Hot Fuzz and Scream

One movie I find similar to Hot Fuzz, directed by Edgar Wright, is Scream, directed by Wes Craven. They both have killers who wear black robes with hoods, multiple killers when you originally think there is only one, points where you think the characters are dead and then they come back to life, reference other movies, and make fun of other movies in their category.

In Scream, there is a series of murders in a small town. The murders are committed by a killer in a black robe with a ghost face mask. Usually before the victim is killed, they receive a call from the killer, who disguises his voice. The killer plays games with the victims, asking them questions such as “What’s your favorite scary movie?” He then reveals that he can somehow see what they are doing. Sidney Prescott receives one of these calls and is attacked by the killer but escapes. During a party she and numerous other high school students attend, multiple people die throughout the night and the main suspect, Billy Loomis, Sidney’s boyfriend, appears to be innocent when he is attacked. Later, we figure out that he is not innocent and there are two killers, Billy and Stu, who are working together. They are going to try to frame the murders on Sidney’s Dad, Neil Prescott, but they are interrupted by a reporter, Gail Weathers, who was investigating the murders. Billy ends up getting the gun from her and Sidney escapes. She hides in a closet until Billy opens it and she stabs him with an umbrella. Stu then chases her around and she ends up killing him by dropping a TV on his head. Billy is not actually dead and comes at her again, but this time Gail actually shoots him.

In Hot Fuzz, Sergeant Nicholas Angel is transferred from the police force in London, to the small town of Sandford. The night before his first day working, he ends up arresting multiple people in the town. While he is on the job, most of the calls he gets are about little things that he would never have had to deal with while in London, such as finding an escaped swan. He also notices that there are a lot of mysterious and freak accidents in Sandford, such as a car accident with no skid marks and a house explosion. He seems to be the only one who thinks there is someone who is murdering all of these people and staging it to look like accidents. In the end you find out that there are multiple killers who are all part of the NWA, or Neighbourhood Watch Alliance, that are killing people who they think are bad for the town’s image. Sergeant Angel and his partner Danny end up taking all of the NWA down, most of them in a comical way. Nick and Danny are promoted and continue to keep the peace in Sandford together.

Throughout both movies, there are numerous references to other movies. In Hot Fuzz, there are many references to action movies such as Bad Boys II and Point Break. Danny constantly asks Sergeant Angel questions about his past police work, and wants to partake in things from the movies such as car chases and shoot outs. At one point, Danny plays out one scene from Point Break, where he fires his gun into the air and screams rather than shoot his father. In Scream, there are many references to scary movies, such as Halloween, Friday the 13th, and Psycho.There are many times where people comment how, If this was a scary movie________ would happen. Usually a few seconds or minutes later, whatever they had said would actually happen. They also talk about who would play them if a movie was made about the murders and how they wanted to be in the sequel when they were saying they wanted to live.

Both movies also make fun of other movies in their categories. Hot Fuzz makes fun of traditional action movies by making the chase scenes unrealistic and funny, such as when Sergeant Angel is hopping over the fences doing flips, making it look easy, and when they stop to pick up the swan in the middle of the car chase. Scream makes fun of traditional scary movies by making comments about other movies. When Sidney is talking to the killer on the phone, she says she doesn't like scary movies because the girl is always stupid and runs up the stairs instead of out the door, even though she does the same thing five minutes later when the killer is after her. There is also another scene when the character, Randy, played by Jamie Kennedy, is watching Jamie Lee Curtis in a scary movie on TV and yells many times “Jamie! Look behind you!” The killer is actually standing right behind him and the viewers are also supposed to be yelling “Jamie! Look behind you!”

Hot Fuzz and Scream also end in huge fight scenes that are somewhat comical; although in Hot Fuzz, none of the bad guys really die, except probably the guy who gets blown up by the sea mine, and in Scream both the killers die.