Scary Movie Review (2026): Why Don’t They Stop?

This Scary Movie review left me feeling that the 2026 revival is proof that this franchise desperately needs fresh material and better humour. What should have been a revival ends up feeling like another step in a gradual decline. Familiar faces return, the movie invites us to celebrate their arrival, and yet the one thing that really matters is missing: something worth laughing at. Maybe my sense of humour has changed over the years. I can accept that. The earlier films were hardly masterpieces of subtle comedy, but I remember them being at least a little funny. There was something to hold on to beneath the ridiculousness. Here, I kept waiting for the jokes to land, and that wait slowly turned into impatience.

Scary Movie Review: Where Has the Parody Gone?

The appeal of Scary Movie was always in watching familiar movies get pulled apart and made ridiculous. Recognition was part of the fun, but it needed a comic twist. You recognised what was being mocked, then laughed at what the film did with it. Somewhere along the way, that basic idea seems to have been buried under cheap humour. A reference alone cannot carry a joke. Showing us something familiar and expecting an automatic laugh feels lazy, especially when the film offers so little beyond that recognition. There needs to be an observation, an exaggeration, or a surprise. Otherwise, we are simply watching a movie point at other movies. The same problem applies to the attempts to mock a world saturated with technology. Technology is already so deeply woven into everyday life that merely drawing attention to it is hardly amusing. The humour needs a sharper angle. Without one, the material feels strangely behind the world it is supposedly making fun of.

The OGs Are Back. Now What?

This film seems to want the return of familiar performers to become an event in itself. You are supposed to feel that rush of excitement: the OGs are back! There is certainly an appeal to seeing familiar faces again. But that excitement needs somewhere to go once the introductions are over. Not even Anna Faris could save this movie for me. Bringing someone back with fanfare does not automatically bring back everything that made the earlier films enjoyable. The writing has to give that return a purpose. Otherwise, the audience is being asked to supply the entertainment through its own memories. That is what makes the revival feel so hollow. It appears to understand that people remember these performers fondly, but it puts too much weight on that affection. Nostalgia can get you interested in a film. It cannot keep you laughing throughout one that struggles to justify its own existence.

A Plot Would Have Helped

For all their absurdity, the earlier entries at least felt as though they had an actual plot to follow. There was a framework around which the nonsense could unfold. This one feels as though it can do whatever the hell it wants, whenever it wants, without giving us much reason to care. A spoof does not need airtight realism. Nobody comes to Scary Movie demanding that every event withstand serious scrutiny. But even ridiculous comedy benefits from a direction. A basic story gives the jokes momentum and allows the absurdity to build. Without that foundation, the film starts to feel like people taking turns trying to be funny. And you can feel the effort. Too much of the humour comes across as deliberately pushing for a laugh, cracking jokes where there is no real joke to begin with. Instead of being swept along by the silliness, I became increasingly aware of how hard the movie was working to convince me that something amusing was happening.

Breaking the Fourth Wall Is Not Enough

By the time the film moves towards its ending, the conversations about who was or was not in the movie become especially tiresome. Breaking the fourth wall can be funny, but acknowledging the existence of the film is only a starting point. The acknowledgement still needs to lead somewhere entertaining. Here, that material feels far more interested in itself than I was. Why should a conversation about someone’s absence matter so much when the movie has already struggled to make the people on screen interesting? It feels like an unnecessary detour at precisely the point when the film should be bringing its ideas together. Instead, the climax only deepens the disappointment. The longer it goes on, the less the film seems to offer beyond another attempt at a joke. By then, the feeling is almost sad. You stop hoping it will turn things around and start wishing you could simply shut it off.

Scary Movie Review: A Missed Opportunity

There are so many films and familiar cinematic habits that a new Scary Movie could have taken aim at. That is what makes this feel like such a missed opportunity. A revival should have been a chance to find fresh targets and discover what this kind of parody could offer now. Instead, returning to the familiar Scream figure feels like reaching for a joke that, for me, had already worn thin in the first film. Bringing the same image back again does not make it funnier. Familiarity becomes a limitation when the writing has no fresh way to use it. The whole experience left me wondering whether this franchise should have stopped a long time ago. Perhaps stronger comic writing or a director with a clearer sense of humour could have given it another life. As it stands, it feels like an attempt to earn a few more moolahs from a title that used to mean something. My biggest frustration in this Scary Movie review is the sense that the name is doing more work than the movie. I wanted a reason for this revival to exist beyond the possibility of selling familiar entertainment again. I never found one. These films are no longer funny to me. This one felt like a complete waste of time. Why don’t they stop?

For another look at a horror franchise struggling to justify its return, read my Insidious: The Last Key review.

Watch the official trailer