acid reflects reviews

There was no need for this film to exist (except maybe for Anna Faris, who deserves this win.) But by golly, what a waste of time in general.

Scary Movie (2026), the sixth iteration of the horror parody series that began at the turn of the Millennium returns in 2026 to take light jabs at contemporaty horror films. And just like the film’s predecessors, the jokes both hit and miss.

The Wayans reboot the franchise en masse to revive the title in their own terms. This after freshly retrieving control of the franchise from the studio Miramax (more on this later), One literal term would be the earworm, “wazzup,” taken from the Budweiser advertisement airing at the time that the first film was made.

The word, itself a parody of a beer company TV commercial, was so popular that it was used as the title of a satire TV show in the Philippines back in the early 2000s. The beer commercial never aired in the Philippines, the movie did. Such is the influence of cinema on pop culture. Maybe that’s the extent of the cultural significance of the entire series.

More than two decades after the first mass attack by a mysterious killer, another mysterious slasher wearing the Ghostface mask resurfaces to wreak havoc in Woodsville. The original cast now have grown up children in high school, and their children are the new targets. The film resurrects the cast despite being killed off in the previous sequels – essentially starting a clean reboot.

Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan) alerts her mother Cindy (Faris) of the possible threat after her friend Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif) is attacked and hospitalized. Cindy dismisses the threat, convinced she can fend off the killer. She has gone full MAGA- qAnon hiding since giving birth to Sara.

Sara and her high school gang gather up the people of interest in this crime, hoping to unmask the killer they suspect is among them. There at Brenda’s (Regina Hall) home, her daughter DEI (Sydney Park) explains that the killer is making a new version of the (in-universe) Horror Movie. However, the mother-daughter friction between Cindy and Sara gets in the way before the gang can reach any conclusion. Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Brenda’s brother is in attendance, as well as Doofy (Dave Sheridan) also coming out of retirement. Brenda’s husband Ray (Shawn Wayans) makes a sudden appearance out of nowehere.

Ghostface makes further attacks against characters related to the franchise, including Sherriff Greg (Lochlyn Munro) his son Jess (trans actor Benny Zielke) and Shorty, who doesn’t really get attacked. but hangs out with Ghostface to smoke. Further adding to the references to the (our-world) Scream franchise, reporter Gail Haistorm (Cheri Oteri) snoops around for a scoop, but really just flirts around with Doofy.

Tuesday is attacked again at the hospital, but is averted by the gang who happened to visit. Later on, at a party in Brenda’s that I don’t remember the reason for being held, Ghostface makes a final attack against everyone involved. Ghostface’s identity is finally revealed to Cindy and Brenda.

This film is essentially a vehicle for the Wayans to regain the IP not just legally but creatively. There’s no reason for its existence other than that. Sure, the dozens of celebrity cameos are sometimes fun to see. Oscar nominee Teyana Taylor’s surprise opening scene as first girl is definitely one of the highlights. SNL star Kenan Thompson’s appearance, and that drug-induced dream rap scene parodying Kpop Demon Hunters tha came left of field also were highlights.

I can’t claim to have deep understanding of race relations in the US. but the Wayans pepper the film with race-related jokes that may or may not land well with audiences. Suffice it to say that race remailns a deep issue even in a comedy such as this.

But not all jokes make a landing, depite the snappy dialogue, zippy banter and fast edit. It is very likely that Scary Movie was conceptualized, written and directed while under the influence. That can explain the unrelated jokes and seemingly random scenes with barely realized scenarios of the films it is supposed to be parodying.

The winner here isn’t Miramax, which took over the franchise from the Wayans prior to Scary Movie 3 following a pay aand contract dispute with the Weinsteins. Today Miramax is owned by Paramount, after sports streamer beIN sold its stake in 2020. The true winner here, boxoffice receipts included, is Faris. The actor survived a public divorce and the LA fires that gutted her home. May she get a boost in her career again after this release. She gets to tell us, “Wazzup?!”

Scary Movie is out in cinemas now from Paramount Pictures.

Images and trailer link from Paramount Pictures.