“And you … and you! Y’all went and did Scary Movie 3 & 4 without us!”
I never thought we were going to get this movie. After the Wayans walked away from the franchise (rightfully so), I never fathomed the idea that we might one day see Shawn and Marlon return to the franchise. Yet here we are, and I only wish that we would have gotten it sooner. Maybe then I could have resonated with it better. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved it, but there was more than one joke that missed it mark with me. The film reminded of a time capsule. When it is unearthed, nostalgia transports you back to the time when you first buried it. However, you are not quite the person that you were back then, and your sense of humor may not be the same as it was. That said, I still thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Shawn and Marlon are unquestionably masters of their trade, and they slip back into their roles effortlessly, as does Regina Hall. Anna Faris, not so much.
Twenty-six years after outrunning a masked killer, the “Core Four” — Cindy, Brenda, Shorty, and Ray — are forced back together when a resurfaced Ghostface puts them back in the crosshairs. As the seasoned survivors reluctantly step into the role of mentors, they must navigate fractured family dynamics and old rivalries while protecting a vulnerable new generation of potential victims. Banding together with both familiar allies and fresh faces, the group relies on their chaotic history and survival instincts to outsmart the killer, turning a tense fight for survival into an unforgettable, raunchy family reunion.
If I’m honest, there was nothing about the new crop of actors who joined the franchise that did anything for me. It was all about the “Core Four.” The underlying chemistry of the Core Four — Anna Faris (Cindy), Regina Hall (Brenda), Marlon Wayans (Shorty), and Shawn Wayans (Ray) — remains the undisputed pulse of the film. As previously mentioned, Marlon and Shawn Wayans seamlessly plug their signature physical comedy back into the equation. This time, however, they’re playing middle-aged versions of themselves —with Shorty now a crypto-rich stoner and Ray just as chaotic as ever — their dynamic provided a fast-paced cadence that steadied the movie’s more uneven writing. In comparison, shifting Farris’ character from the “straight woman” role to one of mentorship undermined her performance.
By design, the Cindy Campbell character serves as the narrative anchor, which allowed her to play the perpetually confused, deadpan victim. In a fast-paced parody, this tends to be a structural requirement that in the past furthered the Wayan’s dynamically funny approach. And while there were still some elements of this, I craved more, because that is what my nostalgia demanded. And because the plot required the Core Four to navigate older age and protect a new generation, Cindy’s character carried a heavier burden of the actual plot and family dynamics. That meant Faris spent a good amount of screen time delivering standard exposition or playing an anxious, protective mother figure, leaving her with fewer opportunities for the unhinged physical comedy that she was known for in the early 2000s.
Video
Scary Movie is presented in its original aspect ratio of 2.39:1. The ultra-high-definition 2160p image is arrived at by an HEVC codec with an average bitrate of 60 mbps. The film is a spoof of a spoof, so I’m not sure how much the quality of the presentation fits in. The release sports a Dolby Vision HDR that delivers impressive blacks and good shadow definition. Because there’s a lot of Ghostface with white on black, the contrast matters. Colors pop in the proper settings.
Audio
The Dolby Atmos audio presentation defaults to 7.1. The audio presentation delivers solid dialog, which is the main purpose here. There are a couple of “big” scenes like a burning house that deliver some nice placement. The score comes through cleanly, and the subs help with depth throughout.
Special Features
The extras are found on the single UHD disc provided.
Scream Together: (8:09) This feature has the legacy cast looking back to that first film. They tell us how they got the parts and how much it has remained a part of their lives. There are mostly clips of the first two films.
Fresh Meat: (6:01) Here we look at the new members of the cast, and we’re introduced to each with plenty of insight from the cast. It’s very much like the first feature, but with the new cast members.
Wayans World: (4:34) They joke during the film that there are billions of Wayans family members. When you meet the family members in the cast and many on the crew, that might not feel so much like a joke.
Scene Dissection: (9:28) Director Michael Tiddes takes you through some of his favorite scenes in the movie and takes you behind the scenes to demonstrate the elements that went into each.
Final Thoughts:
There is one element of the film that I immensely enjoyed. The final act. It’s in that act where the Wayans show their genius and why their involvement is so important to the franchise as a whole. The twists involved in the final 15 minutes of the film targeted the movie industry itself, shifting away from standard horror movie tropes to aggressively target Hollywood culture itself, more specifically its practice of reboots and ageism. By turning the film’s own internal narrative continuity upside down, the original legacy characters make a hilariously cynical decision to completely protect their territory, rejecting traditional sequel tropes, undermining the expectations of a modern “requel” and transforming the ending into a statement of franchise reclamation.
Parts of this review were written by Gino Sassani
