Scary Movie Review: A Hilarious Horror Parody

The premise is shamelessly meta: twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, Cindy (Faris), Brenda (Hall), Ray (Shawn Wayans), and Shorty (Marlon Wayans) find themselves lured back to a remote lake house. The new threat? A fresh masked psycho who has apparently studied the entire horror genre playbook. This time, no horror movie IP is safe - the killer cycles through homages to everything from M3GAN and Smile to The Invisible Man and Talk to Me. Along for the ride are a new generation of teens: Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan), Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif), Jack (Cameron Scott Roberts), and a DEI consultant played with deadpan perfection by Sydney Park. The plot is thin - really just a clothesline for gags - but that’s been the franchise’s MO since day one.

Let’s cut to the chase: Scary Movie isn’t trying to reinvent comedy, and thank goodness for that. It’s a raucous, lowbrow, occasionally brilliant homage to the parody genre the Wayans brothers helped define. Michael Tiddes, who directed the later A Haunted House entries, understands the rhythm: set up a recognizable horror beat, then undercut it with something absurd, crude, or surprisingly clever.

The Core Four slip back into their roles like they never left. Anna Faris’s Cindy remains the franchise’s heart - wide-eyed and utterly sincere, even when she’s accidentally killing a killer with a cursed hand. Regina Hall’s Brenda is a force of nature, delivering lines like “I’m not afraid of no ghost, I’m afraid of my HOA fees” with the timing of a seasoned sniper. Shawn Wayans’s Ray gets some of the best physical gags, particularly a sequence involving a possessed Roomba that rivals the original’s weed-whacker scene. And Marlon Wayans? He’s a one-man troop of chaos, pulling quadruple duty as Shorty, a dimwitted “Joe,” a flamboyant “Tiffany,” and the vampire Count Brolock in a extended Nosferatu spoof that feels like it wandered in from a different movie - and that’s exactly the point.

The new cast holds its own. Olivia Rose Keegan’s Sara is the requisite Final Girl-in-training, but her best moments come from the script’s willingness to subvert her archetype. Savannah Lee Nassif’s Tuesday is a TikTok-obsessed influencer whose phone gets more screen time than some characters. Sydney Park, as the DEI rep, steals a scene explaining the killer’s “problematic” choice of victims with a straight face. The rapid-fire cultural references - everything from “quiet quitting” to A24’s prestige horror - land more often than they miss, though a few feel dated before the punchline arrives.

Where the film stumbles is in its length. At 96 minutes, it’s tight for a parody, but some sketches outstay their welcome. A Skinamarink-inspired segment drags, and a running gag about a sentient Ouija board that only answers in emoji feels like an early 2020s throwaway. The TMDb rating of 6.463/10 tells the story: this is a fun, uneven crowd-pleaser that won’t convert skeptics but will satisfy fans hungry for the old formula.

Pros

• The Core Four’s chemistry is as sharp and silly as ever.
• Clever parodies of recent horror hits (M3GAN, Smile, Talk to Me) keep the material fresh.
• Marlon Wayans’s multi-character work is a highlight of sheer commitment.
• The runtime doesn’t drag - most gags land in under a minute.
• Genuinely unpredictable cameo from an unexpected horror icon.

Cons

• Some sketches feel like deleted scenes from a YouTube sketch pile.
• The plot is virtually non-existent, even by parody standards.
• A few jokes feel recycled from earlier Scary Movie entries.
• The pacing wobbles in the second act, especially the emoji-Ouija board bit.

Scary Movie 2026 is exactly what you’d expect from a long-delayed sequel by the people who started it all: messy, juvenile, and intermittently hilarious. It doesn’t break new ground, but it doesn’t need to. The Wayans brothers, Faris, and Hall remind us that parody works best when it’s made by people who genuinely love the genre - and aren’t afraid to moon it. If you laughed at the original, you’ll find something to chuckle at here. If you didn’t, you’re not the target. A welcome, flawed return that earns its popcorn.