Familiar Faces, Painfully Familiar Jokes

Read Time:7 Minute, 42 Second

MOVIE REVIEWS
Scary Movie
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Genre: Comedy, Horror
Year Released: 2026
Runtime: 1h 36m
Director: Michael Tiddes
Writers: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, Rick Alvarez
Cast: Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, Gregg Wayans
Where to Watch: available September 22, 2026. Pre-order your copy here: www.moviesunlimited.com or www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: I laughed exactly once during SCARY MOVIE. That creates an awkward situation when reviewing a comedy, because at some point I have to wonder whether the movie is just that unfunny or I’m either too mature or too immature (can that be a thing?) for this particular brand of nonsense now. Maybe it’s all three. Twenty-six years after the original SCARY MOVIE helped turn over-the-top parody into a box-office monster, the Wayans returned to the franchise alongside Anna Faris and Regina Hall, and there’s something so appealing about seeing so many familiar faces together again. That goodwill lasted longer than most of the jokes did for me, which becomes a problem when jokes are practically the only reason this thing exists.

The original SCARY MOVIE wasn’t sophisticated, don’t get me wrong, and pretending otherwise gives nostalgia way too much credit. It was stupid, vulgar, tasteless, occasionally inspired, and completely willing to embarrass itself for a laugh. The difference was the energy behind the stupidity. Even its dumbest jokes often felt like people trying to push a joke as far as they possibly could rather than simply reminding you of something you already saw there.

The 2026 SCARY MOVIE understands the recognition part almost too well. Modern horror gives it a giant playground that includes SINNERS, M3GAN, SMILE, THE SUBSTANCE, GET OUT, TERRIFIER, FINAL DESTINATION, legacy sequels, elevated horror, requels, and practically every other development the genre has experienced since this series disappeared. Horror has changed dramatically since SCARY MOVIE 5 arrived in 2013, so an absurd amount of stuff should be sitting here waiting to be mocked.

Instead, too much of the comedy amounts to pointing at something, trying to turn it up to eleven, and moving along to the next source. Recognizing the target becomes a substitute for constructing the joke. I knew what the movie was referencing most of the time, but knowing what something is doesn’t always make the parody funny.

That makes you feel a little off whenever SCREAM comes back into the equation. The original SCARY MOVIE famously spoofed a horror franchise already commenting on the genre, and repeating that more than two decades later starts creating a parody of a self-aware sequel to a self-aware movie that was already being parodied. There are moments when you can almost feel the comedy disappearing underneath all those layers. Rather than finding new things hiding inside modern horror, the movie often seems pleased simply to show that it’s seen the same movies we have.

Anna Faris and Regina Hall remain far better at this than the material deserves. Faris can still turn Cindy’s obliviousness into something committed rather than simply stupid. At the same time, Hall has always possessed the ability to make Brenda funny through delivery even before the actual punchline hits. Watching them reunite delivers some of the movie’s best moments, though both eventually get trapped in a screenplay that keeps rushing off in search of another target.

Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans returning as Shorty and Ray should carry a similar nostalgic bait moment. Their jokes expose another issue with bringing this particular style of comedy back unchanged. Some jokes aren’t merely dated because people have grown in what is and isn’t funny; they’re also dated because we’ve heard versions of them for decades. There’s a difference between refusing to make politically correct comedy and digging jokes out of storage because they got laughs in 2000.

I didn’t need SCARY MOVIE to become well-mannered. Making this franchise too cautious would defeat the entire point. Go offensive, gross, reckless, politically incorrect, disgusting, inappropriate, or completely ridiculous if there’s something funny waiting on the other side. My issue isn’t that the movie crosses lines. My issue is how often it crosses them without landing a worthwhile punchline. The best parallel I can think of is Eminem; he still pushes his art form over the line, but it’s acceptable because he makes it land on the other side.

That’s probably where my “too mature or too immature” problem comes into play. There were stretches where I wasn’t offended, shocked, disgusted, or amused; I was sitting there watching grown adults commit to something that felt like a group of teenagers would make up after figuring out they were finally allowed to swear. Then another joke would push its way in that was somehow too obvious even for that.

Performers throw themselves into it, and their commitment occasionally makes the dead parts easier to tolerate. Teyana Taylor, Olivia Rose Keegan, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, and Ruby Snowber come in with the sort of willingness a SCARY MOVIE performer needs. At the same time, some other newcomers and returning characters alike understand that embarrassment can’t be part of the equation. Nobody looks ashamed to be here. I actually respect that, because halfhearted performances would have made an already rough experience nearly unbearable.

Director Michael Tiddes keeps everything moving quickly enough, although speed eventually becomes its own problem. The film rarely gives a joke time to develop because another reference, cameo, sex act, celebrity appearance, or horror spoof is already waiting behind it. That approach can work when the batting average is high. When almost nothing is making me laugh, it starts feeling less like momentum and more like someone frantically changing the subject.

The returning cast also creates a frustrating glimpse of the version of SCARY MOVIE that could have worked. Aging these characters by 26 years is inherently funny, especially when they’re confronting a horror industry obsessed with resurrecting old characters, rebooting, passing franchises to younger casts, and finding increasingly ridiculous reasons to bring supposedly finished stories back to life. The filmmakers clearly understand that SCARY MOVIE itself has become exactly the kind of legacy sequel it should be mocking.

There are a few bits of self-awareness around that, but not nearly enough genuine satire comes from it. Having characters acknowledge the absurdity isn’t the same as developing that absurdity into a true stab at the movie itself. The movie knows it’s recycling itself, occasionally jokes about it, and then keeps recycling itself. This is more obvious than anything with the inclusion of HORROR MOVIE, the self-referential parody of the STAB franchise within this world.

That’s ultimately what surprised me most. I expected juvenile humor, outrageous jokes, offensiveness at every turn, celebrity references, bodily fluids, and complete stupidity because those things are baked into the name SCARY MOVIE. I wasn’t hoping the franchise would suddenly become respectable. I was hoping all that stupidity would make me laugh.

One genuine laugh in roughly 100 minutes isn’t enough. Nostalgia makes the reunion enjoyable for a while; Faris and Hall still know exactly how to push this material, and there’s an almost overwhelming amount of modern horror available to parody, but SCARY MOVIE wastes too much of that potential on references that mistake familiarity for comedy.

Maybe the original caught me at exactly the right age, and this one caught me at exactly the wrong one. Then again, comedy doesn’t need an excuse when it actually works. I shouldn’t have to decide whether I’m too old, too young, too mature, too immature, or simply standing outside the target audience while waiting for the next punchline. It just needed to be funny.

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