This is the fourth episode of the series overall to be directed by Paul Wesley. The first three are Resident Evil, Woke Up With a Monster and Things We Lost in the Fire.
This is also the sixth episode to be directed by a cast member, with the remaining episodes being The Downward Spiral and Days of Future Past, which was directed by Ian Somerhalder.
Requiem for a Dream is a 2000 American psychological drama film directed by Darren Aronofsky. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Hubert Selby, Jr., with whom Aronofsky wrote the screenplay. The film depicts four different forms of drug addiction, which lead to the characters' imprisonment in a world of delusion and reckless desperation that is subsequently overtaken by reality, thus leaving them as hollow shells of their former selves.
Bonnie fighting vampires at the high school as a cheerleader is similar to Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie and tv series