Editorials
Ghostface Glossary: A Guide to Every Horror Reference in ‘Scream’ (2022)
Welcome to the Ghostface Glossary, a guide to every horror reference and nod throughout the first five films of the Scream franchise.
After a lot of pausing, rewinding, and zooming in, as well as researching, we’re catching all of the many horror-specific references Williamson, Craven, and Co. included in this beloved postmodern slasher franchise. If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
This guide will exclude homages from previous Scream films and their respective sequels— we’re only looking at outside horror franchises and inspirations, because any red-blooded Ghostface fan is likely already aware of those. (Goes without saying that the beloved faux franchise ‘Stab’(s) 1-8 will also not be counted, since, even though our neon green ‘Stab’ t-shirts and mock VHS tapes feel very real, it’s still a very fake franchise). If we’ve forgotten any glaring ones, kindly let us know.
“You can’t just reboot a franchise from scratch anymore. The fans won’t stand for it.”
Nearly seven years after Wes Craven’s passing and eleven years after his final, lowest-performing entry into the franchise, Scream 4, Ready or Not’s Radio Silence filled in the massive shoes of hitting all the checkmarks for a modern Scream film: new, engaging Woodsboro High School characters, self-aware humor, discourse on what’s been happening in the horror movie market, and a couple of … killer new Ghostfaces with specific motives to hack things up once again.
This first sequel of the new 2020 decade and under Radio Silence’s direction updates and pokes fun at everything about contemporary horror that we hate to love and love to hate— including us very modern, very “online” horror fans, ourselves. In Ghostface 2022 voice, it’s an honor to present all of the horror references for Scream (2022) in their respective order of occurrence.
‘Halloween’ (2018)
Halloween (2018) and Candyman (2021): The title in itself, simply Scream, which already exists in form of the original 1996 film, is a commentary on this recent trend of “requels” in which franchises name the newest film (many of which eliminate previous other sequels from their storylines) after the original film. In the finale, Amber argues, “Can’t have a bona fide Halloween without Jamie Lee!” (a jab at ignoring the other “shittier” sequels to bring back the legacy characters.)
The Babadook (2014): When Ghostface calls Tara, she cites The Babadook as “an amazing meditation on motherhood and grief.” As Ghostface mocks Tara for loving “elevated horror,” she lists this film as an example. “Not just some schlocky, cheeseball nonsense,” she claims. Additionally, Tara will later proclaim that she “still prefers The Babadook” over this real-life slasher movie that she’s living in.
It Follows (2014), Hereditary (2018) and The Witch (2016): When taunted by Ghostface to answer ‘Stab’ trivia, Tara insists she’s more knowledgeable about these movies, instead. After the franchise being MIA for so long, the filmmakers had no choice but to comment on this “fancy pants” brand of A24 (and the like) horror.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984): 1) Tara correctly answers a question about ‘Stab’ protagonist Sidney living on “Elm.” 2) Deputy Hicks’ astutely prepared teenage son Wes is named after you-know-who.
Halloween (1978): 1) When Sam describes the ‘Stab’ franchise to alleged non-fan Richie, he says it sounds “a lot like Halloween.” 2) Of course, Sam and Tara’s last name is also Carpenter, after JC himself. (Technically, they’re actual last name is Loomis, which, again, still fits under this umbrella, Dr. Loomis.) 3) Chad also refers to Vince as “uglier Michael Myers.” 4) “There’s no Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees to keep coming back,” Amber says, as she later explains why her and Richie chose to “save” the ‘Stab’ franchise.
Friday the 13th (franchise): Richie jokes, “That Jason guy— he’s got some pretty solid ideas.” As we find out later, he apparently wasn’t just joking…
Christine (1982): Ghostface goads Vince with his own car, revving the engine and shining the lights in his face while blaring Nick Cave’s “Red Right Hand” before stabbing him. These menacing shots of Vince’s 1971 Dodge Charger give Christine a run for her money.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984), The Hills Have Eyes (1977), The Last House on the Left (1972): As a tribute to Wes Craven, a framed picture of the Grand Lake theater marquee containing these three titles sits amongst Randy’s memorial home theatre.
The Skull (1965), The Blob (1958), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), Vertigo (1958), and Psycho (1960): All posters featured on the Meeks-Martin family wall, which may or may not have been passed down by their late Uncle Randy’s collection. (The massive Blu-ray collection on the shelves also undoubtedly contains a ton of horror titles but is too difficult to see with the naked eye— unless any of you 4K owners can spot them…)
Knives Out (2019): The maligned ‘Stab 8’— which becomes Richie and Amber’s primary source of toxicity and anger towards the Stab franchise—is revealed to have been directed by Rian Johnson, aka the “Knives Out guy.” (Murder mystery is horror-adjacent enough.)
