Scary Movie (dir. Michael Tiddes)

by Jack Martin | Jun 6, 2026

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 96 mins

UK Distributor: Paramount Pictures

UK Release Date: 5 June 2026

WHO’S IN SCARY MOVIE?

Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Damon Wayans Jr., Gregg Wayans. Kim Wayans, Benny Zielke, Cameron Scott Roberts, Cheri Oteri, Chris Elliott, Dave Sheridan, Heidi Gardner, Lochlyn Munro, Olivia Rose Keegan, Ruby Snowber, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, Kenan Thompson, Jon Abrahams

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Michael Tiddes (director), Rick Alvarez, Craig Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans (writers, producers), Neal H. Moritz (producer), Haim Mazar (composer), Terry Stacey (cinematographer), Jonathan Schwartz (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Cindy Campbell (Faris), Shorty Meeks (M. Wayans) and the gang face new “hilarious” evils…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SCARY MOVIE?

The success of the original Scary Movie back in 2000 should have ushered in an exciting new era of spoof cinema, one that could compete with the time when classics such as Airplane!, Blazing Saddles and Austin Powers reigned supreme. Instead, it arguably led to the genre’s downfall, for the majority of parody movies afterwards took all the wrong lessons from that film and simply became an endless collection of lazy references to other, more popular films rather than actually satirising them in any substantial way. One only needs to look at titles like The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It or 30 Nights of Paranormal Activity with the Devil Inside the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (actual spoof movie titles, by the way) or – shudder – anything by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer to know how far the parody genre has fallen.

I’d like to say that Scary Movie circa 2026 is a full-circle moment for not just the franchise itself – which is finally back in the hands of the Wayans dynasty for the first time since Scary Movie 2 in 2001 – but also spoof movies in general. I really want to declare that this movie is a return to what made these kinds of films enjoyable and even funny to begin with. But none of that would be true.

Instead, director Michael Tiddes’ franchise revamp – with a script attributed to various Wayans family members, including Marlon, Shawn, Keenen Ivory and Craig – sadly doubles down on what modern parody films have become, offering little wit or charm to its disjointed display of references disguised as biting satire, while flat-out refusing to evolve its often juvenile sense of humour. In other words, it’s definitely a Scary Movie film, for better or for worse (mostly the latter).

Just as the first film was mostly a spoof of Wes Craven’s Scream – which, fun fact, was originally called Scary Movie itself before it was changed – this one largely replicates the plot of the 2022 Scream “requel”, with a Ghostface killer going after the offspring of characters from the original including Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), the latter’s stoner brother Shorty (Marlon Wayans) and memorable supporting characters like Doofy (Dave Sheridan) and Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri). But beyond that, the film’s “plot” is virtually non-existent, for it really is just a series of mostly horror movie parodies/references in random succession, going from the 2018 Halloween movie to Get Out to Sinners to The Substance to Smile, to even non-horror movies like John Wick and, in one particularly out-of-nowhere sequence, K-Pop Demon Hunters.

There’s no rhyme or reason as to what gets sent up at any time, as neither director Tiddes nor the various credited screenwriters establish any kind of coherency to give it some semblance of narrative flow. Most of the other films in the Scary Movie series similarly suffered from such randomness, but they at least had the decency to provide some kind of chronological structure that made it all easier to follow. This one doesn’t have that, for it falls directly into the same trap as a lot of modern spoof movies which is to just rely entirely on making references to the various movies it’s targeting rather than developing its own characters or unique storylines, because in their minds just reminding people of something popular is enough to equal big laughs instead of telling actual jokes.

It’d be one thing if the film and its various parodies were actually funny, but they really aren’t. Very rarely will there be a sight gag or slice of meta commentary that works, or at least has the foundations for a decent chuckle, but more often than not it falls back on a lot of exceptionally dated early-2000s humour. Specifically, the kind that likes to poke fun at gay and trans people, micro-penises, the mentally disabled and people getting exceptionally high and horny, while also working in more recent targets like the COVID-19 pandemic, Fox News, cryptocurrency and the #MeToo movement among many others. Admittedly, it’s not all as despicably mean-spirited as certain other modern spoof movies – in fact, Tiddes’ last theatrically released Wayans-led spoof Fifty Shades of Black was far more insultingly regressive than this movie is – but that still doesn’t excuse Scary Movie circa 2026 from displaying such idiocy in its brand of overt comedy.

As usual in these films, the cast members at least look like they’re having some fun, particularly recurring franchise favourites Faris and Hall who still maintain their enjoyable comedic chemistry despite their less substantial screentime (they’re competing with several other characters, be they returning figures or fresh one-offs). But their efforts can’t disguise the comedic and substantial flatness of this Scary Movie revamp, which more than even its own predecessors relies far too much on churning out one lazily referential parody after another rather than actually trying to do something with its own material.

For those seeking a spoof movie that does just that, on top of actually being funny, I can point to at least two from the past year which are more worth your time, namely Fackham Hall and The Naked Gun. This, by direct comparison, is an unfortunate reminder of why spoof movies have become scary in a completely different manner.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Scary Movie revamps the popular spoof franchise to woefully diminishing effect, as it relies so much on lazily referential parodies of popular films and criminally unfunny juvenile humour that it quickly becomes a different kind of scary. At least it’s marginally better than Scary Movie 5, though.