Parody film

A parody film or spoof film is a subgenre of comedy film that lampoons other film genres or films as pastiches, works created by imitation of the style of many different films reassembled together.

Although the subgenre is often overlooked by critics, parody films are commonly profitable at the box office. Parody is related to satire, except that "parody is more often a representation of appreciation, while a satire is more often...pointing ...out the major flaws of an object through ridicule." J.M. Maher notes that the "difference is not always clear" and points out that "some films employ both techniques". Parody is found in a range of art and culture, including literature, music, theater, television, animation, and gaming.

The first film parody was The Little Train Robbery (1905), which makes fun of The Great Train Robbery (1903), in part by using an all-child cast for the Western spoof. Historically, when a genre formula grows tired, as in the case of the moralistic melodramas in the 1910s, it retains value only as a parody, as demonstrated by Buster Keaton shorts that mocked that melodrama genre.

Influential parody actors and creators from the first half of 20th century included the Marx Brothers (active 1905–1949), W. C. Fields (active 1898–1946), Mae West (active 1907–1978), Laurel and Hardy (active 1927–1955), and Bob Hope (active 1922–1999). The 1970s and 1980s have been called the "golden age" of parody movies, led by Mel Brooks and the "ZAZ trio" (David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker). Brooks' parodies included a Western parody, Blazing Saddles (1974); a horror parody, Young Frankenstein (1974); and a space opera parody, Spaceballs (1987). The ZAZ trio is best known for their film which parodies a number of 1960s and 1970s genres (from exploitation film to kung fu film), The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and their air disaster film parody, Airplane! (1980).

• The Nutty Professor (1963)

• Carry On Cleo (1964)

• A Shot in the Dark (1964)

• Dr. Strangelove (1964)

• Carry On Spying (1964)

• Harum Scarum (1965)

• The Great Race (1965)

• Carry On Cowboy (1965)

• Don't Lose Your Head (1966)

• For a Few Dollars Less (1966)

• Carry On Screaming! (1966)

• Our Man Flint (1966)

• In Like Flint (1967)

• Casino Royale (1967)

• The Ambushers (1967)

• The Dove (1968)

• Zuckerkandl (1968)

• The Diamond Arm (1969)

1970s

• Carry On Up the Jungle (1970)

• The Twelve Chairs (1970)

• Carry On Henry (1971)

• And Now for Something Completely Different (1971)

• Carry On Dick (1974)

• Blazing Saddles (1974)

• Flesh Gordon (1974)

• Young Frankenstein (1974)

• The Groove Tube (1974)

• Dark Star (1974)

• Vampira (1974)

• Uptown Saturday Night (1974)

• Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

• Love and Death (1975)

• The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes' Smarter Brother (1975)

• The Black Bird (1975)

• Allegro Non Troppo (1976)

• Silent Movie (1976)

• Murder by Death (1976)

• Once Upon a Girl (1976)

• Queen Kong (1976)

• The Big Bus (1976)

• High Anxiety (1977)

• The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)

• Hardware Wars (1978)

• Attack of the Killer Tomatoes (1978)

• The Cheap Detective (1978)

• Carry On Emmannuelle (1978)

• Piranha (1978)

• Monty Python's Life of Brian (1979)

• Rock 'n' Roll High School (1979)

1980s

• Galaxina (1980)

• Wholly Moses! (1980)

• Airplane! (1980)

• Murder Can Hurt You (1980)

• The Private Eyes (1980)

• Closet Cases of the Nerd Kind (1980)

• History of the World, Part I (1981)

• Under the Rainbow (1981)

• Student Bodies (1981)

• Saturday the 14th (1981)

• Zorro, The Gay Blade (1981)

• The Creature Wasn't Nice (1981)

• Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

• Young Doctors in Love (1982)

• Airplane II: The Sequel (1982)

• Pandemonium (1982)

• Wacko (1982)

• Zapped! (1982)

• Hysterical (1983)

• The Man With Two Brains (1983)

• Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (1983)

• Bullshot (1983)

• Agent 000 and the Deadly Curves (1983)

• Bloodbath at the House of Death (1984)

• Bloodsuckers from Outer Space (1984)

• Johnny Dangerously (1984)

• Surf II: The End of the Trilogy (1984)

• The Toxic Avenger (1984)

• Top Secret! (1984)

• The Zany Adventures of Robin Hood (1984)

• Voyage of the Rock Aliens (1984)

• Night of the Comet (1984)

• Rustlers' Rhapsody (1985)

• When Nature Calls (1985)

• Morons from Outer Space (1985)

• Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)

• Radioactive Dreams (1985)

• Spies Like Us (1985)

• Eat and Run (1986)

• Haunted Honeymoon (1986)

• Reform School Girls (1986)

• Three Amigos (1986)

• Whoops Apocalypse (1986)

• Fresno (1986)

• Monster in the Closet (1986)

• Evil Dead II (1987)

• Hollywood Shuffle (1987)

• Spaceballs (1987)

• Back to the Beach (1987)

• Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)

• Leonard Part 6 (1987)

• Dragnet (1987)

• Love at Stake (1987)

• Return of the Killer Tomatoes (1988)

• The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)

• The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)

• I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)

• Buster (1988)

• UHF (1989)

• Disorganized Crime (1989)

• Lobster Man from Mars (1989)

• Meet the Feebles (1989)

• Transylvania Twist (1989)

1990s

• A Man Called Sarge (1990)

• Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders (1990)

• The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990)

• Repossessed (1990)