Get Out (2017) and Us (2019): “What’s wrong with elevated horror?” Amber asks. “Jordan Peele fucking rules.” No argument there.
Black Christmas (2019), Child’s Play (2019), Flatliners (2017): Mindy lists these movies when describing the recent late 2010s trend of divisive, same-title requels that “didn’t work.”
Halloween (2018) again, Saw (franchise), Terminator Dark Fate (2019), Jurassic World (2015), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021): Mindy insists these movies thrive on legacy characters. “It always, always goes back to the original!” When Mindy mentions Saw, it’s unclear if she’s referring to Jigsaw (2017) or Spiral (2021).
Psycho (1960) once again: Ghostface taunts to Deputy Hicks, “Ever seen the movie Psycho?” as the film cuts to her son Wes getting ready to shower— even though Wes doesn’t actually get stabbed in the shower.
The Craft (1996) This is likely a stretch, but the mad speed chase to the Woodsboro Community Hospital between Sam and Dewey, running through red lights, may be a subtle nod to this other Neve Campbell movie, in which the four witches speed through lights in Nancy Downs’ new convertible.
‘Halloween 2’ (1981)
Halloween II (1981): A crippled Tara seething in a hospital gown, as well as Dewey’s unfortunate takedown within an unrealistically quiet, abandoned hospital setting is all too inspired by the fictional events that transpired at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital on October 31, 1978. Purists may also make the same argument for Halloween Kills (2021), which is unlikely, as the film was only released mere months before Scream.
Rawhead Rex (1986): When Chad decides to go after girlfriend Liv after admitting he’s not entirely sure she’s not the killer, Mindy insists he grab a weapon, to which Chad grabs a candlestick. While this candlestick is clearly a nod to Scream 3, in which Sidney fought off big bro Roman with a candlestick, perhaps the Radio Silence guys are secret fans of this ‘80s B-movie classic in which protagonist Howard uses a candlestick to retrieve a weapon in his fight against Rawhead, as well.
Blood Trails (2006): After Sam gets away from Richie and Amber, Richie notes the high usage of blood trails in slasher movies. While this could just serve as a general nod to the subgenre, viewers shouldn’t put this mid-aughts German slasher past psycho slasher fanatic Richie.
A Nightmare on Elm Street, again (1984): “Time to pass the torch!” One last major nod to this Craven classic is Gale’s revenge for Dewey’s death, when she shoots Amber into a burning stove, and her face melts into a Freddy K boiled face, for one last scare.
Thanks to IMDb and the Zack Cherry YouTube channel for picking up a couple this writer had missed for this comprehensive guide.
‘Scream’ (2022)
Twice a month Joe Lipsett will dissect a new Amityville Horror film to explore how the “franchise” has evolved in increasingly ludicrous directions. This is “The Amityville IP.”
A bizarre recurring issue with the Amityville “franchise” is that the films tend to be needlessly complicated. Back in the day, the first sequels moved away from the original film’s religious-themed haunted house storyline in favor of streamlined, easily digestible concepts such as “haunted lamp” or “haunted mirror.”
As the budgets plummeted and indie filmmakers capitalized on the brand’s notoriety, it seems the wrong lessons were learned. Runtimes have ballooned past the 90-minute mark and the narratives are often saggy and unfocused.
Both issues are clearly on display in Amityville Karen (2022), a film that starts off rough, but promising, and ends with a confused whimper.
The promise is embodied by the tinge of self-awareness in Julie Anne Prescott (The Amityville Harvest)’s screenplay, namely the nods to John Waters’ classic 1994 satire, Serial Mom. In that film, Beverly Sutphin (an iconic Kathleen Turner) is a bored, white suburban woman who punished individuals who didn’t adhere to her rigid definition of social norms. What is “Karen” but a contemporary equivalent?
In director/actor Shawn C. Phillips’ film, Karen (Lauren Francesca) is perpetually outraged. In her introductory scenes, she makes derogatory comments about immigrants, calls a female neighbor a whore, and nearly runs over a family blocking her driveway. She’s a broad, albeit familiar persona; in many ways, she’s less of a character than a caricature (the living embodiment of the name/meme).
These early scenes also establish a fairly straightforward plot. Karen is a code enforcement officer with plans to shut down a local winery she has deemed disgusting. They’re preparing for a big wine tasting event, which Karen plans to ruin, but when she steals a bottle of cursed Amityville wine, it activates her murderous rage and goes on a killing spree.
Simple enough, right?
Unfortunately, Amityville Karen spins out of control almost immediately. At nearly every opportunity, Prescott’s screenplay eschews narrative cohesion and simplicity in favour of overly complicated developments and extraneous characters.
Take, for example, the wine tasting event. The film spends an entire day at the winery: first during the day as a band plays, then at a beer tasting (???) that night. Neither of these events are the much touted wine-tasting, however; that is actually a private party happening later at server Troy (James Duval)’s house.
