(https://i.imgur.com/4Ol9fLY.png)
Studio: Paramount Pictures Corporation
Release Date: 10/20/2026
Rating: R
Film Grade: C-
The Story: Friends Cindy, Bobby, Brenda, Ray, Greg, Buffy, and Shorty find themselves pursued by the masked Ghostface killer. United by a past criminal incident, questions are raised about just who is targeting them and why.
My Take: Scary Movie is primarily a crudely satiric take on the Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer horror movies with a few more diverse references, like The Matrix, Shakespear in Love, and Amistad thrown in for good measure. There’s an amusing start to the film where Carmen Electra reprises Drew Barrymore’s role in the first Scream film with the payoff being a self-deprecating joke.
The plot is secondary and often non-sensical, only serving as a vehicle for the comedy bits. So, by the time the killer is revealed, coherence has long been thrown out the window. (This is a formula for future films in the series, as dead characters reappear without regard to prior entries.)
Humor falls heavily into the sophomoric comedy that primarily appeals to teenage boys with sex and drugs being the most frequent topics and horror taking a back seat. Political correctness wasn’t that prevalent back then, so there’s plenty of offensive humor aimed at all kinds of societal groups. I’d say it’s unlikely for this kind of film to be made today, but that’s clearly disproven by the Scary Movie that was released this year.
There are some bits that work surprisingly well, such as an ill-fated group of trick or treaters, a snotty victim, and a theater scene that features an obnoxious audience member. I would have liked to see more of this and less of the juvenile style that the film is overloaded with.
Acting is about what you’d expect for this movie, with exaggerated characterizations played for comedy. Anna Faris plays the virginal Cindy with a touch of innocence, which is surprising considering her father’s profession. Regina Hall gives her friend Brenda a selfish edge, illustrated by the movie theater scene. The rest of the cast performs as one would expect in a sketch-based comedy, with characterization taking second place to the bits. None of them are particularly bad, but neither are they noteworthy.
Visuals: The SteelBook includes both the 4K UHD disc and a Blu-ray. Comparing the two isn’t even close. The Blu-ray exhibits excessive sharpening, blowouts, and a general harshness. In contrast, there’s much greater gradients in the 4K copy as evident in things like skin reflections, bumper glare, cloud details, and the shine off of stainless-steel appliances. It just looks more natural and pleasing overall. Neither is particularly detailed, with an edge to the 4K. It’s more than adequate for a comedy but not demo worthy.
Audio: The 4K disc features a 5.1 DTS MA mix while the Blu-ray comes with a Dolby lossless 5.1 mix. It was hard to compare them directly, but I’d give a slight edge to the DTS mix, which sounded more enveloping and had slightly stronger bass. This could simply be due to the sound levels of the DTS version, and the differences were not dramatic. In both, dialog was clear and easy to understand. They’re both predominantly front-heavy with occasional directional cues.
David Kitay provides a fitting score for the parody. Themes are in line with the horror films it’s spoofing adding the requisite feel. There are some other songs in the movie that are appropriately tied to the characters.
Special Features: There aren’t any on the 4K disc, but the Blu-ray includes segments that appear to come from earlier releases. The extra scenes are heavy on the obvious sex joke side of things and were better left on the cutting room floor.
- Movie Showcase (clips from the film)
- Behind-the-Scenes
- Theatrical Trailer
- Additional Scenes
Final Verdict: Horror films are ripe for spoofing, yet such attempts typically fall short. Unfortunately, skewering tropes is secondary here to mostly broad and crude humor that emphasizes sex and stoners. For those that enjoy that type of comedy, you’ll find tons of it here so knock up the grade by a factor of one or two.
Comparing this to the 2026 update, the original plot is slightly more coherent, and the acting is marginally lower key. The new movie takes aim at a substantially larger number of horror movies, with the actors hamming it up almost to the point of distraction. While both movies lean on their crude humor, the more recent entry has more of it although not many more of them land.
The Steelbook itself is a nice-looking bonus with an iconic image from the movie on the back cover. Steelbook collectors and fans of the film should check it out.
Fun Fact: There’s a disclaimer ahead of a trailer in the movie theater scene that’s meant specifically for home video viewers.
https://youtu.be/HTLPULt0eJ4
This review was written by a human without the use of AI.
My Review System:
JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup