The surprise is that it really isn’t that bad. The sequel is far more clever than the first, this time adding political references and current events into the mix. There’s a nice balance between Firestone tire and Nike TV ad jokes, and a clown being choked to death by a phallus jokes. The film is fun overkill.

Anna Faris (who, in a bizarre side note, was born and raised in the small Seattle suburb of Edmonds, Washington where this author resides) reprises the role of Cindy Campbell. Her horny psychology professor (Tim Curry, who else?) stages some type of psychological experiment for her and all her friends from the original Scary Movie, who all happen to go to the same college. The experiment involves spending the weekend in a haunted mansion. Things, of course, go terribly and hilariously wrong.

Not that the plot really matters. The film moves from one joke to another so quickly it’s really a string of punch lines rather than a story. This is forgivable because the material is very funny... but there’s a problem.

If you haven’t kept up on popular culture lately, you’re likely to miss many of the jokes. A very clever spoof of Save the Last Dance flew by even the teenagers at my packed screening, as did a Rocky send-up. Other films are so cleverly woven into the plot that one viewing isn’t nearly enough to spot them all. Less obvious jokes spoof films like The Game, The Amityville Horror, Urban Legend, and Hollow Man. All that and a character named Jamie Lee Curtisto.

One of the biggest problems with Scary Movie was that it had to adhere so closely to the storyline of Scream. Scary Movie 2 is a combination of House on Haunted Hill and The Haunting, but even that’s a loose structure.

This gives the actors time to roam around, and the result is a more relaxed pace. Regina Hall gives a funny performance that goes against the premise that African-Americans always die first in horror movies. Christopher Masterson and Faris have good chemistry, but the film really belongs to Chris Elliott. As Hanson, the house’s caretaker with a deformed, odd-looking left hand, and less than appealing facial features, he is completely wonderful and over-the-top. Tori Spelling is criminally underused. She gets to have wild sex with the invisible man, but not much else. I was waiting for a “90210” gag or her dad to pop out from somewhere.

The biggest surprise of all may be that Scary Movie 2 seems tamer than the original. Oh sure there’s abundant sex humor, but America has become less taboo about these issues since the original’s release. Whether tamer or more outrageous, there’s plenty of laughs here for a normal person to have a great time, and a Joe-Lieberman-person to start fuming.