starving Games
IMDB
Box Office Mojo
Wikipedia