2015 is director West Craven died, but hisscream-Franchise lives on: Directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, the fifth installment, simply titled “Scream”, was released in theaters in 2022, followed in early 2023 by “Scream 6”, the highest grossing film in the series to date.
Whatever one may think of the late sequels to the 1996 horror hit (the author of these lines is not too enthusiastic, but in our Filmstarts review there were a whopping 4 stars for the sixth part!), the new directors can Don’t blame them for forgetting. to whom they owe their success. There were numerous tributes to the series creator in “Scream 5” (even a character was partially named after him!) – and part 6 doesn’t skimp on tributes either.
To discover them, on the one hand, you need to be familiar with the filmography of the director of “Nightmare On Elm Street” – and on the other hand, you need to look very closely. Hitting the pause button is especially rewarding during the scene where Ghostface mingles with hundreds of disguised subway passengers on Halloween.
Because Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett don’t just use the scenario to mess up their characters – the Ghostface costume is a real hit, which is why there are dozens of would-be killers in the subway! – but also to let off steam with references.
Among the people in disguise there are other slasher icons such as Jason Voorhees (from the “Friday the 13th” movies), Michael Myers (“Halloween”) or the killer doll Chucky. Pinhead from the Hellraiser series is in the cast, as is the dead girl from The Ring, and the directing duo also made a point of referencing their own movie, Ready Or Not.
One tribute to Wes Craven follows another
But above all, Craven fans get their money’s worth in the scene – and a Freddy Krueger costume is just the most obvious reference. The “Nightmare On Elm Street” series is next to “Scream” the second major horror franchise dating back to Craven – and with the great seventh part, which the director himself revived after five more, sometimes less successful, sequels that Craven had already anticipated the meta concept of “Scream” in 1994.
In addition to the nightmare classic, there are plenty of other references to Craven’s filmography in the subway scene: the costumes are a true cross-section of his career – from the long-banned debut “The Last House on the Left” (1972) to 1980s films. such as The Deadly Friend and Shocker to later directorial credits such as The House of the Forgotten (1991) and the Eddie Murphy film Vampires in Brooklyn (1995).
This porn reference is overlooked even by fans…
An Easter egg that references Craven’s second film is even better hidden! The bodega where Ghostface massacres take place is called “Abe’s Snake” as one shot clearly shows (though only for about a second).
What does this have to do with Wes Craven? The horror legend made a porn movie in 1975 – and used the pseudonym “Abe Snake”. At the time, it was not unusual for young directors to plunge into the adult film genre, resorting to pseudonyms (‘Bad Lieutenant’ director Abel Ferrara, for example, shot his debut film 9 Lives Of A Wet Pussycat under the name Jimmy Boy L . ).
If you press pause after 36 and 27 seconds, you can clearly see the writing:
What’s the Wes Craven porn like?
After Craven started his career with a highly ambivalent terror movie masterpiece (“The Last House on the Left”), With “The Fireworks Woman” he first inserted a porno, which had a lot to offer in terms of content: The Fireworks Woman follows the impossible love between Angela (Jennifer Jordan) and her brother Peter (Eric Edwards). He trains to be a priest, while Angela tries to escape the thought of her brother – and is sexually exploited by several men and women…
If you want, you can also read “The Fireworks Woman” as a horror movie: The sex in the incest porn is staged explicitly, but mostly oppressively – ironically, this does not apply to the emphatic sensual flashbacks in which Angela has sex with her brother (which we are, however, clearly experiencing from her very personal perspective). Many of Craven’s recurring themes (dysfunctional families, trauma, religion) also appear in The Fireworks Woman – and here’s one of those dream sequences that Craven doesn’t just play in the “Nightmare” movies.
Craven himself appears at the beginning and end as a top-hatted master of ceremonies of sorts – making it clear that his foray into porn, despite the misnomer, is a proper Wes Craven movie!