| “ | You can really examine the culture of the moment by looking at the tropes of the time. Like, um, the masked killer, the final girl, the different rules: Don't split up. Don't have sex. | ” |
–Laura, to "Reggie" | ||
Laura Crane was a minor character in Scream VI (2023 film). She was a Film Studies professor at Blackmore University who had a keen interest in teaching her students about the art of slasher movies.
She confesses that she dislikes the Stab film franchise and is killed by her student, Jason Carvey to satisfy his bloodlust.
Laura was the first character to fall victim to the sixth Ghostface killing spree, also know as the New York City Murders.
She was portrayed by Samara Weaving.
Biography
The New York City Murders (2023)
In Hasta El Fuego, Laura awaits at the bar area for a man -- Reggie -- who she’d matched with on the Flirtr app, who's running late. She's noticeably nervous, and stares at her phone. "I'm lost," her date texts, to which she laughs at. Laura receives a text asking if he can call, but when she answers, it's not a familiar voice on the end of the phone. It turns out Laura's date, like her, is new to the city. Not used to the city or poorly signed restaurants, he struggles to find the right street while Laura reveals she's a film studies professor -- an excellent addition to a franchise poached with layperson horror fanatics. When her date jokingly asks about her favorite scary movie, Laura reveals she specializes in horror, teaching her students about slashers, and the Stab franchise is definitely not among her favorites. The awkward chat about slashers continues the “elevated horror” jokes of the previous installment's opening until her date asks about the color of the restaurant's outside. Laura says it's red and when her date doesn’t see anything of that color, she steps outside to reassure there is a giant red panel on the exterior, which there is. When her date can't find the bar, she gives him directions to the bar, which is nestled between two bustling streets and facing a dark alleyway.
She waves to flag him down, but doesn't see him approaching. Laura is confused when she can’t see him, and he says he can’t see her waving. Against her better judgment, she heads down the alley. There's still no sign of him. The voice modulator quickly snaps on, frightening Laura to her core, taunting Laura that she's dumb enough to walk down a dark alley alone, despite "teaching a class about slashers." The confused yet scared Laura turns, but freezes. Standing a few feet away in front of her is a dark alley with garbage cans and dumpsters. "No... it's not." the male says in the phone to when she says what he is saying isn't funny. A female passerby screams, causing her to be startled. Laura turns; relief washing over her as she sees a group of people laughing. Her relief, however, quickly dies on her face. Ghostface then jumped out of the darkness as his right hand juts, striking Laura in the shoulder. Laura’s guttural scream fills the alleyway as a scraping pain deep inside her shoulder takes over her senses. Ghostface begins forcefully twisting the sharp knife into Laura, causing her to stumble backwards, tripping over the curb and slamming into the brick wall behind her. Both of her hands scramble to cover the fresh wound on her body. The vicious attacker rips the knife out of her shoulder, steadying himself. For a moment, Ghostface stands there, towering over Laura, who was now hunched onto the wall. The attacker charged towards her, stabbing her gut multiple times. Rhythmically, he hit the left, and then the right, and then the left, and then the right again, slicing at her hands, still gripping the original wound. Her screams slowly drown out. Laura hobbles over, dumbfounded.
Laura is stabbed by Ghostface (Jason Carvey).
Through stifled chokes, blood filling her lungs, she manages to look at her attacker. Slowly raising the blade above his head, Ghostface let out a little chuckle. “Now I see something red.” He brings down the blade, ripping through part of Laura’s upper chest with the Buck 120 knife at such speed. A blood spatter sprays across Ghostface, staining his mask.
Laura's corpse.
The killer, in return, watches intently as his victim relaxes, slumped on the ground, the far away light draining from her eyes. Collecting himself, he got closer, admiring his work. He removes the mask, revealing Jason Carvey. Jason rises, and walks over to a nearby dumpster, grabbing a gym bag hidden deep within piles of trash before heading to his apartment.
Aftermath
Crime scene photo of Laura's corpse on Kirby Reed's investigation board.
Laura is mentioned by Jason at his apartment when he tells who he thinks is Greg Bruckner talking, but most likely in actuality Quinn Bailey talking, about her death and how he was feeling when killing Laura, to which Jason gets a response about how she "wasn’t just meat" and was a person and his and Greg's film professor. Jason replies to this saying, "fuck her" and saying that she gave him a C- on his giallo paper, which is the reason why she got killed.
Laura's corpse is later seen again in a crime scene photo on Kirby Reed's investigation board.
Relationships
Allies
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Enemies
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Quotes
- "You can really examine the culture of the moment by looking at the tropes of the time. Like, um, the masked killer, the final girl, the different rules: Don't split up. Don't have sex."
- "Try teaching a class on 20th century slashers to a heap of hungover nineteen years-olds."
- "Yep, it's definitely red!"
- "I see them, but I don't see you."
- "Are you sure you're walking towards Hudson?"
- "Okay, that's not funny."
Trivia
- For this character, actress Samara Weaving was able to use her natural Australian accent.
- Laura shares her last name with Marion Crane, the protagonist from 1960's Psycho, who becomes the first victim in the film.
- Even though she's a film professor and knows her way around slashers, by a wicked irony, she trusts a stranger and walks into a dark alley at night.
- As she is born in 1991, she is quite aware of the truth of the Stab series as she was a kid during 1996 when the truth stories were occurring, as well as the second Woodsboro Massacre as she would’ve been sightly older than Kirby Reed, Jill Roberts and Olivia Morris in their friend group during 2011.
- Her death mirrors Maureen Evans as she was stabbed (by whom she thought was her romantic interest) at least seven times where no-one noticed she was murdered.
- Her circumstance mirrors Cici Cooper’s; they both have blonde hair, naivety in their hearts and are thinking they are on the phone with their romantic interest, but are killed by Ghostface posing as their romantic interest.
- She is the first Australian to be killed in a Ghostface killing spree.
Gallery
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Laura Crane has a Photo Gallery. |
Appearances
- Scream VI (2023)
Character Guide
| Scream VI Characters | ||
| Core Four | Samantha Carpenter • Tara Carpenter • Mindy Meeks-Martin • Chad Meeks-Martin | |
| Principal Characters | Anika Kayoko • Quinn Bailey • Danny Brackett • Ethan Landry • Jason Carvey • Wayne Bailey • Ghostface | |
| Supporting Characters | Laura Crane • Christopher Stone • Brooks • Greg Bruckner | |
| Cameo Characters | Richie Kirsch (video footage) • Stu Macher (photo) • Amber Freeman (photo) • Jill Roberts (photo) • Charlie Walker (photo) • Nancy Loomis (photo) • Mickey Altieri (photo) • Roman Bridger (photo) | |
| Legacy Characters | Gale Weathers • Kirby Reed • Billy Loomis (hallucinations) • Dewey Riley (photos) | |
| Ghostface(s) | Jason Carvey • Wayne Bailey • Ethan Landry • Quinn Bailey | |