Parodies. Scary Movie's main parodies are of Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, with elements of The Sixth Sense, The Matrix, and The Usual Suspects.

The opening installment of Scary Movie, for example, is a Scream parody, featuring a similar mask, plot, and characters. It also mocks Scream's lack of plot. The Matrix, Halloween, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, The Shining, and The Exorcist are among the other films parodied in Scary Movie.