Scary nostalgia and time-traveling buds

Everything old is new again, and just as we’re bringing back Scream with original final girl Neve Campbell, the scary spoof movie is back with Scary Movie, technically the sixth movie in the franchise but sharing the same title as the first movie, which came out twenty-six years ago, all the way back in 2000. Scary Movie is a remnant of the pre-September 11 world. Think about that. Once again, I do not like these big numbers or the passage of time.

The trailer for Scary Movie (2026) dropped yesterday, bringing back Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell and Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks. This is also the first Scary Movie to have the Wayans family involved since Scary Movie 2 in 2001. Check out the new trailer:

Is it just me, or is that “I’m a Republican now” line maybe a dig at Chris Pratt? Am I overthinking it? The new Scary Movie is spoofing not only horror classic Scream, but also more recent horror flicks like M3gan, Terrifier, Smile, Heart Eyes, the Halloween revival, Weapons, Sinners, Get Out, and The Substance. Sure, throw it all at the wall. What I have never liked about these movies is the lack of specificity. Spoofs are actually better when they’re really specific. Like Airplane! is such a specific spoof of the movie Airport that basically no one remembers Airport and Airplane! is a classic in its own right.

I also do not love the pronoun joke right off the top of the trailer. That’s never going to work for me, generally, because there is no punchline other than “people using pronouns is funny”. But it definitely doesn’t work for me specifically right now because someone in my life just came out as trans over the weekend and asked to use “they/them” pronouns and seeing this person I have always known as nervous and withdrawn blossoming with acceptance and love is truly beautiful. Like f-ck it’s not hard to just call people what they ask to be called. It costs nothing not to be an asshole. Anyway, not super looking forward to Scary Movie even though I like Anna Faris and Regina Hall.

A trailer I do dig is the one for Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice, a time-travel buddy comedy from Bendavid Grabinski, who previously made Happily, and was the showrunner for the 2019 reboot of Are You Afraid of the Dark? (speaking of big numbers and nostalgia, I F-CKING LOVED that show as a kid. Submitted for approval of the Midnight Society!).

Vince Vaughn is a little whatever for me, but I am always here for James Marsden (I am begging more people to watch The D Train, which is on Netflix now). I also like Eiza Gonzalez, and I spot a BUNCH of actors I enjoy, including Arturo Castro, Jimmy Tatro (American Vandal forever), Stephen Root, Ben Schwartz, Keith David, Lewis Tan, Schitt’s Creek alum Emily Hampshire, and Dylan Playfair, one of the adorable hockey bros from Letterkenny. I am not kidding when I tell you that I am always scanning for people from Letterkenny. I love to see them pop up other places.

So this movie has a bunch of people I like, from a director whose previous work I like, and I’m maybe getting a brush of Game Night vibes. A high-concept action comedy stocked with great actors? I’m not mad at it. Especially after actually getting kind of mad at the Scary Movie trailer. It lowkey says something about your movie when VINCE VAUGHN is a reasonable alternative. Clean it up, Scary Movie!

Here is Regina Hall at the SAGs on Sunday.