Many horror movies are not only heavy on the scares, but also heavy on the plastic, with slashers donning plastic masks, killers wrapping bodies in plastic sheeting, and red Solo cups galore at any deadly party. However, some horror movies are picking up on the fact that plastic kills, and that they can pack a bigger punch by ditching deadly plastic.
Three such films—Smile 2, Heretic, and Hell of a Summer—gave us examples over the last year of how sustainable, reusable alternatives to single-use plastic, as well as plastic-free dialogue, help keep movies green and add more depth to storytelling.
Smile 2 – The Importance of Glass
Last year, we were treated to the splashy sequel to 2022’s Smile: Smile 2. And while some moviegoers were quick to criticise the film’s overabundance of product placement with seemingly omnipresent Voss water bottles in every other scene, what’s special about this product is that the production team seemed to choose this brand of bottled water, at least in part, for its unique and sustainable material: glass.
Heretic – Dropping Hints with Reusables
Near the end of 2024, lovable British actor Hugh Grant took a terrifying turn by starring as Mr. Reed in the psychological horror film Heretic, which tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries pulled into a twisted game. While many small details enrich this intricate story, a few particular set pieces caught our attention: Mr. Reed’s two drinking vessels.
Throughout the film, Mr. Reed is seen drinking from a matching set of bright blue cups—a stainless steel mug and a reusable stainless steel tumbler—that have the same word scrawled across them. And while we don’t want to risk spoiling this movie for anyone yet to see it, these cups are clearly a specific choice by Mr. Reed (and therefore by the set decorators) to add to the story he’s telling and give an impression about who his character is. Details like this add richness to the storyline without requiring extra dialogue and make the movie-going experience extra fun for the keen-eyed viewer, something a single-use plastic bottle or cup could never accomplish.
Hell of a Summer – Plastic-free Camping
When Stranger Things star Finn Wolfhard made his directorial and writing debut with this year’s horror-comedy Hell of a Summer, he decided to keep the movie plastic-free both on screen and in the dialogue. On screen, the characters, who are counselors at a summer camp, eat, drink, and party using paper plates and cups. This even included a table set-up for a game of beer pong, something most audiences have come to expect to be played using the infamous plastic red Solo cup. While not an ideal replacement for single-use plastic, the intentional choice of using paper is a welcome improvement. Even the killer’s mask, an item that’s been plastic across the history of horror, appears to be handcrafted and plastic-free.
But Wolfhard didn’t just leave the plastic-free choice to the visuals; he added it to the script as well. During a scene where the characters make a snack run, Wolfhard’s character Chris shoots down his friend’s suggestion of plastic-bottled water with the line, “Plastic pollution is the real serial killer!” In the next shot, Chris brings his friends a tray full of glasses of water, to comedic effect—proving, yet again, that glass reusable cups are superior in a variety of ways. This moment makes Hell of a Summer particularly unique among the three movies discussed here, as it helps the film to pass our Begley-Cohen Test; a test—inspired by the Bechdel-Wallace Test—designed to help audiences quickly assess the representation and prevalence of single-use plastic within the content they consume.
While none of the films discussed above were perfectly plastic-free—even Hell of a Summer had plastic bottles in the background to drive home their critique of the material—the point is progress over perfection. Despite their imperfections, all three of these films show that choosing reusable, sustainable, and plastic-free items adds a depth and complexity to the storytelling that plastic items could not do, and they help to indicate the slow, but necessary shift Hollywood is making toward divesting from single-use plastics both on and off the screen. We challenge all filmmakers, working in horror and all other genres, to take notes and consider these lessons as they make the movies of tomorrow.
Scare Up Some Plastic-Free Frights of Your Own
If you feel inspired by the movies we mentioned above, we’d love to see your take on a killer plastic-free film. Our horror short film contest, Plastic Kills…Again!, challenges filmmakers of all levels to creatively highlight the horrors of plastic pollution in 5 minutes or less. The top films will be reviewed by a star-studded panel of judges, with the top three taking home cash prizes up to $3,000. Submissions open on July 1, 2025, so get started today! Learn more here.
