'Scary Movie 6' Review: Nostalgic Humour Falls Into a Parody Paradox
- 21 hours ago
- 3 min read
By Seb Jenkins - June 4, 2026
The Wayan Brothers return to the big screen 26 years after the Scary Movie franchise debuted to spoof the latest and greatest horrors of the 21st century.
Cinema is famed for its cyclical eras. The blockbusters of the 1970s. The rom-coms of the 1990s. The return to prominence of horror in the 2020s. But few eras feel more nostalgic than the quirky, slapstick comedies of the early 2000s. Back when there were no rules, anyone was fair game, and no pitch was too wacky. In the past 20 years, society has moved on – primarily for the better – but is there still room for Scary Movie comedy in the big 2026? The Wayan Brothers hope so.
The very first Scary Movie hit the silver screen back in the year 2000, daring to parody the most infamous horror flick of all time – Scream. Anna Faris and Regina Hall stole the show as the hapless Cindy Campbell and Brenda Meeks, while Marlon and Shawn Wayans gave us laugh-a-minutes as Shorty and Ray. While stumbling, smoking, and screaming their way through the beloved slasher tropes, the ensemble cast found time to spoof everything from The Shining and The Sixth Sense to The Exorcist and I Know What You Did Last Summer. In a time when spoof was king, Scary Movie launched itself to the top of the pile.
However, despite the success of the first two films, the Wayan Brothers eventually parted ways with the franchise, leaving Scary Movie without its writers, directors, and two headline stars. The Studio continued without the Wayan magic but, although Scary Movie 3 remains beloved to this day, the fourth and fifth instalments lost their spoofy soul. Fast forward to 2026, 26 years after the first and 13 years after number five, Scary Movie is back with the Wayans behind the wheel… and in greater number.
Scary Movie 6 picks up a quarter of a century after the events of the first, still living within the Scream parody universe. Cindy, Brenda, Shorty, and Ray reunite, alongside a new generation of slasher companions, including Cindy’s daughter Sara. Keep an eye out for one of the best Anna Faris impressions of all time from Olivia Rose Keegan! With the masked killer back on the loose, it's up to the gang to defeat Ghostface with nothing but plot armour, toilet humour, and a weapons cache full of dildos. Of course, they find time to detour through a litany of horror IP parodies along the way, including The Substance, Terrifier, Longlegs, Weapons, and Sinners.
Nostalgia and a return to the anti-woke ‘humour of old’ proves just about enough to carry Scary Movie 6 across its 96-minute run time, with as many jokes that land as those that fall flat. The cold opening may actually be one of the best of all time, with a shocking cameo from a 2025 Oscar-nominee (no spoilers), but the film struggles to maintain those lofty heights. At times, it feels like the Wayans were so determined to recapture the magic of yesteryear that they forgot to make it fresh and new. There were some side-splitting spoofs included in the impressive showreel (seriously, the sheer number of IPs included in this film is insane), with The Substance, K-pop Demon Hunters, and Weapons particularly shining, but Scary Movie spreads itself thin and suffers for it. A lot of the parodies feel like separate entities, more like Family Guy breakaways rather than cohesive parts of the storyline.
The Wayans clearly wanted to revisit the Scream theme of 2000, introducing old characters while mocking the legacy reboots of the 2020s. While a fun, wacky ride, it did feel a little repetitive, like spoofing a path well-spoofed. You just wonder whether they could have centred the film around something modern, while reintroducing the audience to the old humour they loved. Imagine putting the boisterous main cast in the world of A Quiet Place, where they can’t make a sound. Or even replacing Ghostface with another slasher classic like Halloween’s Michael Myers.
If you’re a fan of the first two Scary Movies, you’ll have a great time with this one too. It’s fun, it’s silly, and it perhaps reminds us of a simpler time. But we already know that the Wayans want to kickstart a new era of Scary Movies, so hopefully, number 6 can prove to be a fun and familiar gateway into something fresh further down the line.
'Scary Movie 6' hits cinema screens on June 5.
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