Sabrina Carpenter refers to death in the music video for “Taste”

Sabrina Carpenter, one of the pop princesses of the summer whose songs “Espresso” and “Please Please Please” dethroned each other from the coveted top spots on the Billboard 100 charts, is a well-known cinephile. Her latest music video for “Taste,” the third single from her studio album Short and sweetis packed with references to classic horror films such as Death suits her well And Kill Bill: Volume 1.

While “Please Please Please,” starring Oscar-nominated actor Barry Keoghan (also Carpenter's boyfriend), tells a Bonnie and Clyde story heavily inspired by Quentin Tarantino and Bennifer (the couple name of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck), in “Taste” the singer-songwriter draws more from horror film lore, with Generation Z's “Scream Queen,” Jenna Ortega, in a co-starring role.

The video, released on August 23 along with the album, follows Carpenter on her vengeful journey to seek justice for an ex-lover (played by Halloween ends star Rohan Campbell) and his new girlfriend, played by Ortega. In the three-minute clip, directed by Dave Meyers, the two women exact increasingly bloody revenge on each other, involving knives, chainsaws, and voodoo dolls galore. The video's tongue-in-cheek and darkly humorous denouement sees Ortega accidentally cutting her boyfriend in half (she believes it was Carpenter's character who switched bodies during the couple's kiss). Content to go to the funeral together and accept their fate, the pair walk away together as new best friends, leaving a wailing mother grieving hysterically.

“Very unsafe,” Ortega exclaims about his dead friend as the two walk away with milkshakes in hand. Carpenter laughs loudly and says, “You're killing me.”

While “Taste” contains many general references – chainsaws in relation to Texas Chainsaw Massacre, scary dolls similar Chucky (Child's Play) and even a matching font for Tarantino’s pulp Fiction — the following list contains more explicit references to popular horror movies. Read on to see the full list.

“Death suits her”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Island Records/Sabrina Carpenter / Universal Pictures/Everett Collection

Of all the film references in Taste, perhaps none is more obvious than that of the 1992 satirical fantasy classic starring Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn as two sworn enemies fighting for the same man, played by Bruce Willis. Aside from sharing the same basic premise, the music video and film pay homage to visually stunning moments from its inspiration, which won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. These include the final funeral scene, a shot of Carpenter being hit by a shotgun, and a freeze frame in which Carpenter's character (in the film, it's Hawn) has a gaping hole in his stomach through which the others can be seen. Both the film and music video are set in an opulent mansion, with both duos repeatedly coming back to life after increasingly cartoonish fatal injuries.
“Ginger cookies”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Island Records/Sabrina Carpenter / Unapix Entertainment/Courtesy of Everett Collection

The 2000 Canadian supernatural film Ginger Snaps, which stars two female protagonists, is also about two terrified suburban sisters who have to deal with the deadly consequences when one of them is bitten by a werewolf. The most obvious reference to the film is Carpenter, who is impaled on a white picket fence and gives the middle finger in response to the bloody tragedy – just like the titular Ginger (Katharine Isabelle) in the film.
“Kill Bill: Volume 1”

Photo credit: Courtesy of Island Records/Sabrina Carpenter / Miramax/Everett Collection

When Carpenter gets the last laugh by throwing a dagger into Ortega’s eye, Ortega puts on a replica of the outfit that Daryl Hannah wore as Elle Drive in Tarantino’s Kill Bill. The killer nurse cosplay is completed by an eye patch with a red cross and an all-white vintage dress.
“Psycho”

Photo credit: Music video “Taste”/Everette

A satisfying and easily recognizable reference, “Taste” also shows Carpenter taking inspiration from horror master Alfred Hitchcock. The video recreates the iconic shower scene in which Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) finds herself on the wrong end of a knife-wielding Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins).
“The Addams Family in crazy tradition”

Photo credit: YouTube/Everett Collection

A sequel to The Addams FamilyThe 1993 sequel features a new character, Debbie Jellinsky (a scheming Joan Cusack), who seduces Uncle Fester (Christopher Lloyd) and later turns out to be a serial killer out to murder him for his inheritance. The reference to the character fits perfectly with the plot of Taste, as does the feather-adorned white outfits worn by Carpenter and Cusack in their respective appearances.