Fans of Five Nights at Freddy’s and Scream are coming together in an unholy Venn diagram to celebrate the fact that both horror movies have in common the talented Matthew Lillard.
Lillard was one of the main antagonists in Wes Craven’s classic meta-slasher, Scream, in 1996. The big twist in the movie was that the killer known as Ghostface in the movie was actually two people working together, with Lillard’s character being the accomplice of Skeet Ulrich’s character.
Now, fans believe they have spotted an unmistakable nod to Scream in the new trailer for the forthcoming Five Nights at Freddy’s, the horror film that also stars Lillard and is based on a hit video game franchise of the same name.
You see, the way one of the animatronic possessed animals in FNAF draws his blade heavily resembles how Ghostface wipes clean the blood from his knife in Scream. Multiple fans drew attention to this fact on X (formerly Twitter) by posting the respective moments side-by-side.
Lillard is something of a comedy-horror icon with his role in the ’90s classic going hand-in-hand with the hit film Scooby-Doo in 2002. As for Five Nights at Freddy‘s, it is poised to be something of a perfect middle point of the two films for Lillard, since it features anthropomorphic animals like Scooby but also slasher film thrills like Scream. Lillard portrays Steve Raglan in the film, a career counselor whose true nature might just catch some viewers off guard; since there is reportedly a major twist to his character.
Five Nights at Freddy’s comes to theaters and Peacock on Oct. 27.