The “Scary Movie” series has, of course, never been smart or poignant satire. Indeed, the 2000 original was, more than anything, a spoof of Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher “Scream.” “Scream” was an odd target for spoofery, as it was already, in itself, a self-aware satire of hackneyed 1980s slasher tropes that had, by ’96, been dulled through repeated use. “Scary Movie” didn’t have much to add, then, other than fart jokes, gay panic, weed gags, and scenes where men ejaculate hundreds of gallons of semen (“Scary Movie 1” also dovetailed with the gross-out comedy trends of the day). This ain’t exactly Ambrose Bierce. 

This isn’t a very original observation about the “Scary Movie” series, but their makers don’t possess a point of view on the films they’re lampooning. Watching this new film, I see slapstick spoofs of “Terrifier 3,” “Megan,” “Scream VI,” “Get Out,” “The Substance,” “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” both versions of “I Know What You Did Last Summer,” “Ma,” “Smile,” “Sinners,” and dozens of others. In a joke I appreciated, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) yells out that she would like to make a reference to David Robert Mitchell’s “It Follows,” but that she will refrain because that film is too obscure. 

But apart from a few direct editorializing from the characters (Regina Hall’s character notes, after making a reference, that “no one saw that one”), there is no critical commentary on the objects in question. Screenwriters Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Craig Wayans, and Rick Alvarez have made a satire with no teeth, or even a mouth. All they have is idiocy, and that’s not really enough for a whole feature film. I have no mouth, and I must scream.