It’s a small moment, but Wes Craven included one perfectly petty message in the end credits of the originalScreamthat makes for a great Easter egg now. Craven, who passed in 2015, was undeniably a legend in the horror community, a master of the genre who pioneered so many influential works in the genre, from some of thebest horror movie franchises everto one-off films.His brand of horror mixed with darkly comedic timing and satirical humor was a trademark, and it infused everything he did, including1996’sScream, which changed the horror genre forever.
As much as he embraced sly humor, though,Wes Craven was deeply serious about his work, which is exactly why his movies still hold up. For as irreverent asScreamand its ending are, Craven was dedicated to the craft, an utter necessity; a movie shoot is long and complicated and requires a consummate professional to be at the helm when problems arise. It’s understandable, then, that it was a lack of professionalism that set the director off during the making ofScream.
Scream’s End Credits Flipped The “Special Thanks” Message On Its Head
It Was No Thanks At All
Most viewers don’t often sit and watch a movie to the end of its closing credits, soyou could be forgiven for never having noticed the special thanks message buried inScream’s end credits. In this case, however, the “special” part of the thanks is that it’s not actually a thank-you message at all, but an anti-thanks.
At the very bottom ofScream’s end credits, just before the Miramax registered trademark and “All rights reserved” copyright language is a curious message:“No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board.“It’s strange to see in the spot usually reserved for a thank-you nod to any people or organizations that were especially helpful in the making of a film, but Wes Craven clearly had other ideas. Even funnier is that it did come at the end of a sizable thank-you list.
Wes Craven’s Beef With The Santa Rosa City School District Explained
The School District & City Council Screwed Over The Production
The message is genuinely funny becauseit’s so clear it’s the result of a personal beef, begging the backstory behind it, and indeed, there is. Originally,Screamhad planned its filming location, at least for a few scenes, to be the Santa Rosa High School in Sonoma County, California, a popular filming location; not only had multiple movies shot at the high school, but other movies had been shot over the decades all around Sonoma. TheScreamcrew secured an agreement, albeit a verbal one, from the high school principal and prepared to film.
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Days before the shoot was supposed to start, however, the city council intervened and said theScreamproduction hadn’t provided the necessary paperwork. The council then threw up lots of red tape, which theScreamproduction scrambled double time to clear, which it did. When parents complained, however, possibly about not wanting a bloody slasher flick to be shot in the halls of the high school,the Santa Rosa High School ultimately pulled its invitation after reviewing the script, delaying the production.
It was rumored that Wes Craven had not only included the public call-out of Santa Rosa, but also tried to get Hollywood to boycott shooting in Sonoma County. It was never confirmed and Craven never admitted it, however.
Eventually, the shoot was relocated to an old Sonoma elementary school turned into a community center, but the damage was already done. Entire scenes had to be rewritten, original filming plans and camera strategies had to be scrapped and revised, and the production had to scramble to accommodate a brand-new location. Thanks to the last-minute switch and nixed shooting location,the city of Santa Rosa cost theScreamproduction budget an untold amount of money and plenty of time.Wes Craven was so incensed that he immortalized his call-out of the Santa Rosa City school district, which now lives forever in theScreamend credits.
Scream
1996’s Scream follows a teenage girl who is targeted by a masked killer a year after her mother’s murder who uses horror movies as a deadly game against her and her friends.
