For Wayans, scary is funny

By ROGER MOORE
McCLATCHY NEWS SERVICE

At 40, Marlon Wayans is part of the same generation of Wayans that produced Damon, Keenan Ivory, Kim and Shawn. He has “always been the most talented” of the clan, says George Thomas, film critic for the Cleveland Examiner — capable of low comedy, but also of stealing film from the likes of Tom Hanks (“The Ladykillers”).

Wayans’ latest function in the funny family enterprise is “A Haunted House,” an attempt to move on from the “Scary Movies” that he helped launch but which the family is no longer a part of.

With the “Scary Movie” installments — begun as a response to the “Scream” and “Nightmare on Elm Street” franchises — growing more watered down with each year, Wayans saw an opening for another parody.

“There’s a fine line between that moment when you’re a fan of the movie, the first movie in a series maybe, or you’re a fan of a genre — and the first films in it are the good ones — and then the bad ones start coming along and you hate them,” Wayans says. “When I see common denominators, common situations, common characters — a genre of films or a series of films becomes all the same movie — that’s when I go ‘That sucks. But it’s funny that it sucks.’”

That’s where he figures the “found footage” genre of horror is — “Paranormal Activity” and its many imitations. “By the time the recent ‘Paranormal Activities’ and the rip-offs came along, I said, ‘Wow. White people do some DUMB stuff in these freaking movies. You know what would be funny? If ‘Paranormal Activity’ happened to a black couple. Who would THEY call? What would go wrong with THEM?’”

He couldn’t do much with the original found footage horror film — “The Blair Witch Project” — because “Black people don’t camp. We came from Africa. We KNOW what’s in the woods.”

But what if, say, a black couple had “thug cousins” they could call in a crisis?

“That’s what I would do. And that’s funny, to me. There are things even a thug is afraid of.”

Next up for Wayans is a co-starring role in the comedy “The Heat,” with Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy. He plays Bullock’s character’s love interest.

“We don’t have any love scenes. Or any chemistry, really. But I’m pretty sure that in my mind, they do the nasty. A man’s got to have hope.”

Check out movie times

NOW PLAYING
A Haunted House
Stars: Marlon Wayans, Essence Atkins, Nick Swardson, Cedric the Entertainer
Director: Michael Tiddes
Rating: R for crude and sexual content, language and some drug use
Running time: 86 minutes