Every Teen Movie Reference In Netflix's Do Revenge

One genre that always has a chokehold on fans is the teen film. Classic teen films from the 1990s and 2000s like "Clueless," "10 Things I Hate About You," "Mean Girls," and "John Tucker Must Die" all include storylines of love, friendship, revenge, and incredibly stylistic execution that keeps people watching. Now, Netflix has released a modern teen classic: "Do Revenge."

Written and directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, "Do Revenge" follows two high school girls looking to exact revenge on their exes. Drea (Camila Mendes) and Eleanor (Maya Hawke) form an unlikely friendship and team up to carry out each other's revenge plots, and from there, chaos, makeup montages, and a lot of fun ensue. The film has many well-known young actors including Hawke, Mendes, Austin Abrams, Talia Ryder, Sophie Turner, and more. The film earned itself a high rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is garnering a large fanbase online.

Though every aspect of the movie is gripping, from its acting and plot to costumes and set design, one particularly great technique "Do Revenge" director Robinson decided to employ was paying homage to classic teen movies that created and inspired the genre. Robinson made specific references to classic films like "Scream," "Clueless," and more to really push "Do Revenge" over the edge and make it resonate with both current teens and those who grew up watching teen films. Curious to know what Easter eggs you missed? Read on to see every teen movie referenced in "Do Revenge."

One of the smaller Easter eggs in the film comes from the first big school assembly of the year. Everyone is together, preparing to listen to a speech from Max (Austin Abrams), and the audience sees Drea by herself and all the different cliques throughout the audience. During Max's speech, we see his sister, Gabbi (Talia Ryder), reading a book called "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" instead of paying attention. Though this seems normal for Gabbi's character, the fact that she's reading this book is also paying homage to the teen film "Cruel Intentions."

"Cruel Intentions" is a 1999 film starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Reese Witherspoon. The film has become one of the classic teen films of the 1990s and early 2000s. What most people don't know, though, is that "Cruel Intentions" was actually a modern adaptation of a play called "Les Liaisons Dangereuses," which was based on the 1782 novel by the same name. In this scene, Gabbi reading "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" is one of a few homages to the hit teen film. Blink and you miss it, but it's there and fun for audience members who know what the film is based on.

Many of the homages in "Do Revenge" are Easter eggs that you have to pay close attention to. However, one that is blatantly obvious is the casting of Sarah Michelle Gellar as the headmistress of Drea and Eleanor's school. Gellar is one of the most iconic teen movie stars of her generation. She starred in films such as "Cruel Intentions," "Scream 2," and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and television shows like "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." With all of the references to "Cruel Intentions" and the prep school setting, Gellar's casting is extra appropriate.

Gellar returned to teen drama in this film and said to The New York Times she feels she's earned her pick of projects with her 40 years of experience. She had taken some years off of acting to focus on her family and personal life, and when she first read the script, she wasn't interested. However, after meeting with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, the two brainstormed the character together and found a way to make it work for Gellar to be in the film in a way she was happy with. As an extra Easter egg, Gellar said that she played her character how she would imagine her "Cruel Intentions" character would be grown up. She said, "I always say, I wonder what Kathryn's doing now? Who does that person become? But we really wanted her to be a champion of women, too. She is building women up for what you have to face as a female."

Part of what makes this film incredible is the elaborate set design. For a preppy private school and many rich teen houses, a lot of work is required to achieve the vision. Plus, with Jennifer Kaytin Robinson's attention to detail and use of Easter eggs, there's certain to be more care taken than normal when executing each location. One detail that Robinson worked extra hard to include was the fountain on the campus of Rosehill Country Day. The popular students are seen sitting around the fountain while they eat, use their phones, and gossip with one another. But the fountain wasn't always there.

In fact, Robinson told Vanity Fair that they actually built the fountain in the middle of the location they used for Rosehill Country Day. And, Robinson said, "It is an homage to 'Scream' (1996). Obviously, 'Do Revenge' is not a slasher, but tonally it's something that I went to a lot." In "Scream," the group of friends sits around the fountain eating grapes, and in "Do Revenge," Maia Reficco's character, Montana, is seen eating the same snack. Both the fountain and the grapes are small Easter eggs for diehard "Scream" fans.

