Spoof movies have been around for decades. Whether it be from comedic legends like Mel Brooks or David Zucker, some of the greatest comedies of all time have been parodies of already existing works. However, the 2000s were when the subgenre of parody comedies really went into high gear and also fell into more public scrutiny. It all began with the 2000 release Scary Movie. Developed by Shawn and Marlon Wayans, the appeal of Scary Movie was obvious. Take some popular horror movies at the time, poke fun at some of the horror conventions in those films, and add in a few pop culture references, slapstick and toilet humor. In the end, you’ve got a recipe for success.
Two of the six writers for Scary Movie took that formula to heart. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer branched off from Scary Movie and became directors for the 2004 comedy spoof Date Movie, mocking romantic comedies at the time. And since then, they would go on to direct such pieces of work as Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, and Meet the Spartans. And while they did follow the Scary Movie formula, that didn’t turn their films into comedy gold. While Scary Movie received mixed reviews, all of Friedberg and Seltzer’s works have been universally panned by critics and audiences as some of the worst comedies of all time. 2008’s Disaster Movie was so reviled, it boasts a 1% on Rotten Tomatoes and is #1 on IMdB’s Bottom 100 list, with a 1.9 out of 10.
But despite Disaster Movie being so repulsed by just about everyone, Friedberg and Seltzer still managed to release Vampires Suck two years later. Suck spoofed The Twilight Saga, a property that, whether loved or hated, was arguably the most talked about film series through 2008 and 2012, and consistently grossed at least 700M per film worldwide. So naturally, companies wanted to capitalize on the popularity, making a parody film all but inevitable. And since Seltzerberg made these movies for relatively cheap, 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises decided these two were the best people to make a Twilight parody.
Sure enough, it was a modest success despite being panned by critics and audiences. Most notably, Peter Travers’ infamous 4-word review for the film simply stated “This movie sucks more,” and was slammed with half a star. However, the movie was regarded as one of Seltzerberg’s better movies, though that’s not saying much. Regardless, it did find a bit of an audience. I was about to head into the seventh grade when the movie came out, and I remember a lot of my classmates at the time loving this movie. It was hilarious seeing a movie they were familiar with being mocked with slapstick, fart jokes, and pop culture references that I was somewhat hopeful that this wasn’t going to be so bad. But of course, these were 13-year olds. Fair to say 13-year olds haver pretty low standards, let’s be real here.
And to my surprise, this wasn’t…as bad as I thought it was going to be. The actors playing the satirical versions of Bella and Edward were trying their best, likely hoping somebody would give them a better gig in the future, and once in a while there was an amusing visual gag. But that doesn’t mean the movie was good. It perhaps made the greatest cardinal sin a comedy could ever achieve; it’s not funny.
Comedy is of course a subjective medium, and it’s hard to explain why something isn’t funny in words. But the best way to explain this movie is to talk about the main joke types the film throws. There are self-aware jokes that poke fun at the storylines and plotholes found in both Twilight and its sequel New Moon, and even self-aware jabs at the Twilight fanbase. Those are probably the “best” jokes, if only because they managed to take an easy target and find avenues to mock the film and the culture surrounding it. But a majority of the jokes were already done to death on YouTube parodies that people could watch for free by the time of its release. They arguably were even thought up by Twilight’s target audience while watching these movies. It just makes these gags seem stale and overdone.
Some of these self-aware jokes don’t even make all that sense. There’s a gag where this movie’s version of Bella and her friend actually see Breaking Dawn at the movie theater and spoil the ending as they walk by a group of Twilight fans waiting in line for the movie, as said fans get angry over them spoiling it. Outside of the fact that this ripped off one of the greatest Simpsons gags of all time, the context doesn’t make any sense. The hardcore fans who show up on opening night likely already know what happens at the end, considering this is based on an iconic book series that most viewers already read well in advance. So why would they get angry over a spoiler to something they already know will happen?
The rest of the comedy isn’t that inventive either. There’s slapstick that occasionally garners a smile, but often goes on for too long, and there’s bathroom and gross-out jokes without a hint of creativity. But perhaps the worst comedy here comes from Friedberg and Seltzer’s trademark form of comedy: the pop culture reference. Films like Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans relied almost entirely on this kind of reference humor. They more or less take anything that was remotely topical and relevant in the past year, and cram it in without any rhyme or reason, essentially trying to get a cheap laugh off of a movie or celebrity that will be forgotten in a few years’ time.
Vampires Suck isn’t quite as egregious, but it certainly abuses it. Alice in Wonderland, The Vampire Diaries, Jersey Shore, Lady Gaga, Tiger Woods’ marriage scandal, Gossip Girl. They all come out of nowhere with no buildup and are only there for people in the audience to go “hey, a thing I recognize”. Even the movie acknowledges these come out of nowhere with a Black Eyed Peas joke that the characters address makes literally no sense within the context of the scene.
There’s nothing wrong with using reference humor, or even referencing current material that will be dated a couple years later. Sketch and variety shows, whether they be from YouTube, on Saturday Night Live or even on Cartoon Network’s Mad have done this to great success. But not only are all these options free to watch, while most people had to pay cash to see this on the big screen, they have a focus. They focus on one topic, keep it on the one topic, and try to build around that idea to at least try and create something entertaining. And while not every sketch hits bullsyes, a few of them at least try to maintain a hint of timelessness so that it’s still at least mildly funny a few years later. What Seltzerberg do is go the lazy route and think that having a group of models look like the Jersey Shore cast is enough and call it a day. It’s arguably insulting to the viewer.
But what’s interesting is that while Vampires Suck was a modest success, this was arguably the straw that broke the camel’s back, both for Seltzerberg and for spoof movies. After Vampires Suck, Seltzerberg would go on to only release straight-to-VOD parodies like The Starving Games or Superfast, and outside of one or two projects that were announced but have had no work done, the two have stopped making any movies. As for spoofs, they went extinct too. Marlon Wayans, the man who started this trend with Scary Movie, tried to recreate the same magic with A Haunted House, but after only one sequel, the well dried up, and nowadays, outside of a couple straight-to-DVD or VOD releases, parody movies are all but dead, for understandable reasons.In this day and age of YouTube, people have made entire empires making fun of pop culture through skits and animations mocking the newest movies and shows. Some companies like CollegeHumor and Funny or Die even have major funding behind these skits. Why spend a ticket for a Star Wars parody when there are hundreds of them on YouTube? When everybody is making the same lazy joke, why would having a cinematic sheen be any better? And while it may seem a touch disappointing we aren’t seeing any more Naked Guns or Young Frankensteins, after seeing this, I’d rather live in a world where Seltzerberg aren’t stinking up cinemas than a world where they are.
