Scary Movie (2026) Paramount/Comedy-Horror RT: 96 minutes Rated R (crude sexual content, graphic nudity, strong violence, drug content and language throughout) Director: Michael Tiddes Screenplay: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans and Rick Alvarez Music: Haim Mazar Cinematography: Terry Stacey Release date: June 5, 2026 (US) Cast: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Dave Sheridan, Cheri Oteri, Lochlyn Munro, Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Cameron Scott Roberts, Sydney Park, Gregg Wayans, Ruby Snowber, Benny Zielke, Kim Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr., Heidi Gardner, Chris Elliot, John Abrahams.
Rating: **
After months of ballyhoo (the first trailer dropped with Scream 7), the new Scary Movie has finally landed in cinemas. It marks the much-anticipated return of the Wayans Brothers (and other Wayans family members) to the franchise they launched more than a quarter-century ago with a very funny mash-up of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. The verdict? I’m afraid it’s not good.
Scary Movie, number 6 for those who aren’t keeping track, is definitely an improvement over 2 and 5, but that isn’t saying much as both are dreadful. Spoofs, as you well know, are hit or miss and this one sadly misses more than it hits. I laughed two or three times, but I mostly sat in silence waiting for something hilarious to happen. A few gags land (the animated K-Pop Demons scene is funny); way too many don’t. So what’s the problem? I’ll explain.
I understand that woke culture is a prime target for parody. It’s gotten out of hand. There’s definitely humor to be mined from it. Scary Movie leans too heavily into it with all the gags about racism, political polarization, pronouns and LGBTQ+ matters. Marlon Wayans, in a statement of intent, says that the goal of the movie is to “cancel cancel culture”. Fine, that’s all well and good, but that’s NOT what Scary Movie is supposed to be about. Look at the title. It’s supposed to be lampooning the horror genre and its various tropes. It works best when it sticks to the supposed point. The rest of it is just noise, no color attached.
I know plot isn’t of primary concern when it comes to spoofs. Still, it’s nice to have a strong storyline to hang the sight gags and one-liners on. The first Scary Movie did it brilliantly. The Wayanses successfully combined two of the most popular horror movies of the time (Scream and IKWYDLS) into a seamless story. They don’t repeat that feat with this Scary Movie. It has a semblance of a plot, but it goes off course so often, you forget all about it. Again, plot isn’t the most important thing here, but the screenplay by four Wayanses and an Alvarez should have been more focused.
One of the characters in Scary Movie uses the term “rebootiquel” when self-referencing the movie they’re all in. It basically means a movie that’s both a reboot and legacy sequel (e.g. Scream 7). The plot, such as it is, involves OG characters and new ones like Sara (Keegan, Gotham Knights), the estranged daughter of original final girl Cindy Campbell (Faris). She’s been away for a while, but is forced to come home after younger sister Tuesday (Nassif, Julie and the Phantoms) is attacked by Ghostface. Her still-traumatized mother now lives as a paranoid recluse a la Jamie Lee Curtis in the recent Halloween rebootiquels. Best friend Brenda Meeks (Hall), miraculously back from the dead (again), is the mother of two teenagers, twins Dei (Park, Wish Upon) and Brad (Gregg, nephew of Marlon and Shawn). Speaking of M & S Wayans, they too return as stoner Shorty (marking his 25th year as a high school senior) and quite possibly gay Ray. ANYWAY, Ghostface is back and he has a few scores to settle. What better way than going after the children of his original victims.
Now that I’ve given you a basic plot description, let me tell you some of the titles Scary Movie goofs on during its 96-minute run time. It takes aim at Scream 5 & 6, Halloween 2018, Sinners, Weapons, Smile, Drop, Get Out, The Substance, Nosferatu and Terrifier 3. Director Michael Tiddes (A Haunted House 1 & 2) also manages to get in a shot at the recent biopic Michael. Here’s what I don’t get. Why didn’t the makers reference the Conjuring Universe? Any of those is an ideal target.
Scary Movie is amusing at best which really isn’t very good. I did, however, laugh at the opening sequence which features a riotous cameo by One Battle After Another’s Teyana Taylor. I also laughed at the final scene, a direct and funny reference to Halloween 2018. It’s what comes in between that doesn’t always work. A lot of it (and I mean A LOT) just falls flat. You could almost hear the thud with some of the failed gags.
There’s another reason why Scary Movie ultimately fails. Theaters have been running the trailers (green and red band ones) ad nauseam for four months. As per usual, they showed many of the funnier bits. Well, they would have been funny had not the studio included them in the trailers. The only surprise is that the subway scene isn’t the opening one. It happens about an hour into the movie, not that it matters since you’ve already seen it like a dozen times.
I think it’s time to drive a stake through the heart of the Scary Movie franchise. It’s a valiant effort on the part of the Wayanses, but this is comedy that tries too hard to be edgy and offensive. It begs you at laugh at it by pushing every button it can think of. Instead, it reeks of desperation. To its credit, it’s nowhere near as bad any of the Friedberg-Seltzer spoofs, but that’s not exactly an incredible feat. Hell, a toothache is funnier (and less painful) than the likes of Disaster Movie. This is the only praise I can award this Scary Movie.