One teen film that inspired "Do Revenge" you probably recognized: "Clueless" — specifically, the always iconic Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), whose fashion statements and quippy one-liners will forever influence teens. In "Do Revenge," there are many small homages to "Clueless" and Cher. First, one of the halls at Rosehill Country Day is named "Horowitz Hall," which is a direct homage to Cher's last name. Second, Drea uses a pink fluffy pen during class, which is another homage to Cher's preferred writing utensil in "Clueless." Also, Drea's yellow checkered pants are inspired by Cher's movie poster plaid outfit that most people picture the character wearing.

More than all of that, though, is the use of the song "Kids In America." In "Clueless," the opening credits feature a cover of "Kids in America" sung by The Muffs, and in "Do Revenge," a cover by Maude Latour is featured in the film. Though there is also an overarching "Clueless" vibe applied to the film, these are the clear Easter eggs that made it into the final cut of "Do Revenge."

Another iconic teen film is "Heathers," which shows how popularity and insanity mix together and form murder. "Heathers" is another film with a very specific style that created a huge fanbase and, like "Mean Girls" and "Legally Blonde," even prompted a musical to be made. Jennifer Kaytin Robinson used "Heathers" for inspiration in "Do Revenge" as well, particularly with two aspects. First, when Drea goes to visit Carissa (Ava Capri) at her rehabilitation center, Carissa is in the middle of a game of croquet. This is a reference to the many games of croquet the characters in "Heathers" played, particularly in the opening credits of the film.

Another "Heathers" reference comes from the plaid uniforms. Of course, the color scheme is different, but the uniforms in general have the same plaid and preppy style that the three Heathers used for their attire while terrorizing their school. The Heathers weren't in a school uniform, though, just a clique uniform. In the Heathers' high school, there weren't uniforms. The three Heathers just used their preppy plaid to assert their dominance over the rest of the student body. In a way, though the school has a required uniform and color scheme, each clique styles the uniform differently. This draws more of a parallel to the way the Heathers styled their plaid and the way the Rosehill Country Day popular teens styled theirs.

Each teen in "Do Revenge," though they all have original personalities, is inspired slightly by other teen characters from famous films past. Russ (Rish Shah) is heavily inspired by Heath Ledger's Patrick in "10 Things I Hate About You." He's an outcast and doesn't mind, he marches to the beat of his own drum, and he has a bad boy yet honest and kind aura that is romantically appealing. His romance with Drea, the opinionated woman who always speaks her mind and is sick of conforming to popularity standards, mirrors that of Patrick and Kat (Julia Stiles).

One of the most well-known scenes from "10 Things I Hate About You" is the paintball scene, where Patrick and Kat go to play paintball and cover each other with paint before making out. It's adorable and romantic and is emulated in a fresh way in "Do Revenge." When Russ is showing Drea his art studio, Drea throws a balloon filled with paint at him, and it starts an all-out paint war between the two. The scene ends in a full-on makeout between the two lovebirds, and it's a beautiful way to pay homage to lovebirds Patrick and Kat.

One key trope of teen films is the new character learning all about the high school they are attending. A large part of this is being introduced to all the different cliques. It's seen in a lot of teen films, but no film does this more directly than "Mean Girls." When Janis (Lizzy Caplan) is preparing Cady (Lindsay Lohan) for going to their high school, she gives her a drawing of the lunchroom and where every clique sits. From sexually active band geeks and J.V. jocks to burnouts and desperate wannabes, Janice has Cady covered.

This scene is paralleled in "Do Revenge" with Eleanor and Gabbi. While Eleanor is learning about Rosehill Country Day, she has Gabbi walking her around the campus and pointing out all the different cliques, from the Instagram witches and the horny theater kids to the farm kids and the Rosehill royal court. To make matters even more similar, Gabbi and Janice both have the "outcast" vibe and don't care about fitting in, while the new student they're showing around is a red-haired new kid who gets sucked into the popular crowd for a scheme and ends up liking it a bit too much. Though the school tour scene is a staple of most teen films, there are more parallels with the "Do Revenge" school tour and "Mean Girls" than any other.

For another "Mean Girls" reference, "Do Revenge" puts the school in chaos. In "Mean Girls," Regina (Rachel McAdams) and her disciples keep a Burn Book that they use to write mean things about other people in the school. When she's trying to get revenge on Cady and the other girls, Regina writes something scathing about herself in the book and then turns it in to the principle. While the other girls are being talked to, Regina spreads copies of the mean things said in the book around the school for everyone to read, and watches calmly and happily while the school erupts in chaos.

