The newest Scream film has quickly proven to be a hit with both critics and fans of the long-running horror franchise, but the fifth installment is also a little bittersweet. The film is the first to be directed by someone other than the legendary Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015. However, the new Scream—directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett—still found ways to honor and pay tribute to Craven’s legacy and that includes tributes to the late filmmaker on Ghostface’s victims in the new film. Makeup FX artist Rick Pour recently broke down to Fangoria some of the details of the character callbacks in Scream, including some Easter Egg type tributes to Craven.
Pour revealed that one of the new characters in the film, Stu’s nephew Vince (Kyle Gallner), was something of a walking tribute to Craven. Even though the character didn’t exactly survive very long in the film, he bears numerous nods to Craven’s work via his tattoos. Included in those tattoos are a nod to Freddy Kreuger, a “logo” style tattoo with the letters “WC” and the numbers “72” representing Wes Craven as well as the year 1972—the year the director’s first film, Last House on the Left, was released. There is also a Shocker-themed tattoo and many more.
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Pour also revealed that Vince’s tattoos aren’t the only references to Craven’s work that appear in the film. Amber’s (Mikey Madison) death is also layered with reference not only in her mode of death in which she is immolated on a stove before being shot by another character a reference thanks to the fire of it all, but her burned appearance is also an Easter Egg. Amber’s half-burned face looks a lot like Freddy Krueger, down to the details on the ear.
“We didn’t want to beat people over the head with it, [but] we couldn’t resist a bit of a Freddy reference here,” Pour said.
Those details are ultimately just a part of how the new Scream honors Craven. Franchise star Neve Campbell told ComicBook.com that Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett really helped keep Craven with them in spirit on set.
“We certainly have felt Wes, his absence, but we certainly felt his presence as well.,” Campbell said. “We talked about him every day, all day. Every time we shot a scene, either Matt or Tyler would want to know what Wes might have thought, what his opinion would be. And I think that process and that conversation really kept him with us.”
Scream is now playing in theaters.
