The horror homage that Vecna’s actor couldn’t fit in Stranger Things

Season of Stranger ThingsHas fully indulged in the terror, drawing inspiration from horror movies such as A Nightmare on Elm StreetAnd Carrie. Duffer Brothers were very open with their influences, and they made sure the cast understood them. Jamie Campbell Bower auditioned for Vecna’s main role and was handed scripts from a legal thriller. Primal FearFeaturing supernatural horror films Hellraiser.

It was Primal Fear, Bower says, that really helped him tap into Vecna’s complicated psyche. Before Vecna was Vecna, he was One, Dr. Brenner’s once-prized test subject who charms Eleven and appeals to her sympathy. Before he became One, he had been Henry Creel. He was a young misanthropic boy who murdered his family. You are In Primal Fear (spoilers coming if you don’t want a 26-year-old movie ruined for you), a young man (played by Edward Norton) fakes having dissociative identity disorder, seamlessly switching between a mild-mannered personality and a ruthless one.

henry in an orderly uniform peering behind a blindfolded eleven in stranger things

Image courtesy of Netflix

“The character is presenting two versions of themselves, which actually ultimately end up being just him alone fucking around,” Bower said in a roundtable interview. “I took that reference, and went with that. That was the end. [episode] 7, where we really see Henry for who he is, it’s always underneath this mask of, I’m going to be nice to you, I’m going to be sweet to you, because I want to get out of here. You can help me, can’t you?”

One of Bower’s favorite parts about Stranger Thingsis to dive into every reference. Additional to Primal FearAnd Hellraiser, he also looked at Clive Barker’s works — which include the Hellraiser novels as well as the Candyman short stories — and John Carpenter’s movies, particularly Halloween.

But there was one horror homage that Bower wanted to include that didn’t quite work out the way he planned. A scene in the Hellraiser 3 movie was described by Bower. He thought it would be perfect for Vecna who had already been influenced a lot by Pinhead.

“There is a scene where Pinhead goes into the church and takes out one pin from his head, another pin from his head, puts them in his hands, stands there and says, ‘I am the way,’ and then the church windows blow in,” Bower described. “So for the scenes where Vecna is hovering in the attic, I said to Matt and Ross, This tribute would be a wonderful one to Doug Bradley. And also it’s kind of like Jesus.”

It was a test run for the Duffer brothers. “We did it,” said Bower, immediately bursting into laughter. “And it looked like absolute crap.”

Stranger ThingsNetflix has season 4, volume 2, available now.

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