“Scary Movie (2026)” is a Horrifyingly Good Time

As we all know, “good” and “bad” are entirely subjective. The discourse surrounding this movie has been interesting to say the least, with some saying it’s great while others find it to be downright bad or see it as something that’s about ten to fifteen years too late. Having seen the movie this last weekend, I can say that while the humor feels outdated at times, that’s one of the reasons I believe it to be one of the better comedies we’ve had in the last few years.

Director: Michael Tiddes
Writers: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, Rick Alvarez
Starring: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Dave Sheridan, Cheri Oteri, Olivia Rose Keegan, Cameron Scott Roberts, Savannah Lee Nassif, Sydney Park, Benny Zielke

The Story

If you’ve seen the other movies in the franchise, then you already know exactly how this goes with parodying a ton horror of movies and pop culture. In this movie, we catch up with the original crew of Cindy, Shorty, Brenda and Ray, finding them at new stages in their lives. Cindy is found by her estranged daughter Sara after finding out her sister Tuesday has been attacked by the elusive Ghost Face killer. Meanwhile, we find Brenda trying to reclaim the days of her youth while Shorty’s still in high school and Ray’s trying to work through his queerness. Together, the six of them, along with Tuesday’s friends, work to figure out the identity of the new Ghost Face before it’s too late!

The Writing

You know how some comedy movies and TV shows claim that no one or nothing is off limits? Well, here, I think it’s safe to say that they meant that. Without going into too much detail, there were plenty of jokes to make people gasp and balk which in this day and age, is a very risky thing to do. If people aren’t in on the joke, then it falls flat. That being said, I feel as if they did a good job at riding the line, as some people that were part of the communities being made fun of were cast in the movie, such as Benny Zielke, a transgender non-binary actor.

When it comes to the story, I feel like they did a decent job overall of making the story flow amidst everything being parodied. That being said, there were a few moments where it felt like something was just there because they wanted to check a box or they thought a joke was funny. When I say that, I mean that it became very clear that there were whole plot lines taken out, something I’ll get to later.

Speaking on the parodies, there was so much here and I loved almost all of it. There were the obvious ones from the trailers and posters, but also a ton of surprises! For the first time in the franchise’s history, they finally got around to parodying the likes of “Final Destination”, “Candyman” and “Nosferatu”. The one thing that truly surprised me though is something I won’t ENTIRELY spoil here. Just know, if you’re a fan of “K-Pop Demon Hunters”, be ready for something truly shocking!

The Directing

The writing now aside, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t take some issues with the directing. First though, I’m going to start with the good. Director Michael Tiddes (“Sextuplets”, “Naked”), together with cinematographer Terry Stacey (“The Walking Dead: Dead City”, “The Witcher”) did a great job at capturing a whole new vibe for the franchise. Much like how the other films in the franchise worked to mimic the era of horror they were making fun of, “Scary Movie” actively looks like much of today’s elevated horror and that’s much to its benefit. Beautifully contrasting this is the acting, where I feel Tiddes did a great job at having the actors land their marks and punchlines while perfectly recapturing these characters we know and love.

However, I regret to inform you that the movie was let down by something I mentioned earlier; its editing and flow. There were several moments throughout that just felt very out of place, like the movie was meant to extend things further but got left on the cutting room floor. Where previous Wayans led movies worked to have the parodies make sense with each other to create a cohesive plot, this just… didn’t entirely. One such moment that stands out to me is the film’s parody of “Longlegs”. Serving as a return of the Shorthand character from “Scary Movie 2”, it was quite literally nothing more than that. It had very little to do with the overall plot and left me very confused on why it was left in. It also was a different scene than the one shown in the trailers, which wasn’t in the movie at all, leading me to believe this was originally meant to be a bigger throughline for the film.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the movie was good but not great. While most of the jokes landed, the acting was great for this type of comedy, and the plot was comprehensible to a degree, the film was let down by its editing. Here’s to hoping that that’s something which can be fixed by a director’s cut.

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Comments

Have you been able to check out the new “Scary Movie”? If so, what did you think? Are you a fan of the franchise? Let’s discuss in the comments below!