As the movie genre parody series that birthed the entire movie genre parody genre, Scary Movie holds a special place in cinematic history. Now, Scary Movie (2026) is here and is making big proclamations that the franchise is back! The main team behind the first two films, The Wayans Brothers, have reunited after a 25-year hiatus from the series, not to mention the thirteen-year gap between Scary Movie 5 and Scary Movie 6.

In the time that Scary Movie has been gone, the horror genre has given us plenty of moments worthy of parody. However, the Wayans’ brand of comedy is always uniquely their own, so even though there was a wide selection of horror films to skewer this time around, how the jokes landed were often very unexpected.

Below is a guide to the horror movies referenced in Scary Movie (2026), and (without murdering every joke) a brief tease on where to find them.

16. Scary Movie (1 & 2)

You can’t do a legacy sequel without paying homage to the original(s), so of course, Scary Movie 1&2 are referenced throughout the sixth film. That includes much of the principal cast – Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall), Shorty Meeks (Marlon Wayans), Ray Wilkins (Shawn Wayans) and supporting characters like reporter Gail Hailstorm (Cheri Oteri), Officer Doofy Gilmore (Dave Sheridan), and the creepy “Shorthand” (Chris Elliott). One key piece of lore to remember is that the original Scary Movie ends in a parody of The Usual Suspects, revealing that Doofy was the mastermind behind the killings. Scary Movie 6 addresses that “cliffhanger” in its own humorous way.

15. Scream (5 & 6 )

Scary Movie has always used Scream as its primary point of parody, and the new film is no different. Scream (2022) and Scream VI tried to use the reboot-sequel (requel) format to pass the franchise off to a new generation; instead, the fandom and studio pushed back, and Scream 7 ended up being a legacy sequel. Scary Movie (2026) parodies many of the main plot points from Scream 5 & 6, including the meta-joke that Shawn, Marlon, Ana Faris, and Regina Hall are the “Core Four” of this franchise. Impressively enough, Scary Movie 6 also gets in some unintended shots at Scream 7, and has bold things to say about the state of legacy sequels vs. requels by the end of the film. It also holds nothing back about the increasing absurdity of Scream‘s Ghostface reveals.

14. I Know What You Did Last Summer

The original Scary Movie included several odes to this 1990s horror cult-classic, and since the franchise has included sequels, a TV reboot, and a recent legacy requel film, it ends up fitting in perfectly with the deeper punchline of Scary Movie 6. There’s even the meta-parody moment of Anna Faris’ Cindy mocking her own parody of Jennifer Love Hewitt back in the first Scary Movie.

13. Halloween Requel Trilogy

The main “storyline” of Scary Movie 6 may seem a lot like Scream 7, but actually, it’s based largely on the Halloween “Requel Trilogy” that ran from 2018 to 2022. Anna Faris’ Cindy Campbell is a direct parody of Jamie Lee Curtis’s Laurie Strode, with her bleached-white hair and life as a paranoid shut-in who’s been preparing for Ghostface’s return. The film also mocks the legacy elements of the Halloween and Scream requels, by introducing Cindy’s daughter, Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan), as well as Sara’s weird younger sister, “Tuesday” (Savannah Lee Nassif).

12. M3GAN

You had to know that Scary Movie wouldn’t overlook one of the biggest (and most bizarre) horror icons of the 2020s. And that now-infamous dance sequence she did. It’s a cameo that’s hard to miss, as M3GAN joins the gang for a sequence of the film.

11. Terrifier

As seen in the trailers for Scary Movie 6, Art the Clown, the new horror icon from the Terrifier movies, gets his parody props, as well. Art helps us understand some key backstory about why Sara doesn’t think Cindy may have been the best mom…

10. A Quiet Place

It should surprise no one that the gang from Scary Movie can’t quite abide by any rules that involve survival being dependent on complete silence.

9. Heretic

Hugh Grant’s creepy performance as an obnoxious, lunatic know-it-all who loves theological debate gets a moment of mockery.

8. The Substance

The Substance was Carolie Fargeat’s deep and unflinchingly insightful film about the “horror” of Hollywood beauty standards, and the madness of maintaining them, like your livelihood (or life) depends on it. Scary Movie, on the other hand, has jokes for Hollywood and its recent Oxempic craze.

7. Smile

Scary Movie’s gotta pay the bills, and that includes making sure some of Paramount’s newer horror properties get some free promotion. Scary Movie at least makes the most of it, but wrapping its Smile parody around a fun legacy character cameo.

6. Longlegs

Osgood Perkins’ new cult classic Longlegs and its Nic Cage performance are the perfect place for Scary Movie to bring back Chris Elliot’s “Shorthand” from Scary Movie 2. Longlegs is also the main inspiration for Scary Movie‘s subplot about two bumbling FBI agents (played by SNL’s Heidi Gardner and Damon Wayans Jr.) trying to solve the new Ghostface killings.

5. Weapons

Zach Cregger’s Weapons and its strange imagery of kids fleeing into the night with airplane arms definitely gets acknowledgement from Scary Movie. Not to mention that wild ending.

4. Final Destination: Bloodlines

Death has a design, and for some reason, that design involves a lot of Rube Goldberg hijinks. Scary Movie puts its own spin on one of the more gnarly moments from the recent reboot film, Final Destination: Bloodlines.

3. Get Out

Jordan Peele’s race-themed film Get Out established some nightmare lore of its own, but the most famous being “The Sunken Place,” a hypnosis technique that traps a person’s consciousness inside their deepest recess of their mind, leaving them catatonic. In Scary Movie, Ghostface has a similar trick for Marlon Wayans’ Shorty, with a few jokes about the obvious drug-themed parallel.

2. Ma

Octavia Spencer’s 2019 psychological horror film, Ma, achieved cult success (and internet fame) and has a sequel in the works. The film saw Spencer playing an awkward and psychotic woman who tries to get revenge on the people who tormented and assaulted her in high school, by first befriending and then terrorizing their kids. Scary Movie doesn’t get that deep or dark with it: Regina Hall’s Brenda is a parody of Sue Ann “Ma” Ellington, including the crazy.

1. Sinners

Scary Movie gets in several Sinners parody scenes, including one entendre-heavy sequence parodying Sammie’s big church moment, and another that mocks the scene when the vampires come knocking on the juke joint door.

Scary Movie (2026) is now playing in theaters. Discuss the film with us on the ComicBook Forum!