Scary Movie review: Not funny, not scary and about as current as a Carry On film
The latest entry in the spoof series is out of date without even trying.
Paramount
- Rosie Fletcher
Published: Thursday, 4 June 2026 at 2:00 pm
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A star rating of 2 out of 5.
It’s pretty unlucky when your parody movie already feels massively dated before it’s even come out. Such is the cross to bear of Scary Movie, the sixth installment in the franchise which reunites all the main original cast members including Anna Faris, Regina Hall and Shawn and Marlon Wayans, for the first time since Scary Movie 2, this time with Michael Tiddes taking over as director.
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Chalking up references from Longlegs to John Wick, Get Out to Smile, Terrifier, Ma and The Substance to the 2018 Halloween reboot, as well as not-the-most-recent Scream movie, Scary Movie very much takes a "more is more" approach while unfortunately arriving too late to include by far the buzziest horror films of 2026, Obsession and Backrooms.
It’s out of date without even trying, such is the nature of the horror genre which is going through another big boom after the awards successes of Weapons and Sinners (both referenced, albeit in a pretty cursory fashion) and this year’s recent standouts, which are both directed by Gen-Z YouTubers. To Scary Movie’s credit, though, it wholeheartedly leans into its old-school roots.
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A "rebootiquel" of the first film, which itself was at times a scene-for scene retread of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, Scary Movie rehashes old jokes, references itself, and even includes a deliberate "screw you" to the next generation characters. An early cameo from Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor hints at starrier and classier things to come, but alas, it is not to be.
If you’ve chosen to see Scary Movie, you know why you’re here. It’s possibly for the wilfully crass sex comedy bits, or the 'hilarity' of Shawn Wayans's character, Ray, being gay. It could be for the (admittedly still kind of funny) retread of the scene of Ghost Face getting stoned with Marlon Wayans's Shorty. Or perhaps it’s for the comfortable nostalgia of seeing familiar faces, hearing the same old jokes, and feeling smart and informed because you get the references from two years ago, like a very low-brow horror nerd’s version of Tom Stoppard.
There’s even a dig at what they call "elevated comedy" which is apparently stuff that no one actually laughs at that makes white people feel clever. And of course, the point of reference is Judd Apatow, which is itself at least 10 years out of date.
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Very mild and toothless swipes at woke culture don’t feel as edgy as they could have done, with a reprise of the first film’s talking-in-the-cinema gag, featuring Brenda’s (Regina Hall) daughter Dei (Sydney Park) getting offed by irritated commuters, not half as funny as it was the first time around.
Only really in the last few minutes of the film does it pack any punch at all, with the returning cast essentially declaring that no one cares about the younger characters and that audiences only want to see the legacy cast. Which is almost certainly true of the target demographic for Scary Movie – it’s hard to see a world where young folk not brought up on the originals, who probably weren’t born when Scream came out, would have any interest in this old-fashioned format which isn’t funny, certainly isn’t scary (not that it tries to be) and feels about as current as a Carry On film.
Instead it’s an unchallenging stinky old sweater of a movie, which might be deeply unfashionable and unappealing but reminds you of the days when you could smoke inside pubs and people used landlines. And if you’ve made the effort to watch this, you might as well stay for the two post-credits sequences – more of the same, but you know what you’re getting at least.
Scary Movie is released in cinemas on Friday 5 June 2026.
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Authors
Rosie Fletcher
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