The 5 best parody comedies to accompany the return of 'Scary Movie' and where to watch them streaming

For years we have had to survive without parodies in cinema. Without that jester pointing out the highest-grossing works and telling us all their flaws in a humorous way… and, for once, the blame is not on the bigwigs of the studios, but on the genre itself, which a few years ago veered into the absurd and went from making us laugh with well-known movies and genre clichés to trying to do so with simple recognition: oh, look, they are making 300, and now Iron Man. The audience got tired of subproducts like Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Casi 300 or Híncame el diente, and even Scary Movie 5 couldn’t lift the spirits… until now.

The arrival of a new Scary Movie film, following last year’s “Airplane!”, is more than enough reason to take a look at the best movies in the genre that have accompanied us over the years. Grab your notepad, because if you found it funny to see Ghostface playing video games, you’re going to be amazed at what the ZAZ did in their prime.

Hot Shots!

Although it is true that it may show the passage of time (after all, its main parody was Top Gun, along with others like 9 Weeks and a Half or Rambo), Hot Shots is still an incredibly funny movie in its own right, with Jim Abrahams at full throttle and a cast capable of doing anything to make the audience laugh. When you throw in five good gags per minute, it’s rare that at least one doesn’t cause a laugh in the audience. It was such a hit that they even made a sequel two years later, but this parody of Rambo 2 was nowhere near as good. Still, a third part would have been welcomed like water on a summer morning.

You can find it on Disney+ and Movistar+

Grab it as you can

New or old? Both, of course, why choose? Leslie Nielsen, who just a few years earlier had been a dramatic actor, revealed that he had a brutal comedic side thanks to this adaptation of the ZAZ series, Police Squad!. There is nothing that doesn’t work here, from that initial siren getting into all sorts of places to the impossible puns. Of course, it had two notable sequels (Naked Gun 2 1/2 is salvageable, but 33 1/3 only escapes due to the impossible Oscar gala), and it has remained the pinnacle of parodies, even to this day.

You can watch it on SkyShowTime, HBO Max, and Movistar+

Land as you can

The parodic movie par excellence, because… well, that’s basically what it does. It takes an existing movie, Suspense… zero hour, and laughs at it scene by scene, dialogue by dialogue, to the point where they had to buy the rights to avoid a lawsuit. From this, all the memes in the world have emerged, from the incredible “Do you like gladiator movies?” to the slaps in the seat, featuring a Leslie Nielsen who understood that the key to humor was to remain completely serious. A marvel.

The Crazy History of Galaxies

Rick Moranis left cinema, and to this day we should still be lamenting. Because only he could have portrayed Dark Helmet with this strange dignity: Spaceballs is, obviously, a clear and sincere parody of Star Wars, but at the same time building its own world… which this very year will return with an unexpected sequel (which, sadly, is not titled The Search for More Money, as we were promised in the 80s). Once you see it, you will never look at Star Wars the same way again.

It’s not another stupid American movie

Yes, I know, I’m leaving out classics like Young Frankenstein or even Scary Movie, but I wanted to highlight one of the parodies that usually get overshadowed by the true geniuses in the field: Not Another Teen Movie managed to mock teenage clichés like no other, and thanks to the fact that the genre hasn’t evolved much in recent years, it remains surprisingly relevant. Dozens of parodied movies in just an hour and a half, and with a taste that is frankly surprising to see today. Worth framing.

None of the last three are available for streaming, but they could get their act together, right?