Diksha Sundriyal
The Wayans return to the world of ‘Scary Movie’ with its sixth installment, parodying the new and the old of the horror genre. Once again, we find Cindy Campbell and her friends fighting Ghostface, who had terrorized them and their town back in the first film in 2000. This time, however, Cindy and her friends, except Shorty, are not in high school anymore. They also have grown-up kids, which means that the stakes are higher for the characters, or at least, that’s what it should mean. While the plot goes around quite a bit, the film does tally an impressive lineup of the movies it references over its runtime. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Scream, Ma, Halloween, and I Know What You Did Last Summer
‘Scary Movie’ would likely not be what it is if it weren’t for ‘Scream‘ and ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer.’ The first film drew on significant plotlines from these two cult classics, not only creating an entertaining spoof but also catching the audience off guard with the shocking final twist that reveals Doofy as the killer. In the ensuing sequels, the references moved on to other films, but with its sixth film, the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise returns to its basics. This time, it throws two more iconic horror films into the mix, incorporating elements from the plots of ‘Halloween‘ and ‘Ma’ into Cindy and Brenda’s storylines. This not only sets up a new turn in the franchise but also serves as a potent dose of nostalgia for the fans who have been following Cindy and Brenda’s journey for the past two and a half decades.
Get Out, K-Pop Demon Hunters, The Substance and Weapons
Around halfway through its runtime, ‘Scary Movie 6’ starts to get crazier with its references. This is also where we see parodies of newer films, especially those released in the past couple of years and now cultural landmarks. In its own unique cocktail, ‘Scary Movie 6’ presents a shockingly entertaining blend of ‘Get Out’ and ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters.’ Shorty comes home to find Ghostface waiting for him a lá Catherine Keener in ‘Get Out.’ He sends an already high on weed Shorty to the Sunken Place, but instead of being a trap inside his mind, it turns out to be something else entirely. Here, Shorty ends up singing and dancing with ‘K-Pop Demon Hunters.’ It isn’t until he wakes up in his bed with the weed-shaped pillow and three women that he realizes that Ghostface didn’t “magmetize” him.
It was all in his head. In the latter half of the film, at Brenda’s Halloween party, a major shake-up occurs. The drugged candies that Shorty had been saving up for himself are mistakenly distributed to the kids during trick-or-treating. They get so high that they start running around the streets like the kids from ‘Weapons.’ Instead of heading straight to a witch’s house, they get hit by a car and are sent flying through the air. Meanwhile, journalist Gail Hailstorm decides to get Botox to look younger. The doctors promise her beauty with “the Stuff,” a reference to ‘The Substance.’ But then, Ghostface shows up and messes the whole thing up for her. The end of the scene also cheekily references ‘White Chicks’ and the possibility of its sequel.
John Wick, Ballerina, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Scary Movie
The final scene of ‘Scary Movie 6’ has Cindy coming to Brenda’s house to defeat Ghostface once and for all. She comes dressed in all black, like one famous assassin we have come to know and love since he started killing people after they killed his dog. Brenda calls out this reference, stating that Cindy is more of a ‘John Wick’ in this scene. She would have mentioned ‘Ballerina,’ but no one saw that movie. In a proper ‘John Wick‘ style, Cindy singlehandedly fights off a horde of Ghostface, even taking a beat at one point to acknowledge how great her stunt double is. When she runs out of guns, she uses sex toys, much like Michelle Yeoh’s character used in ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once,’ to defeat the villains.
With the end of the fight, the identity of the true Ghostface is revealed, and this is where things start to get a bit more complex. While ‘Scary Movie’ has always exhibited a certain level of self-awareness, the ending of the film doesn’t get any more meta than this. It turns out there have not been one or two, but six Ghostfaces. First, Jack and Elle, the love interests, turn out to be the killers. They are killed by two other Ghostfaces, who turn out to be Anthony Anderson and Shaquille O’Neal. And then, Ray and Shorty reveal themselves to be Ghostfaces who kill Anthony and Shaq.
The reason, it turns out, is that they are angry with anyone who worked in the third, fourth, and fifth films, which were made without their involvement. As the conversation progresses, Ray and Shorty (Shawn and Marlon Wayans) point out that Anthony was in the third film, prompting him to reveal he didn’t know they had been fired before he signed on. The duo also confronts Brenda and Cindy, who were also in the third and fourth films. The four also touch on the creation of legacy films that push out original characters to make space for new ones. The film ends with them refusing to give up their franchise and killing anyone who even thinks about taking it over.
Longlegs, Nosferatu, M3GAN, and Other Killers
While the main plot follows ‘Scream,’ ‘Scary Movie 6’ also carves out space for a supporting storyline. In it, the FBI is also looking for Ghostface, but instead of him, they end up finding Short Hand, which is another reference to a character from ‘Scary Movie 2.’ More importantly, he is a parody of Nicholas Cage’s character from ‘Longlegs.’ We don’t see more of him in the main storyline, but the filmmakers did give this spoof a place in the mid-credits scene, which is justified because of how great it is. In the same vein, the film also parodies Robert Eggers’ ‘Nosferatu.’ Initially, the scene was intended to appear midway through the film as a trailer. But eventually, it found its place in mid-credits as well.
The ‘Longlegs’ and ‘Nosferatu’ parodies being relegated to the credits shows how much the filmmakers wanted to put in ‘Scary Movie 6’ but couldn’t due to time constraints. Their desire to touch upon every major horror movie of the past two decades is most visible in the subway scene. On the surface, it is the spoof of ‘M3GAN,’ which is how Ghostface appears to Brenda’s daughter, before stabbing them. However, the same train also has people dressed up as other iconic killers like Pennywise from ‘IT,’ Leatherface from ‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre,’ Chucky from ‘Child’s Play,’ Jason Voorhees from ‘Friday the 13th,’ ‘Michael Myers from ‘Halloween,’ the Grabber from ‘Black Phone,’ Pinhead from ‘Hellraiser,’ and even the miner from ‘My Bloody Valentine.’
Ironically, none of them are the ones who end up stabbing and killing Brenda’s daughter. They are stabbed to death by seemingly normal people. In the same vein, passing or more prominent references are made to many movies. There is a dedicated scene reference to ‘Sinners,’ a flashback to ‘Terrifier,’ the fall of a rollercoaster in the background for ‘Final Destination 3,’ Cindy’s daughter named Tuesday in parody of ‘Wednesday,’ the Bobby scene for ‘Smile,’ the trailer of ‘Michael,’ and the appearance of ‘Candyman.’ Teyana Taylor’s cameo at the beginning refers to her film ‘One Battle After Another,’ and we also get passing references to ‘Wicked,’ ‘It Follows,’ ’12 Years a Slave,’ ‘Nope,’ and even ‘Black-ish.’ Suffice to say, ‘Scary Movie 6’ covers as many bases as possible.
Read More: Who is the Father of Cindy’s Kids? Whose Children are Sara and Tuesday?
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