13 years ago, the Wayans brothers (remember them?) did what has been done for decades - they made a parody film. With smash franchises like ‘Scream’ and ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ dominating the box-office at the time, the brothers based their film on the rich horror movie pool. With a very deep well of new, old and remakes from the genre, the success of the initial ‘Scary Movie’ meant that the brothers had, in fact, created their own monster of a franchise. Three sequels later, ‘Scary Movie 5’ is the first of the lot without a Wayans Brother in sight - or their breakthrough leading lady, Anna Faris - and this apple has fallen far, far, far from the tree.
Pulling elements from ‘Black Swan’, ‘Cabin in the Woods’, ‘Paranormal Activity’ and even ’50 Shades of Grey’, the jokes are hard, fast and obvious, with each one crashing and burning in unspectacular fashion. All the “comical” moments have been done a thousand times before, to the point where you can see each and every one coming a mile down the road. Even the blooper reel failed to induce so much as a chuckle. While ‘Scary Movie 5’ may not the worst movie ever made, it’s certainly giving the other contenders a run for their money.
So congratulations to the filmmakers - they managed to kill one thing here: the Scary Movie franchise, and possibly the careers of its stars.