MOVIES : Beating Genres to a Pulp : ‘Plump Fiction’ heads a wave of spoofs that has the Wayans brothers hangin’ in the ‘hood and Mel Brooks reeling (again) in horror.

Hollywood’s recent onslaught of movies about spies, vampires, high school and “the ‘hood,” as well as the film noir frenzy whipped up by last year’s “Pulp Fiction,” may be about to jump-start another generation of a popular genre: the spoof.

“Plump Fiction,” Bob Koherr’s directorial debut, shoots holes through Quentin Tarantino’s claim to fame while also parodying “Natural Born Killers” and “Reservoir Dogs.” (In Koherr’s take, the references sprinkled throughout “Plump” are “Natural Blond Killers” and “Reservoir Nuns.”)

The $3-million independent feature, a first theatrical production for Rhino Films (Rhino Records’ new film division), is spiked with potshots at “Forrest Gump,” “Apollo 13,” “Waterworld,” “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” and “Nell.”

“With the exception of a few, basically we’re spoofing the independent hits . . . all the ones we like,” says Koherr. “In a way, it’s paying homage to them.”

Maybe. But there are no stars from the above-mentioned hits popping up for a cameo appearance in “Plump,” even though Koherr and producer Gary Binko had considered pushing for them early on.

“Plump” stars comedians Julie Brown, Sandra Bernhard and Tommy Davidson, who play the Uma Thurman, Amanda Plummer and Samuel Jackson “Pulp Fiction” roles respectively--with a twist. “Of course, I tell everyone I see that I am Uma . . . just that my [character’s] addiction really is food (not drugs),” says Brown.

“Pulp” fans could be a bit confused when Bernhard appears, since her character’s traits are more akin to those of Tim Roth, Plummer’s lover in “Pulp.” That’s because Koherr, who also wrote the script, decided to flip the roles.

“That’s why you do a film like this,” Bernhard says. “It takes a shot at something” like “Pulp Fiction,” which was unique at the moment, then triggered Tarantino wanna-bes.

The trick, notes Binko, “is to be careful not to use too many cliches so you won’t be spoofed yourself.”

Shawn Wayans sees it a little differently. “You have to be over the top,” he says. “If you don’t go to the extreme you fall into the genre that you’re trying to parody.”

Wayans and his brother Marlon both star in and are producing “Don’t Be a Menace in South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood” for Miramax. (They also co-wrote it with Phil Beauman.) Set for a Feb. 23 release, the $6-million film is directed by Paris Barclay and executive produced by Keenen Wayans, their older brother, who has starred in a few spoofs himself.

“Believe me, you know in the first five seconds of this movie what it’s all about,” Shawn Wayans says. “You know how all the ‘hood movies start out with one of those serious messages flashed up on the screen? Well, ours says: ‘At least one out of every 100 black males will be forced to watch a ‘hood movie in their lifetime. The tragedy is one out of every five will end up being in one.’ ”

Marlon and Shawn say they decided to lampoon such ‘hood raves as “South Central,” “Menace II Society” and “Dead Presidents” because they saw a trend--one ripe for a good comedic swipe.

“People are gonna watch this and say, ‘Oh yeah, they did that same [stuff] in ‘South Central’ or whatever,” says Marlon. “We’ve got the same ‘hood story line. You know, somebody trying to get out of the ‘hood. There’s one good guy and one bad guy and the neighborhood gang members are guilt-tripping the good guy about bailing out. And at the end you’ve got to do the long drive-by shooting scene. And of course there’s a white Bronco in for O.J. fans.”

Shawn plays Ashtray, the good guy. Marlon is Loc Dog, the bad cousin who is always getting Ashtray into trouble and thinks the ‘hood is the only place to be.

Razz them about the length of the movie’s title and both snap back in stereo: “Hey, it’s no longer than that ‘Man Who Went Up the Hill, Came Down the Mountain and the Movie Bombed.’

