Sabrina Carpenter is back with another music video that people can’t stop talking about, and this time she’s joined by “Wednesday” and “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” star Jenna Ortega. Appropriately, the video is full of horror, camp, and cult movie references – and we’ve put together a handy list to guide you through them.
1. “Death suits her”
This is the most obvious reference and it runs throughout the video, as “Taste” contains several references to the 1992 Goldie Hawn and Meryl Streep black comedy. The most obvious is the basic idea of two immortal women fighting to the death for a man, as well as the iconic costuming.
And then there’s the whole shotgun sequence, which is a strong nod to Death Becomes Her, right down to the hole in Carpenter’s torso – a parallel to Goldie Hawn’s unforgettable “I’ve got a hole in my stomach” scene – and the shots peeking right through it.
And as for the smooching in the middle of the music video that makes everyone laugh, there is also a pretty pointed dialogue in “Death Become Her”:
“If she’s not dead… tell her to come down here, walk right up to me and kiss me on the-”
“Kiss you on what?”
Well, dear reader, now we know.
2. “Ginger cookies”
In one of the video’s deeper cuts, Carpenter falls directly onto a white picket fence and flips Ortega the bird – a pretty obvious reference to the wonderful 2000 werewolf coming-of-age film “Ginger Snaps.”
3. “Kill Bill”
Ortega does her best Elle Driver cosplay in the middle of the video, complete with the red cross eye patch. The look was first worn by Daryl Hannah in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol. 1. The defibrillator kill could also be a nod to Scream 4 – especially considering that Ortega has become a mainstay of the Scream franchise – but the tone and aesthetic are quite different.
And that’s not all when it comes to Quentin Tarantino. The fonts featured in “Taste” seem to be inspired by the fonts used in the opening credits of Tarantino’s 1994 crime classic “Pulp Fiction.”
4. “The Addams Family in crazy tradition”
There are plenty of famous blondes referenced here, and it would be a crime to leave out Debbie Jelinsky, Joan Cusack’s boat-toting character from “The Addams Family.” Ortega, of course, has become “Addams Family” royalty herself with the Netflix hit “Wednesday.”
5. “Psycho-Science”
“Psycho” by Alfred Hitchcock, one of the first horror films in cinema history – another cult moment in terms of blondes in the cinema – receives a longer tribute with the shower scene reinterpreted in the video.
6. “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre”
You can’t just throw in a bloody chainsaw murder and call it a Texas Chainsaw Massacre reference – it’s the lighting that really sells this film. Tobe Hooper’s 1974 horror classic is known for its use of the oppressive summer sun and some trademark lens flare.
7. “Halloween ends”
If you’re wondering who plays the boyfriend in the music video for “Taste,” there’s a fun answer: In a cheeky casting move, it’s Rohan Campbell, the actor who played rookie slasher and world’s most toxic boyfriend Corey Cunningham in “Halloween Ends.”
Bonus: “Please, please, please”
While it’s not a movie reference, “Taste” also contains a reference that’s only for fans of Carpenter’s music videos. At the very beginning, there’s a teddy bear wearing the same kiss-faced tape that Barry Keoghan wears at the end of the “Please, Please, Please” music video.
