A little girl reads a story about a duck to a school class. The US President, played by comedy legend Leslie Nielsen, is also a guest at the school that day. An employee whispers in his ear: “Mr. President, we just learned that aliens are attacking the planet. They will kill us all.” The president replies: “I understand. I’ll take care of it in a moment, but first I want to know what happens to the duck.”
A very typical scene from “Scary Movie 4”, released in 2006, and also typical of the entire “Scary Movie” film series that began in 2000. Because in the franchise, the sixth part of which is simply titled “Scary Movie” and will be released in German cinemas on June 4th, not only horror films have always been gleefully mocked and parodied, other film successes such as “The Matrix” in “Scary Movie 1” or “Charlie’s Angels” in part two are also satirized – or current political and social events such as the scene described at the beginning about the former US President George W. Bush, who famously allowed seven long minutes to pass before responding to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
“Scary Movie”: AI and Donald Trump get their fat off
The new “Scary Movie” film belongs to the category of so-called “legacy” sequels. The characters and actors from the original films are brought together with a new generation and current topics.
Before the film’s release, the main actors, producers and screenwriters Shawn and Marlon Wayans announced that they would satirically address numerous developments and debates of the past few years. Among other things, the corona pandemic, the #MeToo movement, ChatGPT, the Epstein files, OnlyFans, live streamers, raids by the US immigration authorities ICE, the storming of the Capitol in 2021 and the rap duel between Kendrick Lamar and Drake were mentioned.
Horror successes of recent years such as “Get Out”, “Longlegs”, “Blood & Sinners” and the Netflix series “Wednesday” are also getting their fill – alongside other current films such as the Michael Jackson biopic “Michael”, which was only released in April of this year.
Schoolboy humor and “The Naked Gun” vibes
In addition, the current film sees a reunion with almost all of the stars of the film series. In addition to Anna Faris and Regina Hall, who are playing again for the first time since “Scary Movie 4” in 2006, there are also the aforementioned Wayans brothers Marlon and Shawn.
The first two “Scary Movie” films unmistakably bear the signature of Shawn and Marlon Wayans. While her brother Keenen Ivory Wayans directed, they provided the idea and scripts for the parody of horror hits such as “Scream” and “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. What then happened to the franchise was all the more painful for the brothers.
In part three, the Weinstein brothers Bob and Harvey, who produced Scary Movie under their Dimension label, wrested creative control of the franchise from them. Shawn and Marlon felt robbed, as they later stated themselves, although looking back, “The Naked Gun” director David Zucker, who was hired by the Weinsteins, also did a very decent job on “Scary Movie 3 and 4”.
We can only hope that the new, sixth part of the film series offers a little more slapstick humor and parody and is more in line with grandiose genre predecessors like “The Naked Gun” than parts one and two of the film series, which often indulge in sex and puberty jokes.
The Wayans brothers promised in advance about “Scary Movie 6”: “We’ll do what we always do. We’ll make fun of everyone, because we offend everyone equally.”
