The long awaited comment!!
Scary Movie was 100% an inspiration for the game. There's even a reference to it in the TV show during "The Scream" saying "Wazzup".
Reusing the environment for all the game was fully intentional because as you noted we built mostly everything ourselves. The poster and intro background was indeed placeholder AI that I just didn't get time to redo myself (I really didn't want to have it in that state)... Everything else used downscaled textures like in this video. I really wish I had more time, had so many more plans that I had to cut (like the TV was supposed to be fully animated).
I agree that funny/horror seems to be pretty rare. I kind of accidentally fell down this path because I felt the theme was REALLY dark initially and I wanted something that changed the pace a little.
Really thankful that you played and put your thoughtful feedback on this!