Editorials
‘Scream VI’ – 12 Things We Learned from the Blu-ray Commentary Track
Ghostface takes Manhattan in Scream VI, the latest installment in the slasher franchise. The home video release includes an informative audio commentary with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, and executive producer Chad Villella.
Here are 12 things I learned from the Scream VI Blu-ray commentary…
1. Samara Weaving was the first and only choice for the opening scene.
Samara Weaving, who starred in Radio Silence’s Ready or Not, was the first and only choice to play Laura, the ill-fated film studies professor that serves as the opening kill. The actress has stated it’s the closest character to herself she’s ever played.
Gillett says, “We were walking to dinner in Montreal when we were like, ‘Let’s just call her and see if she’s game.'” They did so, and “she was super, super game to come and hang out with us for a few days.”
The photo that appears on her character’s phone is Weaving’s real-life husband (and Cocaine Bear writer), Jimmy Warden, and their dog, Muzzy.
Prior to production, Weaving sent audio files to the filmmakers featuring her reading the lines with and without her natural Australian accent. They ultimately decided to go with the accent to make the character more unique.
2. Roger L. Jackson originally lent his voice to the opening scene.
The opening scene originally had Roger L. Jackson’s unmistakable Ghostface voice speaking to Laura on the phone. It made it as far as test screenings before being replaced by Tony Revolori as Jason.
Vanderbilt explains, “It was sort of a situation where it felt like you were hearing Roger for too long a period. He’s so wonderful that by the time we got to [Ghostface’s call with Jason], you felt like the punch of ‘Oh, my God, Roger’s on the phone’ had kind of come out of it a little bit.”
Ghostface’s call with Jason originally featured a joke about Marvel movies — written before Spider-Man franchise actor Revolori was cast — but it was cut for being too meta.
3. Hasta El Fuego is a reference to Bad Boys for Life.
Horror references are a cornerstone of the Scream franchise, but Scream VI also has an unexpected nod to Bad Boys for Life. Hasta El Fuego, the name of the restaurant from the opening scene, originates from the 2020 Will Smith/Martin Lawrence sequel, although it has taken on new meaning among the filmmakers.
Vanderbilt explains, “It started during the pandemic because we couldn’t all hang out and see each other, so we would talk about movies we all wanted to watch and then discuss on the text chain. Then the text chain became Hasta El Fuego, and then the restaurant became Hasta El Fuego.”
“Really these movies are just a collection of dumb jokes taken too far, right?” chuckles Bettinelli-Olpin.
4. The head in the fridge belongs to Thom Newell.
The carved-up body of Jason’s partner in crime inside their fridge was added after the original shoot to amplify the intensity. The head belongs to Thom Newell, who the Radio Silence team met on Southbound. He attended the photo session on his lunch break then had to return to work covered in fake blood.
In addition to serving as post-production supervisor on Southbound, Newell has worked on American Horror Story, Godzilla vs. Kong, You’re Next, V/H/S/2, and Chucky, among others, in various capacities.
The character’s name, Greg Bruckner, is a nod to filmmaker David Bruckner (Hellraiser, The Ritual), with whom Radio Silence collaborated on V/H/S and Southbound.
5. Blackmore University’s name is an in-joke.
The name of the college that the characters attend in New York, Blackmore University, is another in-joke among the filmmakers. As Vanderbilt explains, it originated with casting director Rich Delia during the making of Scream 5.
“Rich Delia, when he sent out sides for Sam in Scream, there was a monologue about ‘I’m the daughter of Billy Loomis,’ but we really wanted to protect that secret. So he instead inserted the name, ‘My father was John Blackmore.’ So you have all these incredibly talented actresses sobbing in their auditions, reading the revelation that their father is, in fact, John Blackmore, which we found hilarious. And then when we started working on this movie, we gave it the code name Blackmore.’
After failing to come up with a satisfactory fake college name, someone suggested using Blackmore for that as well, to which everyone agreed.
6. Sam and Tara’s apartment was repurposed for another scene.
The set for the apartment that Sam, Tara, and Liana share was repurposed and redecorated for Jason and Greg’s apartment in the beginning of the movie, which was shot toward the end of production. Bettinelli-Olpin points out:
“Jason and Greg’s apartment is the same set as the Carpenter sisters’ apartment with a handful of walls moved and the entrance moved to the other side. So this was a set that was essentially tweaked and recycled because we were shooting this so late in production.”
7. Frat party costumes include Murder Party, Hot Rod, and I Think You Should Leave.
The filmmakers shout-out some of the costumes that appear in the frat party scene, including Ethan’s cardboard knight from Murder Party, Wednesday Addams, Hot Rod, and a Dan Flashes shirt from I Think You Should Leave (whose co-creator/star Tim Robinson makes a voice cameo as Quinn’s hook-up).
Gillett recalls, “It was so fun to show up on set and only know, I’d say, what 50% of the costumes were gonna be, because we had conversations with Avery [Plewes, costume designer] about them. And showing up and being just so surprised and thrilled with all of the fun Easter eggs. It was like being in a funhouse.”
