The Scream franchise of horror films is one of the most meta series ever made. Its long-running popularity owes a lot to that meta-commentary and the homages it makes to the genre as a whole. In fact, the most successful installments find a way to balance new ideas and inventive kills with this commentary.
Scream VI recently dropped its first teaser trailer, bringing back the previous film's crew of survivors, including breakout star Jenna Ortega's Tara Carpenter and her friends. And the first look also continues the franchise's habit of making homages to other great horror films and franchises. There are many, of course, but there are three key callbacks worth exploring prior to the release of Scream VI.
Jason Takes Manhattan Sets the Story in the Big Apple
The Friday the 13th franchise is infamous for its gimmicky premises, including launching the masked killer into outer space. Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan actually spends very little of the runtime in the Big Apple, with most of the story taking place on a cruise ship on its way to the city. However, the iconic title and a few scenes within the city are memorable and change the location and stakes of the woods of Camp Crystal Lake. Based on the teaser, Scream VI is also making the jump from a small town setting to New York City. The teaser takes place on a subway in the city, dramatically changing the landscape of Ghostface's hunting grounds into something fresh.
Halloween's Use of Costumes Hides Monsters in Plain Sight
Before the teaser shows the key characters of Scream VI on the subway, the stage is set as the camera descends to the underground platform through a sea of people in costume. It meets up with the characters on a subway car full of people in costume. Among those in costume are several people dressed up in Ghostface costumes. But using an in-story explanation for a large group of people to be in costume in order to hide the true villain is nothing new. In the original Halloween, Michael Myers is able to stalk through Haddonfield undetected while wearing a mask because it is Halloween and many people are also in costume.
Monsters hiding in plain sight is a horror genre trope that can be used very effectively to build suspense and test the character's paranoia. Halloween's use of costumes was once again in effect in the 2018 legacy sequel with great success. Scream VI using the same trope not only contributes to the film's meta nature but also spins the mystery of Ghostface's true identity once again.
Samara Weaving Doesn't Appear in the Scream VI Trailer, But Her Iconic Costume Does
The Scream franchise has had its fair share of star-power. One of the newest additions to the series is Samara Weaving. While she doesn't appear in the teaser, there is still a distinct connection to her and one of her other horror roles. One of the people heading down to the subway can be seen dressed up as Weaving's character Grace from the film Ready or Not. The directors of Ready or Not, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, also directed Scream (2022) and Scream VI.
Ready or Not is a film about Grace, who, on her wedding night, is hunted by her new family thanks to a centuries-old Satanic pact. Perhaps the homage to Grace's costume in the Scream VI teaser is just a nod toward the previous collaboration between Weaving and the directors. But it could also be a bigger hint at some of the themes of the new film. Usually, the Ghostface killers are motivated by the sins of the past, and that theme is present in Ready or Not, so the appearance of Grace's costume could hint that Ghostface in this film is indeed looking to avenge some past wrongdoing.