Ever wonder about the concept of a film/show production taking place inside a film itself? Over the years, there have been numerous cases where films will show certain parts of the production processes as the characters in the story develop their own. This is an intriguing idea to filmmakers, as viewers get to sit back and get a taste of what the world of filmmaking is all about. In this post, we will take a look at three films of the horror/thriller genres that feature filmmaking within the plot. The idea of making a film within a film is not a new concept, but a rather fascinating one to be a part of as a viewer.
1. Scream
(Image-Scream (1996). IMDb.com. 13th February 2025)
Twisted fascinations with creating horror movies arrive in Wes Craven’s Scream (1996). The viewers follow a teen girl, Sydney Prescott, played by Neve Campbell, as a recent murder by a masked killer now threatens her and her friends by using horror movies as a sinister game. Within this film, we see the struggles that Sydney goes through when deciding who to trust and who not to. But (spoilers follow), when it is later revealed in the film that there were two masked murderers working together, one being her boyfriend Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich, who was accompanied by his friend Stu Macher, played by Matthew Lillard, everything changed. And what was their motive? They were hoping to get away with the murders to be able to create their own horror movie. Later in the series, this becomes a reality, even after the death of the two masked murderers.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117571
2. Nope
(Image-Nope (2022). IMDb.com. 13th February 2025)
A different, yet captivating way of using production from a past show within a film is Jordan Peele’s Nope (2022). A man, OJ, played by Daniel Kaluuya, and his sister, Emerald, played by Keke Palmer, notice something terrifying is happening in the clouds above their ranch. A piece of this film that incorporates production of a show surrounds an owner of a theme park nearby, Ricky, played by Steven Yuen, who starred in a short-lived sitcom called “Gordy’s Home” in the film. The viewers are reeled in by two flashbacks of this sitcom when Jupe, aka Ricky, witnesses the chimpanzee Gordy violently attacking the cast within the show as we peer through his perspective from under a table. Following the position of one of the characters, it portrays a failed production in the works.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10954984
(Image-New Nightmare (1994). IMDb.com. 13th February 2025)
One final film which incorporates a production within is Wes Craven’s New Nightmare (1994). Unlike its predecessors A Nightmare on Elm Street, also by Wes Craven, we follow a story where the characters remain in the real world. Heather Langenkamp (who starred as Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street) and Wes Craven both appear as themselves. Contemplating making another film for the series, harsh truths arise when Heather’s son Dylan Porter, played by Miko Hughes, begins to fall under the spells of Freddy Krueger, played by Robert Englund. In this film, Krueger becomes a reality, rather than the mere thought of some characters in the original film franchise. New Nightmare takes an interesting angle: what if the monsters created for fiction became reality? Thrill-seeking and seat-turning, this film achieves the goal of bringing a production to life.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111686
Reece Johnston is a junior at Indiana University majoring in Film, TV, and Digital Production. He is pleased to have had the opportunity to work with Media Services and will continue through his last couple semesters at Herman B Wells Library.
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