Since Scary Movie dropped just a few days ago, it has massively divided cinema-goers worldwide, with many enjoying some of the film’s laugh-out-loud moments, but also leaving many feeling disappointed that the film never lived up to its offensive potential. Critics are naturally panning it but in equal measure fans are too!
Disjointed scenes that feel like SNL skits, coupled with some lacklustre new characters and some very poorly underutilised legacy characters, turned Scary Movie from one of this year’s most highly anticipated comedies into one of the most fan-divided.
Some jokes hit, most miss, and out of every single Scary Movie released, this one feels the most choppy and poorly directed of them all.
Teaser trailer scenes have been purposely cut out of the film entirely, characters that feature on the poster (Squid Game, for example) don’t feature whatsoever in the film, and there are numerous red flags throughout the editing process suggesting that this film has been chopped, changed, and watered down by studio suits. This week, that was all but confirmed.
A Reddit member who attended a test screening of Scary Movie has revealed that a LOT of the movie had been cut from the version they saw compared to the version released in cinemas. They were incredibly disappointed with the cinema version compared to the more risqué and controversial comedy they saw during the screening.
This tracks with the Wayans hyping the film’s controversial angle throughout the entire marketing run, only to dial those elements heavily back when the film finally released.
Michael Tiddes directed the movie and has worked with Marlon on all of his previous comedies, including Haunted House 1 and 2, Naked, and Sextuplets, and all of those comedies push boundaries more than Scary Movie ever dares to do.
Was there a meeting where the Wayans were told they must water the film down to get a certain cinema rating? Were jokes deemed too risqué by lawyers in the same vein as Ricky Gervais was addressed about his Golden Globes speech? It’s all very plausible, but one fact remains: Scary Movie is good (in parts), but it could have been great.
So what exactly went wrong with Scary Movie, and what was different in the test screening? Let’s find out.
Severely Underutilised Characters
Cindy and Brenda were severely underutilised within Scary Movie, with their parts reduced to small interactions rather than full-blown scenes together, with Shorty taking more of a centre stage in the movie than the other cast members.
Now don’t get me wrong, Shorty is a character that many legacy fans absolutely love (myself included), but even his scenes just didn’t hit as hard, with many of Shorty’s lines being recycled throughout the film.
There is one iconic K-Pop Demon Hunters scene that was shown in the film that left many audiences going WTF… and I rather enjoyed it, but this scene dragged on for so long and, allegedly, other scenes were removed from the film to incorporate this animated montage and a section involving Keenan Thompson, which played out like a very poor SNL skit. Both scenes drag on, and what sounded like better scenes were replaced in favour of them.
According to the Reddit post, the Get Out scene featured Shorty falling into the unknown, with different versions of Shorty being high in there. This is shown in one of the teaser trailers for the film, yet never made the final cut. Another example of things being shown in the teasers that aren’t in the film, which is highly misleading.
A scene involving Shorty and Kai Cenat was also shortened, with the test-screening version featuring Ghostface killing everyone in the livestream in the same way he did in the original movie.
Ray has one incredible funny Sinners inspired scene and then disappears for the majority of the film merely serving in tiny little appearances and one-liners as opposed to him being a core part of the film. Cindy, Brenda and Ray deserved more from this film. We’re here to see them all back together not as supporting artists (minus Shorty who out of the four got the most screen-time).
One thing that I’m glad did make the cut was a certain reference to another Wayans franchise within a scene mimicking The Substance starring Demi Moore. This one scene had the audience in hysterics and is one of the few highlights of the new film, but it wasn’t included in the test screening. I’m certainly glad they added that one in!
The Smile 2 scene shown in the teasers, along with the Squid Game scene, were also cut from the cinema version, along with extended versions of the Terrifier segment, which involved the clown killing all the kids at the Christmas meet-and-greet.
Shorthand was completely cut from the majority of the film, merely serving as a small cameo, and Special Officer Doofy hardly featured, with one particular scene from his final moments being cut. This scene involved a large poo falling out of his bum and was removed from the film entirely.
Controversial Jokes Dialled Down
‘Every Line Will Be Crossed’ was the tagline and what we ended up with was a film where no lined was crossed hard enough. A watered down version of the original bold and daring promise.
One thing the Wayans promised was controversy, and by the end of it there wasn’t anything featured within the film that pushed a boundary for me.
The jokes felt no different to those you’d find on an X (formerly Twitter) feed, and it certainly felt as though scenes were chopped and cut back along with the more offensive jokes, and that was also confirmed within the Reddit post.
Various lines, such as Donald Trump’s “Grab them by the pussy” line, were cut entirely from the film, in addition to a scene that certainly would have been controversial involving Cameron Scott Roberts, Olivia Rose Keegan, and Savannah Lee Nassif in blackface trying to enter Brenda’s party dressed head-to-toe in slavery clothes. This entire scene was cut in favour of the Wicked joke. C’mon, guys!
More Jeffrey Epstein Island jokes were cut from the film, in addition to more of Shorthand’s scenes, which were a B-story running alongside the main plot and were cut entirely.
Alcohol-related scenes involving Sidney and an anti-Semitic joke regarding Melissa Barrera were also cut from the final version. It certainly feels as though there were words had, as opposed to them cutting these things out of the film by choice, and that’s sad to me. You can’t be controversial and edgy whilst some snowflake in a suit is pussyfooting around the script getting all offended.
It kind of ruins the point.
Within the Reddit post, a sex scene involving Brenda and Ray was described as having been cut, with Brenda pegging Ray as they changed into prison clothes. As I’m reading everything that has been left out versus what we actually got in the cinema version, it very much feels like the REAL offensive version was left on the cutting-room floor.
Alternative Ending
The ending of Scary Movie has certainly divided fans, but for me it actually got a lot better and stronger as the film drew to its rather drawn-out conclusion.
Focusing on the legacy characters and removing the quite poor new supporting cast was something that felt natural to me, considering just how intolerable all the new cast actually were. However, in an alternative ending, everyone survives, with Brenda crying to Cindy and saying, “She’s never gonna win an Oscar if this movie bombs.”
That Melissa Barrera joke also featured in the alternative ending as the cast discussed coming back for the seventh movie.
Whilst those jokes should have been left in, I do feel as though the ending we got was certainly the better version. Having them all stay alive would have meant them returning for Scary Movie 7, and I’d much rather focus on the OG cast than this new millennial SNL rubbish that we got throughout large portions of the new film.
With all of this said, I guess we’ll never know what happened to Scary Movie during the editing process, but I do hope that we get to see the uncut or reworked version at some point in the future because the film, as it stands, feels like a massively wasted opportunity.
Critics will always pan a Scary Movie film because they’re firmly stuck with a stick up their ass, but when fans start to pick fault with it too, that’s when you know you’ve released a missed opportunity.
Scary Movie will make you laugh (in parts), but it could have made you laugh HARD had it not been for these questionable changes that turned the movie into a series of short skits (in a similar vain as Scary Movie 4 and 5) as opposed to a coherent story-led fun feature with heavy comedic moments along the way.
Fans will be left scratching their head when the credits roll just wondering what could have been.
Check out our review of Scary Movie 6 HERE.
