When the vastly superior Scream franchise was rebooted after an 11 year gap in 2022, the new film was just called Scream. The makers of the sixth instalment in the Scary Movie series have gone for the same strategy with their first film in 13 years. In this case, I have to wonder whether that was because most people probably have fond memories of the original reasonably amusing horror parody in 2000, a vague re-collection of the underwhelming sequel a year later and no idea that three further, increasingly bad further sequels were then released during the decade that followed.
However, with much new material to poke fun at since Scary Movie 5 in 2013, the return of the wonderful Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell, and a simple scenario of a group of friends reuniting when a masked killer they encountered 26 years ago returns, I was prepared to give this a whirl. My optimism, however, was misplaced. Despite Faris’ and Savannah Lee Nassif’s best efforts, this was mostly dismal stuff.
The parodies are lacking invention and the attempts at satire are really heavy handed. There are jokes at the expense of gay, trans and mentally challenged people that left a nasty taste in the mouth. A mere handful of gags worked but only managed to warrant a smile rather than a laugh. There is not much plot to speak of until the end, when it ties itself up in knots. A lot of the performances are poor with the worst culprit being Marlon Wayans, as the returning character, the terminally unfunny Shorty.
Incredibly it took five writers to come up with this mess, and with over $100 million dollars banked on its opening weekend, there will be more to come.
Rating: 3 out of 10