‘Scary Movie 6’ Is Already Trolling A24’s ‘Backrooms’ With a Raunchy In-Theater Teaser, and It’s Very On-Brand

Horror comedy and liminal dread might seem like an unlikely pairing, but leave it to the ‘Scary Movie’ franchise to find the gap between existential terror and an eyebrow-raising punchline. With A24’s atmospheric nightmare ‘Backrooms’ now playing in cinemas, audiences sitting down to experience Kane Parsons’ debut feature are being greeted by something a little less subtle before the lights go down. A Backrooms-themed teaser for ‘Scary Movie 6’ is reportedly playing in theaters, turning the eerie, never-ending yellow corridors of the viral horror phenomenon into a setup for a very raunchy joke.

The footage, shared by user Seb on social media, shows a shot unmistakably styled after the endless wallpapered rooms that define the ‘Backrooms’ aesthetic. The Backrooms as a concept originated from a 2019 online creepypasta thread built around a single image of a barren room bathed in yellow fluorescent light, an image that eventually became one of the internet’s most recognizable pieces of horror lore. That atmosphere, all flickering lights, infinite halls, and creeping dread, is precisely what A24 and Parsons have channeled into their theatrical adaptation.

The ‘Scary Movie 6’ teaser mimics that sense of endless, suffocating space before undercutting it entirely with a crude sexual punchline. The voiceover intones something about getting lost in a place so massive it just goes on and on, before a character responds with a wildly NSFW reply that firmly belongs in the franchise’s tradition of go-for-broke, nothing-is-off-limits comedy. It is the kind of gag that would feel at home anywhere in the series, and the choice to deploy it specifically as a teaser playing in front of ‘Backrooms’ feels like a deliberate piece of counter-programming trollery.

The parody of ‘Backrooms’ fits into a wider campaign from Paramount, which has released a fresh batch of spoof posters targeting several major horror titles including ‘The Substance,’ ‘Sinners,’ ‘Weapons,’ ‘Get Out,’ ‘Ma,’ and ‘Nope,’ all receiving the classic ‘Scary Movie’ treatment of visual gags layered over instantly recognizable imagery. The main trailer for ‘Scary Movie 6’ opens with a send-up of the ‘Scream 6’ subway scene before rolling through parodies of ‘Sinners,’ ‘Weapons,’ ‘The Substance,’ Netflix’s ‘Wednesday,’ ‘Get Out,’ ‘Terrifier,’ and ‘Longlegs.’

Marlon Wayans, speaking with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the film’s release, described the project as a “rebooquel,” something more than a complete reboot but rooted in returning to where the franchise began in the year 2000 alongside brothers Shawn and Keenen Ivory Wayans and beloved stars Anna Faris and Regina Hall. Wayans told the outlet that the goal is to bring back bold, unfiltered comedy, promising to be “equal opportunity offenders” who make fun of everybody across the board.

The film is directed by Michael Tiddes and written by Marlon Wayans alongside Shawn Wayans, Keenen Ivory Wayans, and Rick Alvarez, with a sprawling ensemble that includes returning favorites alongside newcomers like Damon Wayans Jr., Cheri Oteri, Kim Wayans, and SNL alum Heidi Gardner. ‘Scary Movie 6’ is set to arrive in theaters on June 5, and is also getting a 4DX release adding motion and sensory effects to the parody chaos.

Meanwhile, ‘Backrooms’ itself has been generating serious buzz, with early box office projections pointing to an opening weekend of around $20 million, well above its sub-$10 million budget, suggesting that A24’s gamble on the internet-born concept may pay off in a significant way. The two films represent completely opposite ends of the horror spectrum sharing the same multiplex real estate this summer, which makes the cheeky in-theater teaser feel less like mockery and more like a genuinely clever marketing chess move from Paramount.

Whether you are there for the existential dread of A24’s liminal nightmare or the Wayans brothers gleefully dismantling it, the fact that ‘Scary Movie 6’ is now literally haunting the hallways of ‘Backrooms’ screenings is the kind of meta crossover that feels too perfectly calibrated to be accidental.

Let us know in the comments whether you think targeting ‘Backrooms’ audiences was a stroke of genius from the ‘Scary Movie 6’ marketing team or just another crass swing from the franchise.