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At the dawn of the new millennium, horror movies were having a moment at the box office, in large part thanks to the popularity of the Scream franchise. The Wayan brothers saw a different kind of opportunity.
In 1996, they delivered a delightful satire of “hood films” that depicted impoverished Black stories with their 1996 comedy Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. Then came 2000’s Scary Movie, where they unleashed their comical talents on the Scream phenomenon, as its Ghostface killer stumbled through a series of inspired horror parodies, stoner jokes, and merciless racial humor.
A zany new franchise was born in the blood of Scream, with four sequels that followed in the ensuing years (ironically, Scary Movie was the original title of the script for Scream). The Wayans left the Scary Movie series after the second film due to a pay dispute with the distributor, but now the brothers have the last laugh: The sixth Scary Movie — simply called Scary Movie, because why not — reunites the Wayans and much of the original cast for a hilarious package of everything that made the first movies so fun: relentless bawdy gags and slapstick alongside spot-on parodies of virtually every recent horror movie of note.
The genre has changed a lot since Scary Movie 5 came out in 2013. A new set of horror franchises dominate our screens, alongside several surprise successes from the past year that transcended the limitations of the genre to gain widespread acclaim. Scary Movie 6 (which is not its official title, but we all know the truth) skewers all of them and then some, once again resurrecting an essential form of comedy that has put popular culture in its place ever since Mad Magazine first hit stands in the 1950s.
The new Scary Movie is pretty funny regardless of how much audiences know about the contemporary horror genre. Still, it doesn’t hurt to have some additional context. With Scary Movie opening in a week, here are some key movies referenced throughout the new release, all of which are worth seeing if you haven’t yet. Very mild spoilers follow.
One Battle After Another
OK, so Paul Thomas Anderson’s Best Picture-winning look at faded revolutionaries isn’t exactly a horror movie, but it did score the extraordinary Teyana Taylor an Oscar nomination, and that fact alone is worth knowing to fully appreciate the side-splitting opening sequence of Scary Movie. Also: One Battle After Another is a masterpiece, so if you somehow missed it last year, it’s never too late for now.
Final Destination
Final Destination: Bloodlines hit IMAX last year with a grisly reminder that this series, about people who escape death only to find themselves chased by its design at every turn, still slaps. There’s a brilliant bit based on the Final Destination concept early in Scary Movie.
Anything With Anna Faris
The Wayans’ secret weapon in Scary Movie is Anna Faris, who embodies the face of white ignorance with such giddy energy that she practically transforms into a cartoon. Her reappearance in the newest entry is a reminder of her underappreciated comedic skills. Scary Movie 6 name-drops The House Bunny, another great showcase of her abilities, but in my estimation, you can’t do much better than her wide-eyed turn in the pitch-perfect stoner comedy Smiley Face.
Terrifier 3
Damien Leone’s horror series about a demented clown isn’t for squeamish types. It’s gory to the extreme and profoundly disturbing, but with an undercurrent of humor that reenergized the appeal of the so-called “splatter” subgenre. Art the Clown makes a memorable appearance in Scary Movie with a callback to the most recent Terrifier movie, and it’s got a great punchline (also, much easier to stomach than any of the bloody mayhem in the actual Terrifier movies).
Wednesday
The Gothic spin on The Addams Family remains a hit on Netflix, and the character (played by Jenna Ortega) has inspired a spinoff with a young would-be victim in Scary Movie named Tuesday. There’s a fun fourth-wall-breaking moment in the movie that acknowledges the reference, but the show is certainly worth watching for its own qualities.
Sinners
Ryan Coogler’s Oscar-winning 1930s vampire thriller, set in the Mississippi Delta, gets a few parodies throughout Scary Movie 6 as it playfully mocks the way the film hints at the undercurrent of racism (among other phobias) in the society at its center.
Smile
Faris’ character is haunted by smiling figures not unlike the possessed characters who commit suicide in Parker Finn’s extraordinary horror series. “I’m not very likable,” Faris says, “so it must be a curse!” That’s basically the idea.
KPop Demon Hunters
No spoilers on the amazing reference to last year’s Oscar-winning animated phenomenon, except to say that if you haven’t heard the hit song “Golden,” you might want to get it stuck in your head. Trust me on this.
Michael
Yes, the new Michael J. Fox biopic is still in theaters, but the Wayans move fast.
Longlegs
Nicholas Cage played a pale-faced lunatic in this surprise horror success from 2024, and Scary Movie has a lot of fun sending up his gonzo performance.
It Follows
This arty horror hit from 2014 has a sequel on the way, but the original deserves to be rediscovered. Scary Movie 6 makes a surprisingly earnest case for it. And if you’ve never heard of It Follows, make time to check out one of the more original American horror movies in recent years.
Weapons
Another surprise Oscar phenomenon, this riveting horror-mystery about missing kids gets a few amusing shoutouts that don’t exactly ruin the shocking surprises it has in store. So even if you don’t get a chance to see Weapons before Scary Movie 6, make time for it.
Candyman
Nia DaCosta’s imaginative 2021 remake of this disturbing horror franchise scores an amusing scene in Scary Movie 6 in which the monster — who famously shows up when you speak his name three times into the camera — has a more positive impact on the people who summon him.
Get Out
Jordan Peele’s Oscar-winning horror riff on Guess on Who’s Coming to Dinner was a hit in 2016 begging for the Scary Movie treatment, and the memorable void known as the Sunken Place scores a hilarious sketch in the new movie that feels way overdue.
Scream 7
Of course, nothing gives Scary Movie renewed currency in the culture like the ongoing success of the Scream franchise, and the 2026 release of Scream 7 looms over every scene of the new movie. Additionally, Scream 7 gets a few specific callouts in the climax, which provides a sense of closure to the whole idea of horror sequels in a darkly funny twist you have to see to believe. So, see it…and revisit the original Scream from 1996. Thirty years later, it holds up and then some.
Scary Movie opens next week at the Southampton Playhouse. Tickets to an early fan screening are available here.