The Ending of ‘Scary Movie’ Changed So Much It’s Scary

Even as director Michael Tiddes was filming the latest Scary Movie, there was an inkling that the ending would change. “The ending that’s in there now was something we came up with while shooting the movie, but we didn’t shoot it until additional photography,” he told the Hollywood Reporter. “After we finished principal photography, we watched the original ending, and the new idea for the ending just kept sitting with us. We were like, ‘You know what? It would be more impactful.'”

Scary Movie, which is now in theaters, is the first installment of the comedy franchise in 25 years driven by its original creators, Shawn and Marlon Wayans. Everyone involved knew that fact would be a big part of the sequel. Plus, in that time, horror itself had changed too, so there were a bunch of new films to spoof and be inspired by. All of which meant the film’s ending had a ton of possibilities, and many were considered and shot.

In a wide-ranging interview with THR, Tiddes discussed all of that and more, including how the film’s ending changed, as well as the reason for it ending the way it does now. Read the quotes below, which are filled with spoilers.

In Scary Movie (which is really Scary Movie 6), it’s ultimately “revealed” that Ray and Shorty, two of the original cast members played by Shawn and Marlon Wayans, are the Ghostface killers. (They’re joined by Shaquille O’Neal and Anthony Anderson, too, but Ray and Shorty kill them.) Their motivation behind the killings is to get back at everyone for stealing their franchise, which is why they begrudgingly let Cindy (Anna Faris) and Brenda (Regina Hall) live too. They’re the OGs.

“Knowing the Wayans were getting their franchise back, we wanted to address the underlying issue that it was taken away from them,” Tiddes said. “So we knew the beginning and the end that we wanted, and we knew the statements we wanted to make: ‘This is our fucking franchise. We’re not giving it back to anybody now.’ It’s meta like Scream, but Scary Movie just takes it to the next level. And I think you’re right. The motivation for our Ghostfaces is probably stronger in Scary Movie 6 than it ever was in Scream. Audiences are connecting with that, and they’re loving it.”

However, an earlier cut of the film stuck closer to the new Scream installments. The younger generation was going to survive and take the reins from the originals. That was changed in additional photography, though, with Ray and Shorty tying up the younger generation of final girls and burning the house down like in the most recent Scream film, Scream 7.

“The original endi