Scream 6 Easter Eggs, Subway Horror References Explained by Directors

Jun 20, 2024

By Jordan Moreau

SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “Scream VI,” now playing in theaters.

The casual horror fan probably noticed a few iconic masks and monsters in the “Scream VI” subway scene: There’s Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Pinhead and even modern staples like Florence Pugh’s flower dress from “Midsommar” and a group of tethered people from Jordan Peele’s “Us.” But costume designer Avery Plewes and directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett went to extra lengths to pack more than 50 Easter eggs, costumes and blink-and-you-miss-it references into the latest “Scream.”

Tracking down Ghostface in New York City, the “Scream VI” crew, consisting of Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega), Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera), Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), Chad Meeks-Martin (Mason Gooding), Ethan Landry (Jack Champion) and Danny Brackett (Josh Segarra), pile into the subway to confront the latest masked killer. However, it’s Halloween time, which means the train car is packed with throngs of New Yorkers in creepy costumes.

To the delight of horror fans, this is where most of the movie’s references start popping up. Plewes estimated she made 200 costumes, with 140 extras on set for the subway shoot. About 45 of those extras would change clothing after getting off the recreated train car then reappear in different costumes on the subway platform.

“It was a 25/75 rule, where 25% of the costumes were creepy at the beginning, and then it just progressively got worse,” Plewes explained.

As a tribute to Wes Craven, who directed the first four “Scream” movies, Plewes started with characters from the horror legend’s filmography to populate the subway scene.

“We started with Wes then went through A-list horror villains, new and old, then the stuff that feels really relevant to people today that is a part of the zeitgeist,” she said. “‘Scream’ is all about being meta and referencing the zeitgeist, and so you look at Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, we had ‘Handmaid’s Tale’ zombies on the subway. We wanted Mindy to feel terrorized, not just by horror elements, but also patriarchal tropes that would really freak her out.”

References and costumes from Wes Craven movies:

To balance out the horror costumes on the subway, there are people dressed as real-life celebrities, like Julia Fox, Jennifer Lopez and David Bowie, plus a few non-costumed, regular New Yorkers just trying to get home in peace. Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett, co-founders of the production company Radio Silence with their “Scream VI” executive producer Chad Villella, even put themselves in the subway scene, albeit very briefly. Bettinelli-Olpin dressed as Kurt Cobain and Gillett put a fake butcher knife through his head on the subway

“It’s maybe a matter of 12 frames, if not less. Just a quick little flash, but we appear very briefly,” they said. “The best 12 frames in the movie, certainly the scariest.”

Non-horror costumes and cameos:

The directors joked they’ve watched the movie 1,000 times and constantly notice new references in the movie. Some of their most obscure Easter eggs include a reused sound effect from Ti West’s 2022 horror movie “X,” a glimpse of Sonic the Hedgehog’s blue head quills as a favor for Bettinelli-Olpin’s son and a shot of somebody dressed as Keke Palmer’s character from “Nope.”

Plewes and the directors also included a Wednesday Addams costume at the “Scream VI” frat party, without knowing that Ortega’s star status would later blow up after playing the character in Netflix’s “Wednesday” series last year. They almost included a poster from “X” in Tara’s room (Ortega also starred in that 2022 horror), but decided against it.

Easter eggs and costumes from the “Scream” universe:

More costumes and references from the subway scene, frat party and elsewhere: