Any fan of horror can recognize the enormous impact the Scream franchise has had on the genre . Even though the original movie is in many ways an homage to the horror films of the past, it re-ignited the genre in the ’90s, and the franchise is still going strong today.
If you’re looking for a new way to watch the Scream movies, you’re in luck. Here are a bunch of details you just might have missed.
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Not quite a crossover.
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This isn’t an example of a crossover, but is still a cool bit of trivia: the movie theater where Phil and Maureen watch Stab in Scream 2 is the same one where Sebastian and Mia watch Rebel Without a Cause in La La Land .
They pay close attention to the timeline.
Technology in the Scream franchise moves with the times, which means that most characters in 2011’s Scream 4 have modern smartphones. But in Stab 6 , the movie-within-a-movie, most characters have older phones. This indicates that the fictitious movie came out a few years earlier.
The Halloween costume is a clue.
The killer in Scream has a costume called ‘Father Death.’ Read into this and it would seem to paint Sidney’s father, Neil as the killer. While Neil is a suspect, he doesn’t turn out to be the one behind the murders.
There’s a crossover of sorts.
You might not think that Jay and Silent Bob have anything to do with the Scream universe, but they totally do. They appear in Scream 3 and then return the favor in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back by showing Scream in the film.
Kenny helps Sidney escape.
We all know that Kenny gets brutally murdered in Scream . But his last act wound up helping Sidney in a big way. He points to the back of the van, which allows her to escape the scene.
The timeline makes sense.
If you’re ever trying to figure out the timeline of the events of the Scream franchise — the murders, the publicity, the movie-within-a-movie — background clues tell us that the events of Scream and Scream 2 all happened inside of a year.
He should have taken his own advice.
Randy, who was played by Jamie Kennedy in Scream , can be seen watching Halloween in one scene. He warns Jamie Lee Curtis to look behind her, but he should have heeded his own advice for obvious reasons.
Sidney remembers.
Before things went murderously sideways in Scream 2 , you might recall that Sidney and her theater friends were putting on a stage production, The Fall of Troy . In Scream 3 , you can see the playbill from that play on Sidney’s wall.
Hey, Matthew Lillard!
Matthew Lillard had a role in Scream as the character Stuart. He isn’t credited in the second film at all, but he does have a very small role — one that most viewers probably missed — as a random guy at a party.
Kissed by a killer.
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In Scream 2 , Randy memorably gets murdered in a van. Before the killer (or killer s ) exit the van, one of them leaves a feminine-looking kiss on Randy’s hand, hinting that one of the killers is a woman.
Freddy Krueger was in the original, kinda.
Scream director Wes Craven also directed the mega-successful Nightmare on Elm Street horror franchise of the ’80s. In Scream , you can see a nod to the villain from those movies, Freddy Krueger, in the person of a suspiciously-attired school janitor.
There’s an ‘Exorcist’ Easter egg.
Another self-referential nod to horror films of the past, Scream features Linda Blair — who was made famous by her role in The Exorcist — as a television reporter. She shows up right after the character Billy references the famous horror film.
How do you know this guy’s a killer?
It’s pretty obvious when captured in a still image, but it’s a little more subtle in the movie itself. You can see the bloodied and bruised knuckles on the character who winds up being a killer.
Here’s how you know about the frame-up.
Check out this scene of Randy’s death from Scream 2 . At about the 14-second mark, there’s a little Easter egg: amidst the violence and chaos, there’s a spoiler that a character is going to be framed later on.
There’s some subtle foreshadowing in the second movie.
As it turns out, (spoiler alert for a 25-year-old movie incoming) Mickey is one of the killers. If you’re really paying attention early on in Scream 2 , there are signs: in many scenes where characters are seen drinking, they’re drinking from Mickey’s grenade-themed bottles.
Does Wes Craven hold a grudge?
If you’ve ever watched all the way through the credits of Scream , you’ve probably noticed this. Apparently the school board gave the production permission to film on their premises, but then backed out of the deal.
Sidney’s prediction came true.
There’s an undercurrent of comedy running through the franchise, and one example is Sidney saying in Scream that she’d be played by Tori Spelling in a movie version of the story. Sure enough, as a Redditor notes , Tori Spelling did indeed play Sidney in a movie version of her life in Scream 2 .
Was Drew Barrymore doomed all along?
The opening of the original Scream is iconic. The doomed character Casey, played by Drew Barrymore, is asked by the killer which of the two doors he was behind. This seemingly presents a glimmer of hope — but, as a Redditor points out , since it’s later revealed that there are two killers, she was doomed all along.
There’s some subtle continuity.
By the time Scream 3 rolled around, there was almost too much lore to keep tabs on. Neve Campbell’s character can be seen wearing a distinctive necklace in the film. It’s the same one gifted to her by her boyfriend in Scream 2 .
The school principal is the Fonz.
You can see a replica of Fonzie’s motorcycle jacket in the closet of Principal Himbry in Scream . Principal Himbry was played by Henry Winkler, who also played the Fonz. He’s also referenced this character in other roles, most notably Arrested Development .
