The parody genre has been a comedic desert for a whole lot of years, at least since the talented Wayans clan left the Scary Movie franchise behind at just the right time. Since then we've been treated to a plethora of horrible pseudo spinoffs, each worse than the last and none of them the least bit funny. Marlon Wayans is looking to turn that around and reclaim the parody crown with A Haunted House, which attempts to drive a dagger in the heart of another tired genre, the found footage horror.
Wayans is a supremely talented guy, arguably the best of the Wayans family right now, but A Haunted House isn't the best example of it. In fact, it's mostly a laugh-free experience, full of aggressively irritating characters and a reliance on fart and sex jokes that is juvenile to say the least, moronic at the worst. Using found footage flicks like Paranormal Activity and The Devil Inside, it quickly becomes clear that Wayans and co-writer Rick Alvarez don't have anything new or clever to say about the genre, only finding occasional glimmers of brilliance when they deviate from the moldy Scary Movie formula.Wayans plays Malcolm, who is so in love with his girlfriend Kisha(Essence Atkins) that he buys a new video camera so he can record every step of her moving into his house. Just like the camera-obsessed buffoons in Paranormal Activity, he wants to capture everything on film, from Kisha taking a dump to recording their own private sex tapes. There's an uncomfortable and seemingly endless scene where Malcolm acts out banging her stuffed animals, just to get himself ready for the real sexual act. Disturbing and unfunny.
What was once an exciting and romantic relationship quickly grows stale and sexless, but at least there's a demonic spirit around to keep things excited. Actually, the two things seem to be intertwined, and that's where Wayans finds a small kernel of genius before it's buried under genital and poop humor. Wayans could have made a better, more unique horror/romance about complacency and the burden of relationship baggage. It's right there in front of him, and it's clear that he sees the potential in that idea, as well. But this isn't a film built to delve into anything too deep, not when another scene of Kisha being sexually molested by the demon is called for. The script would have been raunchy and edgy back in the mid-90s, but now it's just old and tired. They even dredge up some of Scary Movie's old gags, as if it were too far back for us to remember. The "smokin' weed with the villain" scene is here in full force and it's maybe good for a nostalgic chuckle.
There's one moment where Wayans hits paydirt so completely that it recalls some of the best gags from his brother Keenan's early career. It comes when Malcolm first learns his house is haunted by demon, and he does what all African-Americans say they would do, which is simply pack up his stuff and get the Hell out of there. A wealth of material lies in that divide between what white and African-American characters do in horror movies, and for a moment Wayans found it. Why couldn't that have been the whole movie?
Wayans is essentially playing the straight-man while Atkins gets most of the bigger gags. She's actually pretty good, playing off him well and showing a real knack for physical comedy. A number of recognizable faces pop up as familiar horror archetypes. David Koechner is a paranormal investigator who doesn't seem to realize just how racist he is. The always-irritating Nick Swardson is a gay psychic, whose one gag is turning out the lights so he can latch himself to Malcolm. Ho ho ho it never gets old. Cedric the Entertainer gets a few laughs as a sketchy prison minister. Cedric's always the sketchy man of God in these sorts of films. It's something he can do in his sleep, and in general he's the best of the supporting crew.There's no doubt that Marlon Wayans and first-time director Michael Tiddes put a lot of themselves into making this film happen. Wayans financed it himself to ensure it would come to fruition, and there's a good chance he'll see a hefty profit on that investment during these lean January weeks. A market is always out there for stuff like this, and sadly there will be plenty who find it to be the funniest thing they see all year. Scary Movie 5 comes out in just a couple of months, so we could be looking at a fight for horror parody supremacy. No matter who wins, it's us who are the real losers.
