In “Scream,” Randy’s encyclopedic cinematic knowledge aids in identifying the killer (or killers) and, more importantly, helps to establish the rules of how to survive a horror movie. Working at the local Woodsboro video store gave Randy unlimited access to beloved classics and the latest popular releases, although the Blockbuster inspired store definitely had nowhere near the amount of genre options that Video Archives in Manhattan Beach did back when a 20-something Quentin Tarantino worked there.
Nevertheless, Jamie Kennedy did a lot of his own movie research to get into the mindset of a dedicated cinephile. Randy probably could’ve held his own talking movies with Tarantino at Video Archives, and Kennedy thinks their similarities weren’t a coincidence, telling Bloody Disgusting in 2021:
“I believe Quentin Tarantino could have been an inspiration because I feel like he’s one of our early filmmakers raised in a movie house. Then he made movies based on movies he loved, gave them his own spin, and made movies for people that loved movies.”
As a wannabe filmmaker, it’s a lot easier to be an original if you know the tropes and pitfalls that other films fall victim to. It’s not a guarantee that someone like Tarantino became a great director just by being obsessed with movies, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. “That’s why his movies are so good because they’re so precise because he’s a super movie lover,” Kennedy said about the ’90s maverick who changed the film landscape with “Pulp Fiction.” “I think that’s what Randy is.”
Sadly, we’ll never see a Randy Meeks picture, unless of course he makes a stunning, improbable return in “Scream VI.” Maybe Randy’s niece, Mandy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown), will uncover another explainer tape from Randy. Technically, that would count as a movie, right?