Paramount’s “ Scary Movie ” ruled at box office with $55 million in its opening weekend, extending an unexpected streak for, well, scary movies in the height of summer movie season.

“Scary Movie” topped theaters with franchise-best debut as low-budget hits “Obsession” and “Backrooms” continue to outshine bigger-budget competitors.

A look back at these films reveals not timeless humor but in fact the exact opposite: references that are so delightfully dated that each film becomes a perfect time capsule of when it was made.