“Spoof. Say it aloud. Feels like a dirty word doesn’t it?

Aside from even sounding slightly smutty, the spoof movie genre has, of late, been sullied by (five!) Scary Movies, Meet The Spartans and – oh, the irony – Disaster Movie. Transitory, devoid of wit and with the lowest common denominator in their crosshairs, these movies aimed for the tittering teenager, the cheap thrill-seeker and the perpetually stoned.

Perhaps the above seems like a sweeping generalisation, but it’s with good cause. Where these movies and even the term spoof itself have since been eschewed, there remains a series of films which occupy a place of fondness in the heart of – including yours truly, obvs – many a film fan: the ZAZ movies.”

To read the rest of my Den of Geek feature on Hot Shots! and why it was the last of the great spoofs, please follow this link.