“Scary movie” is a lame comeback
Updated 08.37 | Published 08.37
Scary movie
Directed by Michael Tiddes, with Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Damon Wayans Jr.
MOVIE REVIEW. The Wayans brothers have been released back into the “Scary movie” heat again.
The film is so self-consciously bad that you are almost at a loss for words.
COMEDY. When I go to see the sixth sequel to the movie “Scary movie”, I am greeted by a dressed up Ghostface who asks me to sign the embargo and leave my phone in a sealed plastic pocket. I feel a little sorry for the man behind the mask but still appreciate the PR person’s effort in the summer heat.
It will also be the only thing I appreciate during this film screening.
It’s been 26 years since the first movie written and directed by The Wayans brothers premiered. At that time it was Harvey Weinstein who produced the film which is largely a mockery of his previous horror hit ‘Scream’. Nowadays people parodies “The substance”“Wednesday”, “Sinners” and “get out”but it’s never really fun.
Kicked out of the franchise
Both “Scream” and the first – and in some cases second – “Scary movie” are now considered classics and characterize the turn of the millennium in their aesthetics and worldview. Since then, the brothers have Marlon and Shawn Wayans both kicked out of the franchise and managed to get back into the heat again, although they now stay in front of the camera.
I really want to spend as few lines as possible describing what kind of story this is, because it’s a movie so bad it barely deserves a review. The whole franchise is admittedly based on a logic from another universe, and I’ve never been amused by jokes that allude to various bodily fluids/bodily openings or solely based on someone being tall, but when something is as self-consciously bad as “Scary movie”, you’re almost at a loss for words.
By pointing out in the opening scene that those sitting in the audience probably can’t even read (for whom they would otherwise see such a lousy film), they think they are anticipating the criticism. Nobody said humor always had to be clever, but what’s really left of a satirical horror when it’s neither funny nor scary? One hour and thirty-six minutes of non-stop garbage.
Culture of reboots
The franchise is well aware that we live in a culture of reboots, remakes, prequels, sequels and spin-offs, even that is commented on on a constant meta level. Ghostface is back to put the knife in the original four consisting of Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Ray (Shawn Wayans), Cindy (Anna Faris), and Brenda (Regina Hall) and their offspring.
But even admitting yourself to be part of the problem is not the same as having something interesting to say about it.
The film’s most recurring joke is that everything and everyone has “woke” and claims to want to “cancel the cancel culture”. But it’s already been cancelled, and if the film’s appeal is to say and do things you don’t get, there’s already a wealth of such material just a click away. In this way, the question still remains when I leave the salon: what is the function of this type of film?
The new “Scary movie” is nothing more than a lame comeback and a cash cow.
Shown in cinemas.
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