Around the third or fourth installment of the franchise and "Very "Scary Movie"» , And «"Scream"» , the satirical horror they were originally parodying, became so consumed with meta-humor that the storyline became untenable, too self-reflexive to interest anyone other than teenagers busy self-aggrandizing every reference they found. Both series peaked early on, and then both gradually declined before finally fizzling out (sorry)—at least until the franchise was revived, which arguably benefited them. «"Scream"» .
It's been thirteen years since the last one was released film "Scary Movie"« , which means there's a decade's worth of horrors worthy of parody. The problem is, that's all the new film has to offer. It reunites the original four: Marlon Wayans' Shorty, Shawn Wayans' Ray, Anna Faris' Cindy, and Regina Hall's Brenda, along with new characters—their school-aged children, plus a couple of boyfriends or girlfriends. But the actors become joke machines, stuck in a pointless plot, and while some of the jokes are laughable, far more fall flat.
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Sure, it's nice to see familiar faces—well, maybe Dave Sheridan's dimwitted Doofy, whose intellectual ineptitude is undoubtedly deliberately at odds with the reality of 2026—but this belated sixth installment makes a puzzling choice, returning to the same overabundance of wry self-mockery that first nailed the franchise's coffin. There's nothing here that even remotely resembles Brenda Meeks' inspired comedy, which, upon seeing Shakey Speier in love , drove the entire cinema audience crazy, although Hall still delivers some of the funniest lines.
How in "Scream"« , and in "Scary Movie"« traditionally begins with a masked villain known as Ghostface murdering famous actors in the opening minutes of the film. Drew Barrymore was the first to feel the knife in «Scream» , and Carmen Electra (who appears briefly here) received this honor in «Scary Movie» .
Spoiler etiquette prevents me from revealing her name, but the rising star's appearance in the opening credits, amusingly playing up her tough-guy persona and incorporating the battle cry from the film that earned her an Oscar nomination, offers false hope that the family-friendly screenwriting team of Marlon, Shawn, Keenan, and Craig Wayans, along with Rick Alvarez, might have some fresh ideas up their sleeve. Considering the shocking opening scene was meant to subvert expectations, it's a clever move designed to subvert that subversion.
But then things go downhill. Ghostface suddenly reappears after a long absence to plunge his knife into the ribs of Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif), the youngest daughter of Cindy, an alcoholic mother who lives without air conditioning in a heavily fortified, booby-trapped house, like Jamie Lee Curtis in in the film "Halloween"« 2018. Tuesday's older sister, drug-addicted Sarah (Olivia Rose Keegan), and her boyfriend, Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts), after a long separation, turn to Cindy for help in killing Ghostface. But no sooner does Cindy emerge from her fortress than they realize her old enemy is using her children to get to her.
One of Sarah's classmates at Woodsville High School is Brenda's football-playing son Brad (Gregg Wayans), whose hypersexual friend Elle (Ruby Snowber) takes Shannon Elizabeth's place, prompting Brenda to sweetly recall her judgmental comments about promiscuity in the first film. While motherhood has helped Brenda mature, she hasn't quite come to terms with her increased social awareness, derogatorily called "wokeness." But her cool daughter, DEI (Sydney Park), who uses "they/them" pronouns, is always ready to correct her.
The very name of this character—and the revival of Doofy—speaks to the writers' hilarious satire of political correctness and cancel culture. If only these jokes were funny. Such a crude, farcical parody requires a constant stream of laugh-out-loud moments, but in the new «Scary Movie» there are practically none of them.
Also returning from the original film are Cindy's ex-boyfriend, Bobby (Jon Abrahams), at least in her clouded mind; goofy former jock turned sheriff Greg (Lochlyn Munro), whose transgender son, Jess (Benny Silke), is part of the school band; and news anchor Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri), who begins investigating once Ghostface strikes again.
The moment when everyone comes together to come up with a plan is essentially the moment when the plot runs dry. Or ceases to be a plot. Instead, we get a series of sketches of completely varying quality, playing off films like «"Away"» , «Long-legged» , «"Substance"» , «"Terrifying », «Candyman» , « It follows you », «"Weapon"» and even «"Michael"» played by Kenan Thompson, who has a bad premise but a hilarious ending.
Another graduate SNL , Heidi Gardner, very successfully embodied the image of detective Maika Monroe from film "Long Legs"« , and Damon Wayans Jr. plays Agent Underwood (know what I mean?). The case they're working on revolves around the eerily androgynous Shorthand (Chris Elliott), who's mostly seen in one of the extended post-credits scenes.
A good example of how jokes can be successful or unsuccessful are two separate scenes that refer to the film "Sinners"« . In a clever scene, Sarah, Jack, and Tuesday knock on the door during a party at Brenda's house, asking to be let in with their white banjos and all. In another scene, Ray hears the sounds of worship through the doors of an old country church and enters to chat with the preacher, declaring that he is no longer gay, while constantly using homosexual innuendo.
In earlier films, throwaway jokes or visual gags about Ray's sexuality were funny because they rarely reached the point of absurdity. Or, if they did, like death by an erect penis through a hole in the wall, they were just ridiculous enough to work. Here, however, the laughs are hammered to death, especially in the final scene when several Ghostfaces converge.
First-time director Michael Tiddes does a competent job, but he's mostly there to fill in the endless cameos (including actors from films that came after Wayans) and references to other, better films. I laughed at the brief appearance of Tiffany from« White chicks »" The same can be said for Brenda, who called the armed Cindy John Wick, and then explained: "I would say «"Ballerina"» , "But no one saw this crap." Often, humor about the movie business turns out to be funnier than sketches.
The fourth wall is broken, tired cliches are dismantled, the body count rises, and a joke is inserted about the endless supply of Wayans ready to sustain the franchise. For the first time, a veteran of the show appears on this list. «In Living Color» Kim Wayans, who plays the grumpy hospital employee, Nurse Ratchett, is brilliant. But how many times can we laugh at Shorty in his perpetual marijuana cloud? This "reboot," as one character calls it, needs fresh inspiration, not just a lazy retread of old meta-tropes, if it's going to have any life beyond its opening weekend.
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