“People like to laugh, and whenever a genre, like ‘hood movies, plays itself out, that’s when it’s time for a parody. As long as new genres keep coming along there will be parodies,” says Marlon. “You can’t say, ‘I’m gonna parody “Forrest Gump’ now,’ cause there’s only been one. The reason Mel Brooks’ ‘Spaceballs’ was a bust is because he should have waited a little longer until after ‘Species’ and all the ‘Alien’ films came out.”

B rooks remains undaunted. His “Dracula: Dead and Loving It” will be released Dec. 22 for Castle Rock Entertainment. It stars spoof legend Leslie Nielsen, of “Naked Gun” fame.

Nielsen actually has two spoofs coming out: “Dracula” and “Spy Hard,” which satirizes James Bond and many other spy/action thrillers--but not “Die Hard.”

In “Dracula,” Nielsen plays a bon vivant vampire who has two left fangs and is a bit on the clumsy side. Brooks, who directed the 1974 horror spoof, “Young Frankenstein,” says this bowlegged Dracula is constantly being “tripped by his own evil schemes.”

Actually, says Nielsen, the problem is those damn humans. “Dracula is the victim,” he adds. “Every time he tries to place his confidence and trust in mortal human beings, they foul him up. He really does a lot of undercover work so to speak . . . very much the sex symbol.”

Once that film wrapped Nielsen, 70, took a month break before jumping into Hollywood Pictures’ “Spy Hard,” which he is executive producing. He plays Dick Steele, agent WD-40, with Nicolette Sheridan, his partner in spy, as Agent 3.14 (or pi, for the math-impaired). Andy Griffith is Steele’s one-armed nemesis Gen. Rancor, whose motto is “armless and still dangerous.”

The general, with the help of an imprisoned Russian professor, is developing a satellite chip to take over the world. But this spoof doesn’t stop with “GoldenEye.” Other targets are “True Lies,” “Rambo,” a bit of “Pulp Fiction,” “Sister Act” (yes, Nielsen dons a habit) and even “Airplane!”--a spoof on a spoof.

“Spy Hard,” to be released Memorial Day weekend next year, is, Nielsen says, a prime example of why parody is so tough.

“With comedy, you walk on a fine edge. With drama, the balancing rail is wider for you,” he says. “Comedy, especially parody, doesn’t work when you cross over the lines of credibility. You have to be careful that when you are into it and having too much of a good time, kidding around, that the jokes don’t become too inside. When that happens, the audience can get ahead of you. You lose the surprise and it’s all over from there.”

Which is exactly why David Zucker, who’s currently directing his latest parody, “High School High,” for Tri Star Pictures, says it takes at least three years to pull together a good spoof.

Zucker should know. Nielsen calls David and his brother Jerry the icons of parodies. With Jim Abrahams (“Hot Shots!”), they wrote and/or directed “Airplane!,” which many credit with starting the modern spoof genre, and launched the “Naked Gun” series, based on their short-lived TV antecedent “Police Squad.”

David Zucker says that he was considering a fourth “Naked Gun” but the Simpson trial squelched that, since the story probably would have been centered around Simpson’s character in the previous films.

In Zucker’s latest project, Jon Lovitz plays an idealistic teacher--a character that mocks the Edward James Olmos role in “Stand and Deliver,” Robin Williams in “Dead Poets Society” and Michelle Pfeiffer’s recent “Dangerous Minds.”

Lovitz plays Dick Clark, who teaches at such a bad school that it has its own cemetery and students have to chain their cars up. Clark’s father runs the privileged Wellington School, where the logo is Wonder Bread. Louise Fletcher, Mekhi Phifer and Tia Carrere also star. Zucker expects to wrap the production this month for a summer ’96 release.

“The thing about parodies is that they may look all wild and crazy, but they take a lot of discipline,” Zucker says. “They’re much harder than doing a drama, or so my brother [director of “Ghost” and “First Knight”] has reported to me from the other side, because he’s doing a drama now. We call him the classics’ division.”