SCARY MOVIE (2026)

Now Available to rent or own on Digital Platforms

Blu-Ray releases September 22

Going into SCARY MOVIE (technically SCARY MOVIE 6), I was genuinely excited. I have always loved this franchise, especially the original film, which still brings me back to what felt like the peak era for studio comedy around the turn of the millennium. I was the perfect age for it. The first SCARY MOVIE arrived at a moment when satire could feel like a communal event. We were more of a monoculture then. Everyone knew the same movies, the same television shows, the same stars, and the jokes had an immediate shared language. The film was silly, vulgar, shameless, and sometimes downright stupid, but it was also sharp in the way it understood exactly what people had been watching and talking about.

That energy has been difficult to recreate, especially after the series moved away from the Wayans brothers. So there is something immediately refreshing about seeing Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, and Shawn Wayans together again as Cindy Campbell, Brenda Meeks, Shorty Meeks, and Ray Wilkins. Their return gives this sixth film an undeniable charge. It is not simply a matter of recognizing familiar faces. They slip back into these characters with an ease that makes the years fall away, and the chemistry between them is still very much there.

The supporting returns add to that nostalgic feeling. Cheri Oteri, Dave Sheridan, Lochlyn Munro, Jon Abrahams, Anthony Anderson, and Chris Elliott all help make this feel more connected to the series people actually loved, rather than just another reboot wearing the name. There is a real pleasure in seeing the old gang assembled again, even when the movie itself can be uneven.

The setup brings the characters back together as a new Ghostface-style threat begins circling the next generation, with Cindy’s family at the center of things. From there, SCARY MOVIE throws itself at modern horror and pop culture, taking on films and shows including GET OUT, SINNERS, THE SUBSTANCE, TERRIFIER, M3GAN, LONGLEGS, and the Netflix show WEDNESDAY, among others. That is basically what you want from a new SCARY MOVIE: a wildly mixed grab bag of current horror hits, all filtered through the franchise’s crude, absurd, anything-goes sensibility.

The standout new addition is Olivia Rose Keegan as Sara, Cindy’s daughter. She is one of the movie’s smartest pieces of casting. Keegan looks, sounds, and moves so much like Anna Faris that I honestly assumed she had to be Faris’s real daughter. She is not, but the resemblance is almost startling. More importantly, she has the right comic instincts. She does not merely imitate Faris. She catches the peculiar sincerity, panic, and physical awkwardness that made Cindy Campbell such a funny character in the first place. It is a great extension of the character and one of the clearest signs that this movie understands why the original cast worked.

At the same time, SCARY MOVIE suffers from being a little too absorbed in its own history. The self-referential material can go on too long, and some of the legacy jokes become repetitive rather than building into something funnier. The movie occasionally seems more interested in reminding you that you are watching a SCARY MOVIE sequel than in simply landing the next joke.

Not every joke lands but that is just the nature of this kind of comedy, especially one firing off so many references, gross-out gags, and throwaway bits. Some scenes feel underwritten, some parodies feel like they stop at recognition, and a few jokes are more amusing in concept than in execution. It was also a shame that Chris Elliott’s Hanson is mostly saved for a post-credits sequence bit parodying Nicolas Cage in LONGLEGS. It is funny to see Elliott back, and the image is certainly there, but his character from SCARY MOVIE 2 is so memorable that I would have liked for him to have more to do in the actual film.

Still, there is enough here that worked for me. More than anything, this feels like a reunion with characters I was happy to see again. Faris and Hall remain the secret weapon of the franchise, while the Wayans brothers bring back some of the loose, rowdy personality that had been missing. The movie is not afraid to be crude, tasteless, or politically incorrect in the old SCARY MOVIE way. That does not mean every risky joke is automatically funny, but there is something refreshing about a comedy that is not trying to sand every edge off before it reaches the audience.

The Extended Cut currently available on digital platforms gives fans a small reason to revisit SCARY MOVIE, restoring roughly eight minutes of material left out of theaters. It is not a significantly gorier or darker version, and it does not reshape the story in any meaningful way. It is simply a little more SCARY MOVIE: extra jokes, alternate lines, and extended comedy beats that allow some of the film’s more ridiculous ideas to breathe.

If you loved the original films and want to revisit that particular kind of broad, unfiltered studio comedy, there is real pleasure in seeing these characters and performers together again. It put a smile on my face. The old energy is back often enough to make this a welcome and surprisingly enjoyable return.