Five good reasons to enjoy the new horror parody reboot of ‘Scary Movie’
Reboots are a dime a dozen these days. Actually, they’re costing more like millions to make and yet some of these fall flat, making you wonder why producers bothered trying to pick up from where they left off in the first place. Occasionally a reboot comes along that is, like very, very good.
Scary Movie, the 2026 take, is one of those very, very good reboots. Here are five reasons why we enjoyed this madcap parody of the postmodern horror genre.
Antonino Tati & Benjamin Roccamante
01.
The new Scary Movie sees a reunion of the original core cast including the always fabulous Anna Faris, downright hilarious Regina Hall, and of course Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans – the two brothers who also share production credits on the project.
02.
The return of the Wayans family as writers and producers is a great thing as together they express a no-holds-barred approach to delivering this anti-woke, nonsense-driven epic parody. After being absent from the franchise for over two decades there appears to be a return to all that is supposed to be funny about pastiche and parody on film. There’s a renewed focus on sharp, fast-paced humour even from the newer cast members – rather than relying on celebrity cameos for the joy.
03.
This instalment not only takes stock and makes fun of elements of the horror genre in film but goes all the way in spoofing modern society – from the earnest operations of AI, to the ubiquity of influencers and social media, it’s laughing at the fast-paced, superfice-laden era we live in.
04.
The film’s been boldly branded with an R rating that suggests a return to the outrageous, unapologetic humour that characterised the earliest films. Compared with the previous instalments, the new movie appears much closer in spirit to the first two Scary Movie entries than to parts 3, 4 or especially 5.
05.
The intertextual references are aplenty, with nods to classic horror films like Friday the 13th and Halloween, to more recent outings including M3GAN, The Substance and the Terrifier franchise. Even Wednesday gets a look-in (though the main character here is called ‘Tuesday’) as does – we think – stream TV series, Yellowjackets. All up, a great lot of films and television have influenced this parody of parodies.
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