In the subway scene, the film was allowed to use masks of horror icons like Freddy Krueger, Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Pinhead, and Chucky as long as they didn’t do anything the respective characters are famous for.
8. The writers originally wanted Kirby in Scream 5.
Vanderbilt and Busick originally considered bring Hayden Panettiere back as Kirby in Scream 5 before deciding to feature her as an Easter egg. They revisited the idea for Scream VI.
“We wanted to include her in [Scream] 5, and it was just so overstuffed as it was,” Busick notes. “There was no room, but here, it’s like we have the real estate, I think. When we landed on the FBI thing, it was like ‘Ta-da!'”
“We never wrote any other versions for her. We definitely had a couple conversations. Weirdly, we had conversations about who she could be before we came up with what [Scream] VI was,” says Vanderbilt. “The idea that what happened in Scream 4 would change her to the extent that she would go on this path in her life seemed really kind of interesting and cool and unexpected.”
9. The Ghostface shrine was originally in a warehouse.
The original script called for the Ghostface shine to be in a warehouse, but the chance discovery of a movie theater while location scouting changed that.
“It was always sort of a warehouse because we were like, ‘Where can we set a final sequence that’s really cool that hasn’t been done before?’ That was a big thing for us,” says Vanderbilt. “And then I remember you guys were scouting and you were like, ‘So, we found a movie theater.’ And I remember thinking to myself, ‘Oh, no. It’s Scream 2.'”
“We were reticent because of Scream 2,” adds Busick. “But then Jim and I went there to check out the location so we could kind of retrofit the script to it, saw this place and we’re like, ‘This isn’t going to feel anything like it. This is going to feel very different.'”
They landed on a happy medium between the two, Gillett explains, “I think the idea of bringing that warehouse feel to this space, making it feel like a museum and not necessarily like a theater, was such a cool hand-off between those two ideas.”
While the interior is loaded with Scream franchise Easter eggs — many of which are detailed here — the dilapidated theater marquee out front advertises The Rocky Horror Picture Show midnight screenings and a Jennifer Jolie retrospective, a reference to Parker Posey’s Scream 3 character.
10. Richie’s Stab fan film features Jack Quaid’s voice and a Twin Peaks homage.
Richie’s Stab fan film that plays in the shrine was shot by Radio Silence’s assistant, Adam Sand, and executive producer Ron Lynch’s assistant, Adriana King, after hours. Jack Quaid provided the voice of Ghostface, and the font used for the end credits is from Twin Peaks.
11. Chad was originally stabbed 14 times.
One of the most common criticisms about Scream VI is the Core Four’s inability to be killed despite sustaining seemingly fatal injuries, particularly Chad. The creatives address this:
“So we like to stab Chad. I feel like as a group we sort of need to own that,” Vanderbilt jokes. “I just remember through the editing process people going, ‘He can’t live,’ to the point where we digitally removed stabs.”
“We VFX-ed a bunch of stabs,” interjects Gillett. “I think it was 14 stabs in the original, and now it’s down to like seven.”
“Guy and I had discussions early whether or not he would survive that; not practically, but just narratively,” notes Vanderbilt. Gillett adds, “I remember us talking about that at the end, like who comes back, who’s there. I love that we all agreed that this one should make you feel happy.”
12. Liana’s return was inspired by Agatha Christie.
Liana fake death was inspired by Agatha Christie’s influential 1939 murder-mystery novel, And Then There Were None. Vanderbilt divulges:
“Liana surviving, being dead and coming back, was one of my favorite things. My favorite murder-mystery of all time is Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None, and that’s the trick of that story; there’s a character you think is dead who’s sort of orchestrating it.
“That’s why we’re able to have the characters group together much more during the movie. Usually in a Scream movie everyone’s off doing some other thing. Four people have to be missing for it to work. So we loved this idea of underneath it all, they’re all together all the time, so how is this occurring?”
Scream VI is available now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital.
Editorials
Before ‘The Blair Witch Project’, ‘Alien Autopsy’ Showed How Real Found Footage Could Feel
The line separating artist from con man is a lot thinner than you might initially believe. While I think we can all agree that lying for the sake of profit is actively malicious behavior, isn’t it also true that the faux documentary aspect of The Blair Witch Project is half the reason why that film became such a cultural phenomenon? After all, if there’s one thing filmmakers have in common with stage magicians, it’s that misleading and misdirecting audiences is simply part of the job.
That’s why I’ve developed a habit of mostly ignoring the moral quandaries behind many of film and television’s biggest “hoaxes” in favor of appreciating the narrative elements that drive productions like Mermaids: The Body Found and even Animal Planet’s highly underrated The Cannibal in the Jungle. However, if there’s a definitive case of a highly publicized broadcast fooling the world into taking it seriously, it has to be Fox’s infamous 1995 TV special Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction.
