"Scary Movie" REVIEW

Published on 6/8/2026 

Written by: Braylon Mitchell 

Directed by: Michael Tiddes 

Cast: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Olivia Rose Keegan, David Sheridan, etc. 

Plot: Two friends find themselves caught up in mayhem involving killers, monsters and supernatural creatures once again. 

REVIEW 

First off, I've got to say how happy it makes me to see a major studio comedy on the big screen with a crowd of people laughing, now more than ever, Hollywood isn't confident in making big budget comedies—let alone parodies. I can't remember the last time that a full-on, true-blooded major studio parody released in theaters. Still, the only reason that this happened was because the film happened to be the sixth installment in a successful horror comedy franchise where Paramount knew Hollywood's favorite mathematical equation would be applied: nostalgia=money money money. Just like 2022's "Scream" which this film's plot outline very loosely follows in typical "Scary Movie" fashion, this film pokes fun at its conception with a meta-awareness of being a reboot cash grab that's using legacy characters to invoke mainstream nostalgia—but time and time again, just because a film is meta about its existence that doesn't necessarily mean it's always clever. Is this film clever? I'm asking myself a loaded rhetorical question, and one that won't stay so rhetorical once I answer it. This film (as well as the rest of this franchise) isn't clever in the way that I'd say that even other parody comedies are, but it's so dedicated to its lightweight stupidity and eagerness to shamelessly parody the horror genre that I think there's a novelty to it. The Wayans make movies for the audiences to enjoy, and they have a ton of fun doing so—and with the "Scary Movie" franchise they get to do so slapping their own mark on a genre of films that produces major pop culture material everyone can get a kick out of recognizing, and that's something that audiences really wanted with the past ten years or so of horror films. That is what was delivered. It's two hours of sketches, one-off parody scenes, crude jokes wishing to "cross the line", gags, and callbacks. I wouldn't call the film hilarious personally, I laughed more often at the execution of jokes and gags rather than the jokes and gags themselves, but I'm sure many will—especially younger kids/teenagers that are being exposed to the "Scary Movie" sense of humor for the first time. For every joke that made me laugh, there was a joke that made me roll my eyes. The film falls flat more often than it thinks it does, mostly with its humor about "current/woke culture" coming across like that "old man yelling at clouds" meme. It's fine to poke fun at modern day culture and 2020s-centric things, these kinds of films will always strive to be edgy, but you've got to have something smart or original to say if its going to work. Instead, this film already feels like a product of its time instead of something that's edginess and "risky humor" will work a decade from now. How could that humor be funny a decade from now if its not funny now? 

Also, this is a non-review-related side note, but I just know that the writers are kicking themselves over not being able to parody the two biggest horror hits of the year, "Obsession" and "Backrooms", that are currently dominating cultural conversation. 

THREE BEST ELEMENTS

• Olivia Rose Keegan's performance. She does such a convincing job at playing Anna Faris' Cindy's daughter, basically making her performance feel like a younger version of that character—nailing the mannerisms and way of speaking. It's a really fun performance, and for me she was by far the standout of the new generation cast. 

• Anna Faris and Regina Hall's chemistry. It's fun to see these two characters together again, and they play off each other just as well as they always have. 

• "The Substance" parody segment/sketch. Out of all the recent horror films that were parodied, I thought that this segment was the best executed, especially production-wise. 

WORST ELEMENT 

• For every time that I laughed, there was a time that I was rolling my eyes. Very often the film came across as obnoxious in its pursuit to "cross the line" and fell flat in doing so. 

RATING

5/10

Watch it if you want some laughs and nothing more, buddy!