Weirdly though, following Troy’s death, the party’s location is inexplicably moved to Karen’s house for the climax of the film, but the whole event plays like an afterthought and features a litany of characters we have never met before.
This is a recurring issue throughout Amityville Karen, which frequently introduces random characters for a scene or two. Karen is typically absent from these scenes, which makes them feel superfluous and unimportant. When the actress is on screen, the film has an anchor and a narrative drive. The scenes without her, on the other hand, feel bloated and directionless (blame editor Will Collazo Jr., who allows these moments to play out interminably).
Compounding the issue is that the majority of the actors are non-professionals and these scenes play like poorly performed improv. The result is long, dull stretches that features bad actors talking over each other, repeating the same dialogue, and generally doing nothing to advance the narrative or develop the characters.
While Karen is one-note and histrionic throughout the film, at least there’s a game willingness to Francesca’s performance. It feels appropriately campy, though as the film progresses, it becomes less and less clear if Amityville Karen is actually in on the joke.
Like Amityville Cop before it, there are legit moments of self-awareness (the Serial Mom references), but it’s never certain how much of this is intentional. Take, for example, Karen’s glaringly obvious wig: it unconvincingly fails to conceal Francesca’s dark hair in the back, but is that on purpose or is it a technical error?
Ultimately there’s very little to recommend about Amityville Karen. Despite the game performance by its lead and the gentle homages to Serial Mom’s prank call and white shoes after Labor Day jokes, the never-ending improv scenes by non-professional actors, the bloated screenplay, and the jittery direction by Phillips doom the production.
Clocking in at an insufferable 100 minutes, Amityville Karen ranks among the worst of the “franchise,” coming in just above Phillips’ other entry, Amityville Hex.
The Amityville IP Awards go to…
- Favorite Subplot: In the afternoon event, there’s a self-proclaimed “hot boy summer” band consisting of burly, bare-chested men who play instruments that don’t make sound (for real, there’s no audio of their music). There’s also a scheming manager who is skimming money off the top, but that’s not as funny.
- Least Favorite Subplot: For reasons that don’t make any sense, the winery is also hosting a beer tasting which means there are multiple scenes of bartender Alex (Phillips) hoping to bring in women, mistakenly conflating a pint of beer with a “flight,” and goading never before seen characters to chug. One of them describes the beer as such: “It looks like a vampire menstruating in a cup” (it’s a gold-colored IPA for the record, so…no).
- Amityville Connection: The rationale for Karen’s killing spree is attributed to Amityville wine, whose crop was planted on cursed land. This is explained by vino groupie Annie (Jennifer Nangle) to band groupie Bianca (Lilith Stabs). It’s a lot of nonsense, but it is kind of fun when Annie claims to “taste the damnation in every sip.”
- Neverending Story: The film ends with an exhaustive FIVE MINUTE montage of Phillips’ friends posing as reporters in front of terrible green screen discussing the “killer Karen” story. My kingdom for Amityville’s regular reporter Peter Sommers (John R. Walker) to return!
- Best Line 1: Winery owner Dallas (Derek K. Long), describing Karen: “She’s like a walking constipation with a hemorrhoid”
- Best Line 2: Karen, when a half-naked, bleeding woman emerges from her closet: “Is this a dream? This dream is offensive! Stop being naked!”
- Best Line 3: Troy, upset that Karen may cancel the wine tasting at his house: “I sanded that deck for days. You don’t just sand a deck for days and then let someone shit on it!”
- Worst Death: Karen kills a Pool Boy (Dustin Clingan) after pushing his head under water for literally 1 second, then screeches “This is for putting leaves on my plants!”
- Least Clear Death(s): The bodies of a phone salesman and a barista are seen in Karen’s closet and bathroom, though how she killed them are completely unclear
- Best Death: Troy is stabbed in the back of the neck with a bottle opener, which Karen proceeds to crank
- Wannabe Lynch: After drinking the wine, Karen is confronted in her home by Barnaby (Carl Solomon) who makes her sign a crude, hand drawn blood contract and informs her that her belly is “pregnant from the juices of his grapes.” Phillips films Barnaby like a cross between the unhoused man in Mulholland Drive and the Mystery Man in Lost Highway. It’s interesting, even if the character makes absolutely no sense.
- Single Image Summary: At one point, a random man emerges from the shower in a towel and excitedly poops himself. This sequence perfectly encapsulates the experience of watching Amityville Karen.
- Pray for Joe: Many of these folks will be back in Amityville Shark House and Amityville Webcam, so we’re not out of the woods yet…
Next time: let’s hope Christmas comes early with 2022’s Amityville Christmas Vacation. It was the winner of Fangoria’s Best Amityville award, after all!
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