‘Scary Movie’: The Wayans Stab at Horror, Hollywood, and Triggers in Slasher Parody Reboot

Alci Rengifo

Trying to conventionally rate “Scary Movie” almost defeats the purpose. This is technically the sixth entry in the horror parody franchise that debuted 26 years ago. The title itself is almost an in-joke since this movie marks the return of the Wayans family to the franchise after their departure following “Scary Movie 2.” As they make clear in some of the dialogue, as far as they are concerned the third through fifth movies shouldn’t even exist. Two decades later and the material is still all about pure absurdism, raunchy jokes and mocking the recent trends in the horror genre. None of it is in “good taste” and those slashing at it might remember that even the first “Scary Movie” wasn’t exactly a critical darling.

The format is pretty much the same as with its predecessors. A funny teaser has Teyana Taylor getting a call from the masked killer Ghostface, which still makes sense considering they are still churning out “Scream” sequels. The gag is more about Taylor’s tough public persona with a jab at how she didn’t win the Oscar for “One Battle After Another.” Then we cut to the actual “plot” of the movie, which is modeled after the recent trends in legacy sequels. Ghostface knocks at the door and stabs Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif) the younger sister of Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan), a pill-popping theme park worker. They happen to be the daughters of Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Ghostface’s target in the original movies. In a clear nod to Jamie Lee Curtis’ return to the “Halloween” franchise, Cindy now spends her time at home with frizzled hair, paranoid and drinking a lot. Being a scream queen means she has been an absentee mom worthy of Sara’s resentment. The rest of the old gang also returns. Shorty (Marlon Wayans) is still in college, as an older student still getting very high while developing a YouTube following. Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans) married Brenda (Regina Hall) and proclaims at church that he is no longer gay (which of course means he still very much is). They have to help the new generation uncover Ghostface through gags based on every horror hit of the last decade. 

When the first “Scary Movie” premiered in 2000, it felt like a wildly free-flowing exercise in raunch as it parodied the hits of its day such as “Scream,” “The Blair Witch Project” and “The Sixth Sense.” You would think its brand of humor, which had plenty of gay jokes and the n word, would be radioactive in 2026. The Wayans spend a lot of this new “Scary Movie,” directed by Michael Tiddes, daring you to laugh at precisely the kinds of jokes we’re not supposed to make anymore. Not only are they going after recent horror hits, but woke culture influencers and all the new terminology we navigate. Brenda has a college footballer son, Brad (Gregg Wayans), who is dating the very sexual Elle (Ruby Snowber). Brenda very openly calls her a slut, with Brad immediately clarifying that his girlfriend is “sex-positive.” Brenda’s daughter is named DEI (Sydney Park) and likes to correct everyone on pronouns. Greg (Lochlyn Munro), the jock cursed with a micropenis in the first movie, is now a sheriff with a trans son, Jess (Benny Zielke). TV news anchor Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri) returns to report on the new Ghostface murders while hosting a Fox News-style show where she rants against wokeness. They even bring back Doofy (Dave Sheridan) with his intellectual disability and tendency to poke his posterior.

The better gags are the direct parodies of movies like “The Substance,” here used for a scene about botox where Gail gets injected with “The Stuff.” Kids at a party who accidentally consume Shorty’s drugs run off into their neighborhood streets at night in a nod to “Weapons.” Killer android M3GAN does a booty dance on a subway train and on and on. Other movies are simply mocked, including good ones like “It Follows,” which Brenda says can’t really be referenced since it’s so obscure. “John Wick” also gets a nod but not “Ballerina,” since “nobody saw that shit.” A scene winking at “Longlegs” also turns into a commentary on police brutality. As before, the Wayans also have wall to wall sex jokes about quivering purple butt plugs, blow jobs, hand jobs and how going down on your girlfriend should be modeled on the ways of rolling the perfect joint. The Wayans don’t care who gets offended, even when slavery and a girl’s climax being compared to a “civil rights hose” get thrown into the material.

Some are lamenting that “Scary Movie” doesn’t have “fresh” material, as if the Wayans were expected to somehow elevate a franchise that long ago established itself as one of utterly dumb farce. This was always a parody series about getting high, sex jokes and chortling at movies nearly everyone has seen. The material does start to get slightly flat in the third act, when the Wayans go full meta with the killers’ reveal turning into an upfront form of revenge against how the franchise developed for years without the original creators’ involvement. If other horror franchises keep bringing back the original stars from decades ago, this franchise can do the same as well. It’s that rowdy evil cousin ready to misbehave. Does that make it great “cinema?” No, but that’s the point. “Scary Movie” cares little for being respectable. The goal here is to get easy laughs. On that note, it succeeds with full political incorrectness. 

“Scary Movie” releases June 5 in theaters nationwide.