The Reel Review
A new killing spree by Scream‘s Ghostface prompts the “Core Four” to reunite and work with their teenage children to save themselves. Anna Faris, Regina Hall, and Wayans brothers Marlon, Shawn and Keenan Ivory star in this sixth installment in the Scary Movie horror parody franchise.
Despite a really clever and promising opening scene with 2026 Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor (One Battle After Another), the rest of the franchise’s once tried-and-true formula – poking fun at recent horror films – now feels extremely stale, lazy and uninspired. A lot of films are parodied – Sinners, Smile, Weapons, Halloween Ends, The Substance, Final Destination and Get Out – but each only briefly, oddly shortchanged in favor of a weird over reliance on the Scream films, which themselves are already send-ups of the horror genre. It is a strange story choice that completely misses the mark.
There are a handful of laugh out loud moments, most featuring the all-too-brief parodies of other films (the Final Destination theme park, in particular, was a favorite), just not nearly enough of them to justify sitting through this disappointing sequel’s tired gay jokes, stoner jokes and rehash of other dated, decades-old comic material. Scary Movie feels more like a blatant cash grab than anything intended to entertain or even provide nostalgia for its intended Gen X target market.
REEL FACTS
• Marlon Wayans, who also plays the perpetually stoned Shorty in the film, bought back the rights to the franchise in late 2024, doing a rewrite of a Scream-focused screenplay to give it more of a Wayans brothers vibe. The film, which features 11 Wayans family members, marks the first return of the Wayans since 2001’s Scary Movie 2.
• Anna Faris initially believed her time with the Scary Movie franchise was over, after the Wayans brothers had had defied their request not to appear in the third film after the franchise had been taken away from them. (She did because of her contract.) She was not invited back for 2013’s Scary Movie 5. The Wayans brothers offered Faris the part a week after she lost her home in the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
• With an estimated budget of $30 million, this sequel has grossed more than $231 million worldwide and was the first Scary Movie film to break the $100 million mark during its opening weekend.
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