• Killer Tomatoes Strike Back (1990)

• Mob Boss (1990)

• Zapped Again! (1990)

• If Looks Could Kill (1991)

• The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

• Hot Shots! (1991)

• Killer Tomatoes Eat France (1991)

• Wizards of the Demon Sword

• Mom and Dad Save the World (1992)

• Evil Toons (1992)

• Carry On Columbus (1992)

• The Naked Truth (1993)

• Hot Shots! Part Deux (1993)

• Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993)

• Fatal Instinct (1993)

• Matinee (1993)

• Freaked (1993)

• The Silence of the Hams (1994)

• Naked Gun : The Final Insult (1994)

• Blankman (1994)

• Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995)

• Attack of the 60 Foot Centerfold (1995)

• Ice Cream Man (1995)

• Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)

• The Nutty Professor (1996)

• Cannibal! The Musical (1996)

• Spy Hard (1996)

• High School High (1996)

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie (1996)

• Mars Attacks! (1996)

• Killer Condom (1996)

• Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)

• Funny Games (1997)

• George of the Jungle (1997)

• Orgazmo (1997)

• Jane Austen's Mafia! (1998)

• Wrongfully Accused (1998)

• Plump Fiction (1998)

• Liang Po Po: The Movie (1999)

• Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

• Galaxy Quest (1999)

• The Underground Comedy Movie (1999)

• The Woman Chaser (1999)

• South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

• Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

2000s

• 2001: A Space Travesty (2000)

• Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000)

• Scary Movie (2000)

• Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth (2000)

• The Bogus Witch Project (2000)

• The Tony Blair Witch Project (2000)

• Shrek (2001)

• Scary Movie 2 (2001)

• Not Another Teen Movie (2001)

• Elvira's Haunted Hills (2001)

• Wet Hot American Summer (2001)

• Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter (2001)

• Freddy Got Fingered (2001)

• Der Schuh des Manitu (2001)

• Kung Pow!: Enter the Fist (2002)

• Undercover Brother (2002)

• Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002)

• Ali G Indahouse (2002)

• Scary Movie 3 (2003)

• George of the Jungle 2 (2003)

• Johnny English (2003)

• Down with Love (2003)

• G-Sale (2003)

• Superlópez (2003)

• Mortadelo & Filemon: The Big Adventure (2003)

• The Hebrew Hammer (2003)

• Lost Skeleton of Cadavra (2004)

• Shaun of the Dead (2004)

• 7 Zwerge – Männer allein im Wald (2004)

• Freak Out (2004)

• Churchill: The Hollywood Years (2004)

• Tadeo Jones (2004)

• Shrek 2 (2004)

• Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

• Club Dread (2004)

• Team America: World Police (2004)

• The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (2004)

• Traumschiff Surprise – Periode 1 (2004)

• The Ring Thing (2004)

• Der Wixxer (2004)

• My Big Fat Independent Movie (2005)

• Hoodwinked! (2005)

• Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (2005)

• Doogal (2006)

• Date Movie (2006)

• Scary Movie 4 (2006)

• Another Gay Movie (2006)

• 18 Fingers of Death! (2006)

• Bikini Bloodbath (2006)

• 7 Zwerge – Der Wald ist nicht genug (2006)

• Man of the Year (2006)

• Borat (2006)

• Happily N'Ever After (2006)

• Everything Other than Japan Sinks (2006)

• Shrek The Third (2007)

• Epic Movie (2007)

• Farce of the Penguins (2007)

• Funny Games (2007)

• Hot Fuzz (2007)

• The Comebacks (2007)

2010s

• Tamizh Padam (2010)

• Vampires Suck (2010)

• Death Kappa (2010)

• Shrek Forever After (2010)

• The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It (2010)

• MacGruber (2010)

• Megamind (2010)

• Johnny English Reborn (2011)

• The Legend of Awesomest Maximus (2011)

• Puss in Boots (2011)

• Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil (2011)

• Breaking Wind (2012)

• The Dictator (2012)

• Tad, The Lost Explorer (2012)

• Movie 43 (2013)

• iSteve (2013)

• The Starving Games (2013)

• A Haunted House (2013)

• Scary Movie 5 (2013)

• 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2013)

• Inappropriate Comedy (2013)

• This Is the End (2013)

• The World's End (2013)

• Dick Figures: The Movie (2013)

• A Haunted House 2 (2014)

• The Hungover Games (2014)

• Hrudaya Kaleyam (2014)

• They Came Together (2014)

• Double Barrel (2015)

• Chirakodinja Kinavukal (2015)

• Superfast! (2015)

• The Walking Deceased (2015)

• The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water (2015)

• Tooken (2015)

• Ridiculous 6 (2015)

• The Night Before (2015)

• Fifty Shades of Black (2016)

• Donald Trump's The Art of the Deal: The Movie (2016)

• Meet the Blacks (2016)

• Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

• Bullyparade: The Movie (2017)

• Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie (2017)

• Tad the Lost Explorer and the Secret of King Midas (2017)

• Superlópez (2018)

• Tamizh Padam 2 (2018)

• Holmes & Watson (2018)

• Notzilla (2019)

• Between Two Ferns: The Movie (2019)

• Airplane Mode (2019)

2020s

• Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020)

• Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020)

• Scary Movie (2026)

• Shrek 5 (2027)

• Spaceballs: The New One (2027)

Further reading

• Gehring, Wes D. Parody as Film Genre: Never Give a Saga an Even Break. Praeger, 1999.

References