Scary Movie (2026): Film Review

"Scary Movie" (2026)Directed by Michael TiddesWritten by Marlon Wayans & Shawn Wayans & Keenen Ivory Wayans & Craig Wayans & Rick AlvarezStarring Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, and Regina HallRated R for crude sexual content, graphic nudity, strong violence, and drug content and language throughoutRuntime: 96 minutesRelease Date: June 5, 2026

Final Thought

Thanks in large part to Keenen Ivory Wayans' return, Scary Movie (2026) surprises as one of the year's funniest films so far.

Rating

★★★.5 / 5

Logline

From Paramount Pictures:

Twenty-six years after outrunning a suspiciously familiar masked killer, the Core Four are back in the killer’s crosshairs and no horror movie IP is safe. Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall reunite in Scary Movie alongside returning favorites and fresh faces to slash through reboots, remakes, requels, prequels, sequels, spin-offs, elevated horror, origin stories, anything with the word legacy in it, and every “final chapter” that absolutely isn’t final. Nothing is sacred. No trope survives. Every line gets crossed. The Wayans are back to cancel the Cancel Culture.

Review: They Wrote This Sh*t Yesterday

The Wayans family has been fighting the fall into obscurity since the mid-2000s. After (arguably) peaking with White Chicks in 2004, no film from or starring any member of the family entered the cultural zeitgeist in the way that film or any of their earlier work had - no shade to the Little Man fans, the four people that saw the Haunted House films, or anyone who (somehow) likes Marlon's Netflix originals. I'd posit that this is, in large part, due to a lack of involvement from the oldest and funniest brother, Keenen Ivory Wayans.

While Marlon, Damon, and Shawn are the most recognizable, Keenen, in my opinion, is the most talented. He is most directly responsible for their early success by creating In Living Color, the legendary sketch show that launched several careers. He also co-wrote and directed White Chicks and the first two films in this franchise. He has not been involved with any Wayans project since producing and co-writing Dance Flick in 2009, a send-up of the dance film trend ushered in by the Step Up franchise, but he returns for Scary Movie (2026) as co-writer and producer, proving that he is the missing, secret sauce.

2026's Scary Movie (Scary MoVIe was right there...) finds the franchise's original core four - Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Brenda (Regina Hall), Ray (Shawn Wayans), and Cindy (Anna Faris) - 25 years after they were all last together. Shorty is now a 25th-year senior in their old high school, Ray is near-50 and still in the closet, Brenda has two children, and Cindy, also a mother, lives in constant fear of the return of Ghostface. After her daughter's friend Tuesday (yes, referencing Netflix’s Wednesday) is harmed by Ghostface, Cindy must return to their town and team up with her old friends to find the killer before it's too late, all while parodying some of the most popular horror films of the last decade like Get Out, Sinners, The Substance, and Longlegs.

Most simply, this sixth installment in the Scary Movie franchise was way funnier than I thought it would’ve been. In fact, I was expecting to write a bad review, but Scary Movie (2026) surprisingly won me over from the jump.

The perk of these films is their stupidity. They are reliably silly and truly allow their audiences to turn their brains off. There was a point, though, where the franchise went off the deep end. After the second installment, when the Wayans were removed from their own franchise (hilariously referenced in the film), the series moved more towards sketch and gag humor thanks to director David Zucker (of Airplane! fame) and away from the one-to-one parody humor of the first.

Even the second installment, the one I've seen most recently, has an unfortunate over-reliance on scatological humor. That, coupled with the Wayans family's recent, poor track record, made me quite nervous. The film's early marketing campaign did them no favors either, leaning into a more offensive, edgelord brand of comedy.

Left to right: Marlon Wayans, Regina Hall, and Shawn Wayans in "Scary Movie" (2026)

The first installment was always meant to be a parody, not to purely offend, so I was admittedly worried when the official synopsis for this new sixth film concluded with the phrase, "The Wayans are back to cancel the Cancel Culture." Thankfully, this new installment is much closer to the Wayans original intention with direct parody sequences throughout and a surprisingly deep understanding of the last 10 years of the horror genre. It, also, isn't even that offensive.

This film is filled with the exact kind of on-the-nose, metatextual humor that I love and elicited more laughs than any film I've seen so far this year. In fact, there were two cameo-focused scenes that were scream-laugh-worthy and filled with references so current, I can't help but think they were still filming this a month ago. Also, some of the films referenced were so niche that I wonder if the film's acknowledgement of their unpopularity would even help - "Nobody saw that sh*t."

The quote-unquote offensive humor in the film is mostly what falls flat. There are plenty of out-of-pocket moments that are justified by their hilarity in the film, but the ones that don't stick out like a sore thumb and sit heavily in thick air, primarily those about characters' pronouns, sexualities, and genders. These films date themselves because of their abundant pop culture references, but to then use dated 2015 humor feels lazy. It might've been more subversive to make jokes about trans people that don't belittle their existence, but Marlon's son is trans, so I guess they think they have an excuse.

Left to right: Anna Faris and Regina Hall in "Scary Movie" (2026)

Along with Keenen Ivory Wayans on the creative team, Scary Movie (2026) reunites its original main cast as their original characters who are all exactly where they would be 20 years later. Shorty is still getting high, and Ray is still "secretly" gay, but Regina Hall's Brenda and Anna Faris' Cindy are both in different stages of life and both mothers. Their friendship is the lifeblood of this series and I'm glad it's been preserved.

Hall and Faris are funny as ever, but the happy, singing, colored brothers are definitely reaching "unc status," as the film jokes. I've long believed Marlon to be one of the more unfunny Wayans, and with the exception of one exceptionally funny animated sequence in this film, this sixth installment proves me right.

If you're going to do a "reboot-equel," I think the smartest course of action is meta humor. If there were any franchise that understands that well, it's Scary Movie.

Own the nostalgia. Own the cringe. Own the fact that there were contract disputes that led to the creators being pushed out. I sound like I'm giving this franchise an insane amount of credit, but I'm not: I'm giving credit to the Wayans.

Notice earlier, I said they peaked with White Chicks. What I didn't mention is their supreme reign over the parody genre in the late 1980s and 1990s. I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, A Low Down Dirty Shame, Blankman, and Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood all pre-date the first Scary Movie installment and all have an incisive understanding of blaxploitation, spy, superhero, and "hood" films, respectively, behind their absurdity. They know what they are. Fortunately, Scary Movie (2026) knows what it is and, even better, understands its context.

Hell, I’d believe they wrote this shit yesterday.

Viewed on 6/3/26 at press screening

Published on 6/4/26

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