Category: Bad

Messages and Meaning

Scary Movie is a failed attempt at comedy that quickly devolves into political pandering. Every joke is aimed at either the left or the right in American politics, which only reinforces social division. Although it satirizes both sides, Scary Movie promotes the idea that these two sides are our only options and that this is the way we should view the world.

The jokes fell into a few basic categories, and not a single one of them was successful.

Jokes that had already been done better in previous films in the series. Jokes that go so far that they cross the line from parody and fail completely. Jokes that are so obvious that you can see the punchline coming even before they get to it.

There was also no shortage of parody scenes that were less funny than the scene in the original movie.

The fourth-wall-breaking humor was also absurd. It’s a trademark of the franchise, but it used to work because it was done sparingly. When it happens every five minutes, it’s just annoying.

Scary Movie is the first in the series to completely ruin the feel of the franchise. The characters are there, the style is there, but the energy just isn’t the same. And for the first time, we saw Scary Movie visibly lower the bar for humor in an attempt to pander to modern audiences.

Plot

Scary Movie has no plot. It tries to imitate the previous films, following the storyline of “Scream 6” but mixing it with other well-known titles. Here, however, there is no connection between the individual scenes, and the viewer is left with the impression that they are not watching a complete film, but rather separate clips that have simply been edited together.

In the original Scary Movie, the mix of famous horror films works because it’s done in moderation, and everything is skillfully woven into a charming parody. But in Scary Movie they simply said to themselves, “Let’s shoot a clip for every famous horror movie from recent years and then air them one after another as if they were a movie.”

Characters

Surprisingly, Scary Movie 6 manages to ruin even its legendary characters.

Cindy – Cindy is the series’ main character, and here, for the first time, we see her… boring. She had nothing to do, her jokes weren’t funny, and her role as the side character’s mom is absurd.

Brenda – Brenda is a Scary Movie legend. An excellent contender for the series’ best character, here she’s just a bored old lady who neither does nor says anything funny. The only decent attempts at humor are worse versions of jokes we’ve already seen her do.

Important details

When Cindy fights with sex toys, it parodies a scene in which the villain is already fighting with sex toys for comic effect. In other words, it’s simply repeating a joke that we’ve seen done better in the original movie.

Brenda pretends to have been shot using ketchup to escape danger, but we’ve seen scenes like this with her before, and this one is the worst.

The happy ending, in which we burn the younger generation because they’re terrible, is a joke, but it’s still a rather peculiar choice and calls the film’s message into question.