Scary Movie (2026)

​“Scary Movie” stars Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kenan Thompson, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Kim Wayans, Cheri Oteri, and Chris Elliott.  Released on June 5, 2026, the film has Cindy Campbell reuniting with her friends to confront a new masked killer.

The film was directed by Michael Tiddes, who also directed films such as “A Haunted House”, “Fifty Shades of Black”, and “Sextuplets”.  It is the sixth installment in the "Scary Movie" film series and serves as a spiritual sequel to the first two films.  It’s no secret that we love to get scared by various cinematic ghouls, monsters, and psychotic masked killers.  But now and then, we would also like to take a moment to laugh at specific moments that were initially frightening.  Maybe even poke fun at the iconic horror villains and scenarios that made cinematic history.  Fortunately for us, one comedy franchise has what we need to make the scary parts less scary while staying unapologetically lowbrow in its limitless boundaries.  The Wayans Brothers were the pinnacle of comedy back in the day, but it wasn’t until their parody film, “Scary Movie”, that their popularity soared to new heights.  

With its display of spoof shenanigans, crass and gross-out jokes that’ll offend plenty of snowflakes, and a charismatically cheesy cast, “Scary Movie” revitalized the parody genre until its co-writers, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, dismantled it with their excuses for “spoof movies” in the 2010s.  More importantly, the film, along with its sequels, showed that no horror film is safe from the franchise's twisted sense of humor, especially “Scare Movie 5”, which was seen as the death of the franchise and even the parody sub-genre regarding its poor reception.  That is, until the Wayans crew reunite to give audiences a proper sequel to the movie that started Cindy Campbell’s hilarious survival against every horror shenanigan imaginable.  Does it offer enough hilarity to revive the franchise’s frighteningly silly concept or show that some lines shouldn’t be crossed?  Let’s find out.

The story is set after the events of “Scary Movie 2”.  Cindy Campbell (Faris) and her friends, Brenda Meeks (Hall), Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans), and Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans), have gone their separate ways after college.  Despite leaving behind the traumas of their past encounters, they still ended up confronting plenty of random, silly scenarios everywhere they went.  As they adjust to the new chapters in their lives, they receive word that the Ghostface killer they encountered 26 years ago has returned, embarking on a new murder spree that’s equal parts scary and questionably silly.  This prompts Cindy, Brenda, and the others to come together once more to help Cindy’s daughters end the killer’s rampage for good while surviving another round of bizarre characters and goofy scenarios.

While “Scary Movie” is one of the popular examples of the parody sub-genre, I hadn’t actually gotten into this series of live-action parodies until the 2010s, thanks to the likes of “Epic Movie” and “Meet the Spartans”.  I know, it’s absolutely wild that Friedberg and Seltzer’s failed spoof movies got me into this series of crude, comical versions of popular movies.  These movies helped me get into the “Scary Movie” installments and even the satires from Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker.  I hadn’t watched “Scary Movie” and its follow-ups that much until recently to prepare for the new film, but I usually found them dumb yet gleefully silly and unapologetically crude, even if some jokes and mean-spirited ridicule weren’t as tolerable as others.  That alone is enough for me to see if the once-popular parody card is worth redrawing in today’s time, when we get a lot more snowflakes on social media than usual.  But that’s not the only concern I have with the franchise’s sixth installment, titled “Scary Movie”, which parodied franchise sequels having the same titles as their first movies.

One aspect worth noting is that it’s a long-awaited follow-up to 2013’s “Scary Movie 5”, which attempted to replicate the formula with a new cast, but failed spectacularly.  I was obviously one of many people who absolutely loathed that film when I first saw it in the theater.  It was the worst film in the franchise, and after revisiting it recently, it still is.  Fortunately for us, “Scary Movie” did us a great favor by reuniting the original cast from the first two films, including the Wayans, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall.  My other concern is the movie’s director, Michael Tiddes, Marlon Wayans’ frequent collaborator, whose track record, including his previous parody movies, has been pretty abysmal so far.  I watched his “Haunted House” movies and “Fifty Shades of Black” to know that his approach to satire has been very rough.  I didn’t even bother watching “Naked” and “Sextuplets” due to my lack of interest in them.  So, I couldn’t help but be a bit worried about him tackling a popular parody franchise like “Scary Movie”, especially how much it means to those who want to laugh without judgment.  Thankfully, some of my concerns were put to rest upon seeing the long-awaited sequel, or “rebootiquel” in this case.

Like its previous installments, “Scary Movie” understood exactly what it’s supposed to be, and it never apologizes for being that way.  It’s dumb, crude, mean-spirited, cartoony, and offensive with a capital O.  Given my experience with the previous “Scary Movie” movies, I already knew it wasn't going to be anything but that, which helped me set my expectations.  Safe to say that I was mostly satisfied with the result.  It doesn’t quite match the heights of the first two films, but it is certainly more tolerable (and amusing) than “Scary Movie 5”.  Of course, it’s mainly due to the return of the main cast, mainly the Wayans Brothers, who were basically the heart and soul of the franchise, even if their jokes were hit and miss.  It’ll likely be enough for their fans to give the parody series another shot, but, and there’s a really big “but”, it doesn’t offer much else in its series of random, lowbrow horror mishaps to lure in casual viewers.  In other words, it’s loud and crass for both the right and wrong reasons, depending on your taste in comedy.

