The Wayans brothers have returned to the franchise they started, and the first thing they did was commit homicide against every sacred cow in modern horror. The new poster for Scary Movie—technically the sixth installment but spiritually a hard reset—dropped like a brick through a stained-glass window, featuring parodies of Terrifier’s Art the Clown, M3GAN’s murderous dance machine, Scream’s Ghostface, Longlegs’ unsettling presence, and enough other horror IP to keep a copyright lawyer awake for three weeks.
This is not subtle satire. This is a sledgehammer to the skull of an industry that has spent the last decade rebooting, requeling, prequelling, and slapping the word “legacy” on anything that moves. The poster promises that “nothing is sacred, no trope survives, every line gets crossed,” which is either a mission statement or a threat, depending on how seriously you take your elevated horror.
Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Anna Faris, and Regina Hall are all back, reuniting twenty-six years after the original film introduced us to Cindy Campbell, Shorty Meeks, Ray Wilkins, and Brenda Meeks. The plot finds the Core Four once again in the crosshairs of a suspiciously familiar masked killer—yes, Ghostface is back, because apparently no one in this universe has learned to lock their doors. But this time, the body count includes cinematic trends rather than just teenagers.
The Wayans are promising to “cancel the cancel culture,” a phrase that sounds like it was focus-grouped in a comedy writers’ room at 3 a.m. but actually reflects the film’s stated goal of being equal-opportunity offenders. Marlon Wayans reportedly lost twenty pounds for the role, which is the kind of commitment you make when you know audiences are going to scrutinize every frame of your return to a franchise you abandoned two decades ago over creative differences with the original producers.
The poster itself is a visual assault. Art the Clown appears with a balloon that probably isn’t filled with helium. M3GAN strikes a pose that suggests she’s about to both dance and dismember. Ghostface looks confused about which reboot he’s currently starring in. It’s the kind of dense, reference-heavy imagery that rewards obsessive viewing and punishes anyone who hasn’t kept up with horror releases since 2017.
Speaking of which, the confirmed parody targets read like a syllabus for a graduate course in modern horror cinema. Get Out, Nope, Longlegs, Heretic, Sinners, the Scream franchise, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Terrifier 3, Halloween (2018), Smile, M3GAN, The Substance, and Weapons are all in the crosshairs. There are even references to Jason Voorhees, Leatherface, Ma, Wednesday Addams, and the Heart Eyes Killer, suggesting that the Wayans have spent the last few years doing nothing but watching horror movies and taking notes.
Director Michael Tiddes is working from a script by Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez—a family reunion that extends beyond the screen and into the writers’ room. The film was originally scheduled for June 12 but got bumped up to June 5 after the teaser trailer generated enough positive buzz to make Paramount nervous about the competition. When a studio moves your release date earlier, that’s not just confidence; that’s aggression.
What makes this return fascinating is the context. Scary Movie 5 came out in 2013 without the Wayans’ involvement and was received about as warmly as a surprise tax audit. The franchise became a cautionary tale about what happens when studios try to replicate magic without the original magicians. Now the magicians are back, and they’re holding a very large, very sharp mirror up to an industry that has spent thirteen years taking itself too seriously.
The poster promises chaos. The trailer delivers it. And on June 5, audiences will find out whether the Wayans can still make us laugh at the things that scare us.
Prepare to be offended—see Scary Movie in theaters June 5 and watch the Wayans brothers dismantle modern horror one trope at a time.
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