Fans reveal fears about reboot of ‘problematic’ 00s classic being too ‘woke’

Fans of the Scary Movie franchise were delighted to learn that the newest instalment will see the original creators, the Wayans brothers, in charge after nearly 20 years.

But many are worried that the magic of the raunchy originals just won’t work in a more ‘woke’ modern culture.

There are plenty of moments in the first five horror-spoof films that have aged so poorly that it’s hard to imagine they were ever anything but crude and tasteless. But for some fans, this unflinching vulgarity is part of the appeal. 

Keenen Ivory Wayans directed the first film and 2001’s Scary Movie 2, while Shawn Wayans and Marlon Wayans wrote and starred in the first two movies. 

After that, the franchise was largely taken over by Dimension Films, run by Bob and Harvey Weinstein. While Scary Movie three, four, and five made money at the box office, the movies were never the same after the original creators lost control. 

Marlon Wayans claimed at the time that he was abruptly fired from making Scary Movie 3 and subsequent films, telling Variety: ‘The Weinstein’s are] not the best or the kindest people to be in business with.

‘They’re very much an evil regime, I guess. They do what they want to do how they do it — and it can be rude and quite disrespectful. We couldn’t come to terms on the deal. It’s like, “If you don’t want to pay for the jokes, have somebody else do it.”’

Scary Movie 5 premiered in 2013 and was the only one not to feature lead actresses Anna Faris and Regina Hall – it was the least successful instalment, with a critics Rotten Tomatoes score of just 4%.

Now, ahead of the revival, some wonder if the time for the kind of humour inherent in the movies has simply passed. 

@Want_A_Battle wrote on X: ‘I don’t know if a Scary Movie would work in this day and age 🥴😩 the jokes were so problematic back in the day 😑’

Users on Reddit shared similar concerns, with arup02 writing: ‘There’s no way they’ll be able to make anything even remotely like the originals in this ultra-sanitized world. This will bomb.’

Others insist that the films can still work as long as the Wayans don’t buckle to pressure to make the new movie ‘politically correct.’

@SleezePetty wrote on X: ‘Yes, The world is healing again!! PLEASE GIVE US THE OLD VIBES… and PLEASE DO NOT water down the jokes just because people are sensitive. We need the old vibes back.’

@ClownWorld_ posted: ‘Don’t go woke but I have a feeling you will…’

@BTSMEDIA agreed: ‘I want every offensive joke in this movie and I don’t wanna hear y’all complaining about it.’

It’s worth noting that while some of the problematic moments in the original films are satirisations of tropes in real horror movies – thereby commenting on and even condemning pre-existing problematic cliches more than playing into them – some of the jokes were always offensive. 

In the original Scary Movie, there’s a physical education teacher named ‘Miss Man.’ The entire joke is simply that Miss Man is a man disguised as a woman, who uses her position to spy on teenage girls getting undressed in the school locker room. 

This transphobic bit has very little comedic payoff beyond Miss Man at one point uncrossing her legs to reveal male genitalia under her skirt. 

It’s a relic of a time in which the issue of trans rights was far less widely discussed, meaning that it’s unlikely the Wayans intended to cause harm or do anything beyond making a crude joke. Still, if the films depended on this kind of humour, how can new iterations of Scary Movie exist in a culture that’s finally becoming aware of the harm a ‘joke’ can cause?

Now, most of us are aware that harmful stereotypes that imply trans people are predators contribute to what the American Medical Association recognized in 2019 as ‘an epidemic of violence against the transgender community,’ who are over 2.5 times more likely than cisgender people — those whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were designated at birth — to experience violence.

This is just one of many problematic moments in the original Scary Movie films, but its made particularly interesting by Marlon Wayans 2023 revelation that he’s the father to a transgender son. 

On The Breakfast Club radio show, Marlon shared that his 23-year-old son transitioned genders, forcing him to transition as a parent from ‘ignorance and denial to complete unconditional love and acceptance.’

Marlon said he decided to speak publicly about his family’s experience because there are ‘a lot of parents out there that need that message, and I know I’m dealing with it.’

He continued: ‘If they can’t get that in the household with their father and their mother, how the f**k do I send them out into the world with that kind of confidence?’ he said. 

‘I’m just so proud of them for being them.’

Now, Marlon has officially confirmed his involvement in Scary Movie 6, writing on Instagram:  â€˜WE’RE BACK!!! After nearly 20 years, the Wayans brothers are finally going to give the fans what they’ve been asking for… a return to the SCARY MOVIE franchise!

‘We’re looking forward to having fun on the big screen again.’

While fans remain split on whether or not a Scary Movie can exist without shocking, offensive humour, it’s clear that the Marlon Wayans who made the original films is very different from the one who will help helm the upcoming reboot – maybe that will make all the difference.

The Wayans and Rick Alvarez are writing and producing the movie, which is expected to start filming next year. 

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