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Since the original Scary Movie was essentially a parody of the first Scream, it’s oddly fitting that, much like the Scream franchise itself, the sequels just keep coming despite the concept feeling tailor-made for a one-and-done joke. Yet here we are, four movies deep, with Scary Movie 4.
Cindy Campbell is now working as a caretaker for a frail old woman when she begins experiencing a series of strange supernatural events linked to a mysterious ghostly child. Meanwhile, divorced father Tom Ryan finds himself dealing with increasingly bizarre occurrences as an alien invasion begins to unfold across the globe. As the fate of humanity hangs in the balance, Cindy and Tom become entangled in a chaotic adventure involving haunted houses, killer children, tripods, aliens, and an unexpected visit to a secluded village hiding its own peculiar secrets.
Director David Zucker returns, and with him comes a host of familiar faces. Anna Faris and Regina Hall reprise their roles for the fourth consecutive film, while Leslie Nielsen, Anthony Anderson, and Kevin Hart return as the same characters they played in Scary Movie 3. Charlie Sheen and Simon Rex pop up for brief cameos, and from the Wayans era, Chris Elliott and Carmen Electra return in entirely different roles.
This time, Scary Movie 4 primarily mashes together The Grudge and War of the Worlds to create something that vaguely resembles a coherent story. Surprisingly, it works reasonably well. While the plot is still little more than a framework for gags, it feels more focused than the previous two sequels, which often came across as a collection of loosely connected sketches rather than actual movies.
Aside from The Grudge and War of the Worlds, the third act sends two of the main characters into The Village. Other targets include Saw, which provides the setup for the opening scene, and Million Dollar Baby, which is used for a flashback gag. The movie also takes aim at real-life events, including George W. Bush being informed about the September 11 attacks while visiting a classroom and Tom Cruise’s infamous meltdown on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
What becomes evident is how difficult it is to choose the right target when your goal is long-term relevance. Scream, and to a lesser extent I Know What You Did Last Summer, have become enduring horror staples. New entries in those franchises are still being released, which helps keep the original Scary Movie relevant decades later. The sequels, however, never anchored themselves to a genre-defining classic in quite the same way, making them feel more tied to a specific moment in pop culture.
I mean, does anyone remember The Grudge? It was one of many Japanese horror remakes that briefly dominated multiplexes in the early 2000s, but that trend has long since faded and few people seem eager to see it return. The same goes for War of the Worlds. It was a major release at the time, but twenty years later it is rarely mentioned among Spielberg’s most celebrated films, and I personally haven’t revisited it since seeing it in theaters. Only The Village has maintained some cultural presence, but here it is treated as an afterthought, confined largely to the third act. As a result, Scary Movie 4 often feels less like a parody of classic movies and more like a time capsule of what happened to be popular in 2004 and 2005.
The more coherent story does make Scary Movie 4 an easy watch. As is customary for the series, the movie fires a dozen jokes a minute at the audience, ensuring there’s almost always something to chuckle at. Not every gag lands, but the relentless pace means it rarely dwells on a joke long enough for it to become tiresome. For me, there were plenty of amusing moments, though no genuine laugh-out-loud highlights. Your mileage may vary, of course. Comedy is highly subjective, and depending on your sense of humor, you may find this movie significantly funnier than I did.
In the end, Scary Movie 4 is exactly what you would expect from the fourth entry in a parody franchise. It doesn’t reach the heights of the original, largely because its targets have not stood the test of time in the same way, but it remains a perfectly watchable comedy. The streamlined story gives the movie more momentum than the previous two sequels, the returning cast is as likable as ever, and the constant barrage of jokes ensures there is rarely a dull moment. Twenty years later, many of the references may feel dated, but if you’re in the mood for a lightweight comedy that asks very little of its audience, Scary Movie 4 still gets the job done.