In "Do Revenge," Drea has her Regina moment after she and Eleanor release all of the texts between Max and the girls he's been cheating with. Drea watches as everyone discovers Max had not only been cheating on his girlfriend with one girl, but he had in fact been cheating with one girl from every clique at the school. However, this calmness in the chaos turns to frustration when Max's friends spin the story to seem appealing for him, and suddenly every girl in the school — and some guys — wants a chance with Max. The time when Drea is in the hallway watching this play out, though, is a direct reference to the chaos in "Mean Girls."

Every teen movie has a makeup montage — in which one character helps reinvent another character. "Do Revenge" is no exception with Eleanor's makeup montage. Drea is trying to get Eleanor to be accepted and revered by the popular crowd, and because she used to be their queen bee, she knows exactly what to do. Eleanor gets new clothes, new makeup, a new haircut, and a new attitude, all while Drea explains the ins and outs of popularity. That's what makes makeup montages so unique in teen films is that they're not just changing their outer look — they're changing their inner attitude as well.

Eleanor's makeup montage from Drea is just one of many that have graced teen films throughout the years. Other iconic makeup montages include Mia (Anne Hathaway) becoming fit to be a princess in "The Princess Diaries," Cher creating the new Tai (Brittany Murphy) in "Clueless," and Laney (Rachael Leigh Cook) going from nerdy glasses to popular pretty in "She's All That." Teen movies love to include a makeup montage, always complete with funny and awkward moments for the person being made over and an awesome soundtrack to make the vibe even more fun for the audience and the characters.

As you may have noticed, "Do Revenge" has many teen movie references, but the film also has many characters inspired by the iconic teens that came before. Where Russ is similar to heartthrob Patrick from "10 Things I Hate About You," Max, the "patriarchy incarnate," draws parallels from John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) from the 2006 film "John Tucker Must Die." Max and John both alter their personalities to fit into the crowd they're talking to and gain the legendary status of "most popular boys at school."

But more than that, the two boys have a habit of dating multiple women at one time. In "Do Revenge," Max is found dating one girl from every clique in the school because none of them talk to one another to be able to figure it out. In "John Tucker Must Die," it's a similar scenario, where the entire movie stems from John dating three different girls from different cliques and knowing they won't find out because none of them talk to one another. However, when they do find out, it's violence and chaos at first. The other parallel comes from the way both Max and John are able to spin their indiscretion with the student body, making them at once more appealing. These two boys are equally frustrating, but John at least has some redemption in the end, whereas Max stays terrible.

The costumes in "Do Revenge" are perfect. They're stellar and fit each personality to a tee, and even the uniforms always serve looks based on how the individual characters and cliques style them. Many of the costumes in the film are used to pay homage to teen movies, as are most of the aspects of the production. However, one costume look in particular pays homage to the 1997 film "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion."

The end of "Do Revenge" finds the teens together at an Ivy acceptance party, and Drea and Eleanor show up in pink and blue outfits, somewhat similar in color scheme to what Romy (Mira Sorvino) and Michele (Lisa Kudrow) wear to their high school reunion. Another outfit that seems like a "Romy and Michele" look comes at the beginning of the film, with Drea's birthday party costume, which uses the same fabrics and has the same vibes as Romy's outfit.

In an interview with Netflix's publication, Tudum, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson said the creators talked about "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" a lot in terms of the costumes' vibes. She said, "That was a huge touchstone for us. Especially since Drea makes her own clothes. [...] We really wanted to have fun in that 'Romy and Michele' way, feeling you could further understand the character by the things that she makes for herself."

Arguably the best tone-setting aspect of "Do Revenge" is its soundtrack. There are a lot of current Top 40 hit artists on there, like Billie Eilish, Olivia Rodrigo, and Rosalía, but what's great about the soundtrack is the mix of new and old music. There are tracks from many '90s artists, including Hole, Fatboy Slim, The Cranberries, and Meredith Brooks. Soundtracks are of the highest importance for any teen movie — "Perfect Day" for "Legally Blonde," "Heroes" for "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," "Kiss Me" from "She's All That," and "Bittersweet Symphony" from "Cruel Intentions" have all become synonymous with those movies and vice versa.

In an interview with Tudum, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson said she started collaborating with music supervisor Rob Lowry before shooting the film even began, which is something that typically happens after shooting has finished in post-production. Robinson said they were initially going to do entirely covers of '90s songs instead of originals, but she said, "The sonic identity of the movie changed and evolved as the film took shape and was brought to life." Younger fans of the film can discover these great '90s hits, and older viewers can bask in the nostalgia the tracks bring with them.