"REDRUM!" BtVS Intertext/Allusion.
This
is a reference to Stanley Kubrick’s
classic chiller, The Shining.
Jack and Wendy Torrance and their young son Danny become the caretakers and sole
occupants of the snow-bound Overlook Hotel during its off-season. Torrance, his
mind gradually taken over by the spirits of those
who have in previous times committed murder at the Overlook, spirals into a
violent and menacing madness. Danny’s own psychic ability gives him terrifying
visons of the past slaughter and an intuition of that to come. In a climactic
scene, his mother, Wendy, wakes to the sound of Danny pacing to and fro and
chanting "Redrum! Redrum!" in an unnatural voice. The strange words
are scawled in red across the door of the room, and then she catches their
reflection in the mirror, where they spell "MURDER."
In the "The Puppet Show" Buffy believes she was attacked by a demonic ventriloquist's dummy belonging to Morgan, a student, and she is uneasy in the presence of the puppet (named ‘Sid’). Xander teases her about it, pretending to make the dummy speak. Mocking her anxiety that Sid may suddenly become animated, he finishes his ‘act’ with the words ‘Redrum! Redrum!’ spoken in the same unnatural tones as the disturbed Danny:
Buffy stares at Sid uncomfortably.
Xander: (manipulating Sid) Hi, Buffy! Hi, Willow! Would you like to hear some off-color jokes?
Buffy: I really don't think you should be doing that.
Xander: What? C'mon... (as Sid) I'm not real!
Buffy: (wigged) Xander, quit it!
She turns and walks a few steps away. She stops and looks back when she hears Xander pounding Sid's head into the table.
Xander: He's... not... real! (picks Sid back up) I think our demonstration proves that, uh, Sid (knocks on Sid's head several times)
is wood. Now, why don't you go and find Morgan and prove he's...
whatever he is?
Giles: I imagine he's looking for his puppet.
Buffy: I'll go find Morgan. (starts to leave, but stops and gives
Xander a look) You watch the dummy.
Xander: (as Sid) Bye-bye, now. I'm completely inanimate.
Buffy gives Xander another look and goes out the door.
Xander: (as Sid) Redrum! Redrum!