It’s been over three decades since that eerie footage first haunted television screens right at the peak of the ’90s ufology craze, and in that time, the video has taken on a life of its own. From countless parodies and references in everything from The X-Files to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater (as well as John Dower’s recently released tell-all documentary The Alien Autopsy Scandal, which I’d highly recommend to genre fans everywhere), there’s no denying the legacy of the Alien Autopsy video. However, I rarely see the tape discussed as what it truly is: a highly convincing found footage film directed by a passionate stage magician and brought to life by masterful practical effects work.
That’s why I’d like to invite readers to join me on a deep dive into one of the most infamous broadcasts of all time in an attempt to reevaluate the footage as a fascinating narrative experience rather than a complete hoax.
The TV Special That Convinced Millions It Was Real
Ray Santilli next to Extraterrestrial replica in ‘The Alien Autopsy Scandal’
For starters, regardless of whether or not you believe that there was in fact an extraterrestrial crash in Roswell during the summer of 1947 and that some form of autopsy was performed on the victims, the producers behind the black & white recordings, Ray Santilli and Gary Shoefield, insist that their video was a “restoration.” Though I’d argue that the proper word is “remake”of genuine footage that was too damaged to air on television. That’s why the duo went on to recruit filmmaker and eccentric magician Spyros Melaris and sculptor/monster designer John Humphreys to bring their version of the autopsy to life and sell it to the highest bidder.
This is where the story of the Alien Autopsy as a narrative experience really begins. Melaris claims that his approach to the faux recording consisted of striving for extreme period accuracy in both shooting equipment and setting while also planting subtle details that would initially seem like mistakes but could later be revealed to actually fit the time period. That being said, the filmmaker was under the impression that the short would be released for free as a PR stunt, with the team later producing and selling an informative documentary chronicling exactly how the footage was faked and commenting on how easy it is to manipulate public perception with a good old-fashioned magic trick.
This obviously isn’t how things went down, and that’s likely the reason why Melaris has since distanced himself from everyone else involved with the project. Yet, no amount of behind-the-scenes drama can undermine the genuine effort that went into making the short as impressive as it is. From the sourcing of real animal organs from a local butcher to make the organic part of the creature more lifelike to the highly detailed sculpt that made use of a hollowed-out underlayer that could be filled with fake blood and assorted viscera, there’s a reason why so many Hollywood specialists are still impressed with the artistry on display here.
Of course, the believability is only half the story, as I think that the best part of the autopsy is how Melaris builds on the existing tension by obscuring certain details and often embracing the chaos of what a real examination of extraterrestrial life could feel like. The camera often goes out of focus at just the right time to make certain effects hit even harder, and we can only speculate as to what the hazmat-suited doctors are gesticulating about during the operation. There’s a real air of mystery to the whole thing that almost makes it feel like a cosmically terrifying, cursed film containing forbidden knowledge that civilians were never meant to see.
So when Fox’s Fact or Fiction brings in the specialists to comment on the film and its otherworldly subject, it’s no surprise that we end up with one of the most memorable mockumentaries of all time – albeit one where the participants are unaware that the footage they’re commenting on is basically a large-scale practical joke. A joke that the network was obviously in on, as many participants claim that the TV special cut out significant portions where guests point out that they believe the footage to be an elaborate hoax.
The Lasting Impact of the Hoax Turned Cultural Event
Regardless, I remember going to bed terrified after watching reruns of the special and thinking about the respected pathologist who claimed that the body was almost certainly inhuman, with even effects maestro Stan Winston commenting on how difficult it would be to recreate some of these visuals through practical puppetry. That’s not even mentioning Jonathan Frakes’ dramatic hyping up of the disturbing imagery as if he was talking about the tape from The Ring, with his spooky demeanor here likely being responsible for his later role as the host of Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction a few years later.
Personally, I’d argue that the Alien Autopsy phenomenon had just as much of an impact on me as a horror fan as The Blair Witch Project, a film that was almost certainly influenced by the success of this immensely popular hoax (to the point where they even produced their own TV special commenting on Heather’s found footage). Even if Fox didn’t intend to produce a narrative feature about the aftermath of the Roswell crash, the end product still holds up remarkably well as a highly entertaining mockumentary exploring the idea that we may not be alone in the universe.
While neither Santilli nor the rest of the production team has ever commented on this, I also think it’s very likely that the idea of a faux Alien Autopsy could have been influenced by Dean Alioto’s The McPherson Tape/UFO Abduction. I’ve already written about how this granddaddy of found footage was co-opted by rogue ufologists who began selling bootlegs of the tape at conventions as if it were real evidence of a close encounter, so it’s not that much of a stretch to imagine that Santilli and company could have heard about this phenomenon and been inspired to come up with their own highly profitable hoax.
At the end of the day, it’s unlikely that the Alien Autopsy film is recreating any real footage from Roswell, but I can still appreciate the short and the accompanying television event as a standalone horror story that still influences the way we see found footage to this very day.
After all, the possibility that something could be real is often much scarier than finding out for sure – and that’s why I think Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction is still worth revisiting three decades down the line.
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