Carl Roberts 
“A collection of comedy skits, held together by a wafer-thin plot, Scary Movie comes across as a parody of a parody of a parody. Amusing but not hilarious.”
I have an affection for the original Scary Movie and the opening of Scary Movie 2. The first film made me cry with laughter. Meanwhile, the send-up of The Exorcist from the start of the second movie was the only good thing about the film. The next three entries went into The Naked Gun territory. Notably, it was not in a good way. To be honest, they were awful. After the fifth film, the franchise went dormant. Now, the original creators, The Wayans Brothers, are back with a sixth installment.
Taking a leaf out of 2018’s Halloween reboot, the new film is simply titled Scary Movie. It is the spiritual sequel to the first two movies. The creators are calling it a “rebooquel.” With the original team back on board, can the film manage to make us howl with laughter and get the franchise back on track? Or is it simply flogging a dead horse?
PREMISE
Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs. Furthermore, no horror movie IP is safe.
THOUGHTS
Sadly, the answer is no, it can’t get the franchise back on track. While the film is amusing and does contain some laugh-out-loud segments, it isn’t as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. While the actors are all game and willing to ridicule themselves as well as the action around them, they can’t prevent the film from simply being akin to a collection of comedy skits. The plot that links these is so thin that it is transparent. Ridiculing the recent spate of horror movies is one thing. However, delivering a spoof that is more miss than hit is another. And that is a shame, as there are some genuinely funny moments contained within.
An inspired and hilarious send-up of K-Pop: Demon Hunters, a funny send-up of the Final Destination franchise, in particular, Final Destination 3, has us giggling. Additionally, some of the jokes are rib-ticklingly funny. But with a terrible skit on Longlegs, a poor attempt at ridiculing the opening of Scream VI, and some painfully unfunny moments, the film is dragged down.
MAKING MISTAKES
The film also makes the mistake of trying to recreate some of the scenes from the original film that had us crying with laughter back in 2000. These attempts now have us rolling our eyes in despair. There are only so many times that Marlon Wayans as Shorty Meeks can get away with his annoying laugh and reefer jokes before they become irritating. The scene where Ghostface kills someone while messing around with Shorty and his pals is recreated with unfunny results. The penis jokes that were funny twenty-five years ago are now only able to raise a weak smile from us. Furthermore, the continued references at Scary Movie 3-5, the ones without the Wayans, grow tiresome pretty quickly.
PARODIES
The film sends up many different horror movies and shows from the past few years. Final Destination, Longlegs, Scream VI and Scream 7, M3gan, Weapons, Wednesday, Get Out, Nope, Heretic, Heart Eyes, Sinners, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Terrifier 3, Halloween, Friday The 13th, Smile, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and Ma all get the send-up treatment. Even this year’s box office smash, Michael, gets a parody. These are all hit-and-miss targets.
While several of the parodies manage to make us, at the very least, raise a smile, too many times do we find ourselves groaning out loud. The Sinners parody is particularly unfunny, and the Weapons send-up is a brief and slight one. The sequence set onboard a Metro train, seen in the trailer, with all the numerous killers onboard, parodying Scream VI, while sending up cancel culture, wokeness, and pronouns, while amusing, goes on for far too long, making us lose our smile and waiting for it to end. With the writing team of Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez, you’d think they’d stick the landing. Instead, their script limps across the line, delivering an amusing but often uninspired spoof. And the return to Shawn Wayans as Ray Wilkins being gay is unwelcome.
VERDICT
A collection of comedy skits, held together by a wafer-thin plot, Scary Movie comes across as a parody of a parody of a parody. Amusing but not hilarious. It is most certainly not the return to form we all hoped for. While it’s better than most of Scary Movie 2 and all of Scary Movies 3, 4, and 5, it isn’t a high bar to beat; it’s a pretty low one. To say the film only just manages to clear the bar tells you enough about the qualities the film has. In a way, it parodies itself, becoming a spoof of a spoof, one that has us yearning for the original instead. While it isn’t all bad (an inspired gag to end The Substance send-up is a welcome surprise), it has less good than bad.
A MIDDLING ATTEMPT
Poking fun at other films is one thing. Done right, like many of Mel Brooks’ films, the first Airplane, The Naked Gun movies, and even Hot Shots, it’ll come across as inspired. Here, it comes across as desperate, a middling attempt to bring back something that should have stayed dormant. There’s already talk of a seventh film if this one proves to be successful. Whether it will be or not, I honestly can’t say. But, in truth, I think the franchise has run out of road. I was hoping for so much more from the film. Instead, it left me with an empty sense of ‘what did I just watch?’ instead of ‘that was hilarious.’ My ribs did get the occasional tickle, but not overly so. Instead, the film made me think the makers made a parody out of us all by promising so much, but delivering so little.
Scary Movie will be in cinemas from Friday, courtesy of Paramount Pictures.
Introducing Carl! As the News Editor at Future of the Force, Carl has been an invaluable member of our team since early 2016. His expertise and dedication have made him an integral part of our editorial staff. Beyond his professional role, Carl is a fervent supporter of Liverpool F.C. and an avid follower of pop culture. He has a deep passion for Halloween, Friday the 13th, and the iconic movie franchises Star Wars and Star Trek.
He can be found either at his neighborhood cinema, enjoying the latest releases on the big screen, or at home streaming the newest blockbuster movies.