Following the formula seen in other installments, or parody movies in general, “Scary Movie” riffs on almost every movie, horror or otherwise, that was popular during a specific time.  Maybe even sneak in a joke about a tough-to-swallow topic or two?  You’ve got “Sinners”, “Get Out”, “Weapons”, “The Substance”, the works!  As for its core narrative, the film mostly pokes fun at horror legacy sequels, mainly 2022’s “Scream” and 2018’s “Halloween”, as Cindy helps her daughters confront the killer she faced years ago.  It not only follows the same plot as the 2022 “Scream” sequel, but also satirizes it, along with the formula of “remake sequels”, particularly the cooperation of fresh and older blood.  It’s a fairly enjoyable yet thinly written spoof that constantly takes joy in what we love or don’t love from the “legacy sequels”, especially with how Michael Tiddes handles its parodic tone.  Granted, his approach was similar to the previous parody films he’s helmed, in which the tone is intentional yet lacks the heft to balance the film’s dense and gross humor with joyful wit.  His direction may not work well in its favor all the time, but in some respects, Tiddes delivers a style that faithfully replicates the goofy, nonsensical charm of its predecessors, minus the fifth film.

That being said, I would also point out that while its parodic tone serves as the movie’s strength, it does also become its weakness.  If you’re looking for a spoof that carries an actual substance underneath its offensive rags and intentional corniness, “Scary Movie” isn’t the type of horror film to watch for your date night.  Regarding the screenplay, it’s basically one joke after another, one parody after another, one stereotypical pun after another.  You know, stuff that’ll make several snowflakes go into raging fits.  There are even moments that don’t make any sense, but in all fairness, the “Scary Movie” franchise isn’t well-known for its continuity.  I mean, Brenda Meeks died in “Scary Movie 3” and returned to the fourth movie unscathed, so this isn’t very surprising.  There is a lot to unpack in the humor, but it didn’t leave enough room for any depth or sophistication beyond its crass characters and simple premise.  It may be excusable for the last five installments, but now that we’re in the sixth movie, it’s starting to become more of a punchline that should’ve stayed in the 2000s.

But how was the overall humor, you ask?  Well, it’s a toss between amusingly silly and brain-rotting.  As I said earlier, they’re more humorous than the jokes seen in “Scary Movie 5”.  While the tone for that movie remained the same as the others, the problem was that its parodic jokes were either tame, unfunny, lazy, or all of the above.  With the Wayans’ return, “Scary Movie” sought to correct that mistake by poking fun at today’s culture amid its horror-related SNL skits, such as COVID, woke culture, and gender identity.  Despite finding myself chuckling at these jokes, not all of them land in their execution, especially those involving tough topics.  The humor involving the horror tropes and legacy sequels was pretty enjoyable, especially when it also took the time to laugh at the franchise’s own stupidity.  However, there were also some jokes that dragged on a bit, were overused, or were rushed in an anticlimactic way.  It’s like a series of “Family Guy” cutaway gags if it were helmed by the Wayans Brothers.  The film is 96 minutes long, unusually long compared to the previous installments' 80 or so minutes.  So that might’ve explained why the pacing was a tad unbalanced with its humor.  Regardless, this is another spoof movie that’ll heavily depend on how a viewer prefers their comedy.  If raunchy and silly is their thing, I see no reason why they wouldn’t enjoy “Scary Movie”.  But those wanting something else underneath its crass and weed jokes would be begging for the killer to shut the characters up.

Going back to the cast, part of the reason the first two movies work is not just the Wayans Brothers, but also the main cast.  Their performances may have sounded like they’re phoning them in, but that’s basically the entire point of a spoof movie.  They’re literally the parodic versions of the characters from the serious horror movies they’re riffing off on.  Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans are the key reasons the first two movies were silly and entertaining, and with their long-awaited reunion, it felt like they had never even left.  Sure, Faris and Hall did the heavy lifting by themselves in the third and fourth installments, but seeing them together with the Wayans just felt nostalgic in a good way.  Anna Faris still delivers the corniness and charmingly dumb essence that I’ve expected in her performance as Cindy, who goes from spoofing Sidney Prescott to parodying Jamie Lee Curtis and her crazy hairdo.  Considering that she didn’t find much success in her recent roles, this is a much-needed turnaround for the comedian whose career launched with the first installment.  Of course, I can’t forget about Marlon and Shawn Wayans, who continue to provide serviceable chuckles regarding their roles as Shorty and Ray, respectively.  I would also acknowledge Olivia Rose Keegan for catching up with the Wayans’ cheesy, parodic ways regarding her performance as Cindy’s daughter, Sara.

Overall, “Scary Movie” revives the parody franchise with an inconsistent, overly crass, and mildly amusing stab at the horror tropes of current years.  This is another comedy that’ll heavily depend on a person’s taste in adult and parodic humor.  Fans seeking the same old goofy, unapologetically raunchy essence from the previous installments would find this eccentric killing spree a fine return to form for the 26-year-old IP.  However, if you’re looking for some extra meat in this victim’s body in terms of narrative and wit, the film doesn’t offer much else for you to jab your knife into.  It offers more of the same audiences would expect from a spoof movie, but its reliance on lowbrow gags and satirical skits, rather than balancing them with substance, would make certain snowflakes want to watch an elevated horror movie instead.  It’s great to see the main cast from the first two installments again, and it shows in their performances.  Other than that, this is more reserved for the franchise’s fans who prefer dumb, cheap laughs over relentless gore and dreary frights.  At least it’s an improvement over “Scary Movie 5”, which is good enough for me.

C