Wes Craven was one of the great masters of the horror genre. In addition to formative works such as “The Hills Have Eyes” or “The Last House on the Left”, he is remembered for two of the most influential horror series of all time: While in the 1980s with the “A nightmare on Elm Street” series caused sleepless nights, he revolutionized the 90s with his “screamfilms the common narrative pattern of the slasher genre. With both Freddy and Ghostface, he has created iconic characters who enjoy great pop-cultural relevance outside of the genre.
If, like Craven, you’ve created two major movie universes at the same time, it’s tempting to work with allusions to your own work. That seems obvious, especially with “Scream”. The horror series was filmed nine years after the first Nightmare part, also falls under the subgenre of the slasher film and also shows some similarities with the Freddy films. For example, in “Freddy’s New Nightmare” one can already perceive Craven’s desire to have a horror movie play on several meta levels. In “Scream” he perfects this several years later.
Wes Craven as janitor Fred
In fact, there’s a fun Easter Egg in the first Ghostface chapter: a very special guest appearance from Wes Craven. He plays a janitor who appears in a short scene with Henry Winkler. Winkler plays the school principal, who anxiously checks the doors of a classroom in the relevant scene. He meets the janitor in one of the hallways. He calls him by his name: Fred. The janitor, otherwise irrelevant to the film, also appears as Fred in the credits. Fans, of course, know that Freddy Krueger worked as a janitor.
But the name and job aren’t the only details that bring to mind Freddy Krueger. Craven wears a green and red striped sweater and an old hat in this scene. So he appears in the iconic outfit that Freddy fashioned in his horror series. This should put a big grin on the face of fans of both series!
You can rewatch the scenes in the attached video below: