Shot in black and white with harsh lighting and dramatic shadows, The Scary Movie is a parodic twist on horror films. Two child actresses playfully stage a series of scenes that echo familiar plot points in the genre. Clumsy costumes and props (werewolf claws, vampire’s capes, weapons made from aluminium foil) along with jittery camerawork, evoke Halloween home movies and the campy effects of low-budget horror films. The reenactments are accompanied by a soundtrack of distorted audio fragments drawn from the types of films they mimic—ominous music, maniacal laughter, and disembodied screams. Ahwesh plays up the absurdity of horror tropes, but also turns a grim mirror on the genre’s consistent violence against women characters.
Peggy Ahwesh (b. 1954, United States) is an experimental filmmaker and digital artist whose work combines narrative and documentary film, and encompasses video performance, Super-8 film, found footage, digital animation, video games, and virtual reality. Ahwesh's playful videos investigate cultural and gender identities, the role of the subject, language, and representation.