More than a quarter-century after the big and dumb (and lucrative) laughs of the first “Scary Movie” and 14 years after the dreadfully unfunny “Scary Movie V” seemed to put a stake in the heart of the franchise, the Wayans creative team regains control of the jokefest—but it’s a wasted opportunity.
The new film is officially titled “Scary Movie.” Guess it’s like the deal with “Halloween,” with the original in 1978 and then a million sequels, and then another movie called just “Halloween” in 2007, and then another movie simply titled “Halloween” in 2018, which ignored all the chapters after the first “Halloween,” and that isn’t a bad philosophy.
Still recovering from the 132-minute slog that was the repetitively jokey and not particularly clever “Masters of the Universe” (speaking of reboots), I was grateful for the relatively zippy 96-minute running time for “Scary Movie” 6.0. It was a kick to see the original “Core Four” of Regina King, Anna Faris, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans reprise their signature roles, and the opening sequence featuring an award-wielding Teyana Taylor as a heightened and hilarious version of herself showed promise and ingenuity—but that was pretty much the high point of the entire film. From that point on, there were entire scenes that made me feel like I had taken a vow of silence.
Just as the first “Scary Movie” built its framework on a mashup of the original “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer” and then peppered in a myriad of references to other films, the 2026 “Scary Movie” is built on the framework of the so-called “requel” films in the “Scream” series—with room for jokes about “The Substance,” “The Matrix,” “Smile,” “M3gan,” “Final Destination,” “The Terrifier,” “Michael,” and on and on.
That choice feels like a stumble right out of the gate. In 2026, a “Scary Movie” making fun of “Scream” movies, which from the get-go were inside-joke takes on horror films, is like a Russian nesting doll of comedy, where the laughs get smaller with each reveal. Why not take a bigger swing and do a full-on parody of a modern classic such as “Get Out,” “Sinners,” or “Weapons”? (Each of those films merits a one-off gag here, with only one landing with any resonance.) We’ve seen such a renaissance in the horror genre over the last 15 years that it feels like a missed opportunity to still be chasing the “Scream” franchise.
In the present day, Faris’ Cindy Campbell, who has become a doomsday-prepper recluse ala latter-day Laurie Strode, is estranged from her teenage daughters Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan, who does a spot-on imitation of Faris) and Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif), who is named “Tuesday” because for legal reasons the film can’t call her “Wednesday,” get it? Hall’s Brenda Meeks, who for reasons unexplained is channeling Octavia Spencer’s “Ma,” has twins: Dei (Sydney Park) and Brad (Gregg Wayans), and I think that’s about as deep as we need to go into the plot, because we don’t expect storylines from these movies—we’re just hoping the grossout sight gags, the cheap sex jokes and the wink-at-the-audience Easter Eggs produce more than nods of recognition and the occasional mild laugh.
Alas.
There are so many returning supporting players and so many new characters jammed into the story that Cindy and Brenda sometimes become offscreen afterthoughts. Marlon Wayans’ beloved stoner character Shorty Meeks and Shawn Wayans’ barely closeted Ray Wilkins don’t fare much better, as they’re both stuck in the same one-note joke loops. (Humor dependent on “Wassssup!” and “Brokeback Mountain” feels beyond stale.)
Raunchy humor abounds, and the entire ensemble, including the newcomers, are comedic gamers who go all-in no matter how ridiculous the premise, but the attempts at edgy commentary, e.g., a visual gag about the Epstein files, are neither provocative nor funny. I did laugh at one bit about a group of passengers on a train turning violent over being lectured about using the proper pronouns, and the Kenan Thompson-led jab at “Michael” played like a moderately successful “SNL” sketch. As for the racial humor (including the obligatory observations about stereotypes in Hollywood casting), a few of the jokes worked, but nothing seemed particularly edgy or bold. I kinda loved the brutal, ludicrous final twist, which matched the opening scene for bold humor. It’s just too bad that most of the stuff that transpired in between felt like lukewarm leftovers.
