Most of the movie scenarios – like Stuart Macher’s House – were built on Screen Gems Studios. Unlike the other movies of the franchise, mostly shot in location, filming at sound stages gave the filmmakers the secrecy they needed.

Scream queen Samara Weaving is a favorite to Radio Silence after her performance in Ready or Not (2019).

“We would love to make every movie ever with Samara. She’s just ridiculously talented. The schedules just didn’t work out because she’s in Australia now doing all these amazing things, so it’s hard to get her. But we definitely talked about it. Maybe down the road? Maybe she’ll be in one of the future SCREAM movies”, revealed Matt Bettinelli-Olpin.

“We were talking about it, but our schedules aren’t gonna work, which is a bummer. We talked about it a lot, but unfortunately, because of scheduling, I couldn’t do it. I”ll still be [in Australia], working on Nine Perfect Strangers (2021), so we couldn’t make it work. Traveling is very difficult these days“, told Samara.

The Fear Street (2021) actress revealed during an interview to The Hollywood Reporter that she auditioned for the movie.

“I have a lot of love for all of the SCREAM movies. It’s one of the first scary movies I saw, and I just think they’re all so funny and so sharp. And I love them all, even the third one, which most people don’t like. But I think it’s got its great moments. I also love the fourth one and think it’s underrated. Ryan Simpkins [1978‘s Alice] and I are going to see the first and second one together soon, so I’m very excited for that day.”

“I’m very excited for that movie, too. Matt [Bettinelli-Olpin] and Tyler [Gillett] made Ready Or Not (20219), which was one of my favorite horror movies in recent history. So when I found out that they were doing the new SCREAM, I was very excited, and I think they’ll do a great job.”

“I did read for SCREAM 5.“

In her monologue, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) cites some failed reboots:

“See, you can’t reboot a franchise from scratch anymore. The fans won’t stand for it. Black Christmas, Child’s Play, Flatliners… That shit doesn’t work!”

There are the reboots mentioned: Black Christmas (2019), Child’s Play (2019), and Flatliners (2017).

Jordan Peele‘s body of work was an inspiration to the movie, with movies like Us (2019) or Get Out (2017).

On the scene in the Meeks-Martin’s house, Amber Freeman (Mikey Madison) says:

“What is wrong with elevated horror? Jordan Peele fucking rules!“

Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) also explains what a requel means while mentioning some examples:

“Not quite a reboot, not quite a sequel! Like Halloween, Saw, Terminator, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters. Fuck! Even Star Wars, always, always goes back to the original!”

The titles are Halloween (2018), Spiral: From the Book of Saw (2021), Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), Jurassic World (2015), Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017).

SCREAM has a very pointed commentary on toxic fandom and references “THE” classic on that subject: Stephen King’s Misery. Tara Carpenter’s leg is violently broken on her attack, attaching her to a wheelchair for part of the movie.

Rick Pour, from Bearded Skulls MUFX,  explained how they pulled off that gruesome death of Wes Hicks.

“One of my business partners is Jeff Goodwin. He’s been in the biz since the early ’80s. He did Blue Velvet and made the severed ear for it. He also happened to work on Rambo III; he did the gag on Stallone where he has a shard of wood in his side and Rambo pulls it out, pours gunpowder in it and cauterizes the wound. Even though there are cuts in the finished film, it was actually done in one continuous take.

Being that Ghostface basically kills people by stabbing them, we were trying to come up with a new and interesting variation. Early in prep, Jeff pitched the idea of using the same method he used on Stallone to make Wes’ neck stab more brutal and visceral. The directors loved the idea. So Tony Rosen set about making a smaller version of the prosthetic and the mechanics to fit on Dylan Minnette‘s neck. Some people may think the kill is CGI, but it’s practical with just a bit of VFX clean-up. The whole cast came out that day and stood at video village. They burst into cheers when we did it. Worked great and is one of my favorite things we’ve ever done. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pics as we were all-hands-on-deck to pull it off.“

Rian Johnson, who helmed Knives Out (2019) is said to be the director of STAB 8 – that is supposed to be so divisive as another sequel he directed with this numeral: Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). The sequel got a lot of toxicity from the fans by the infusion of social commentary and a female lead on the plot.

Radio Silence reached to Johnson for a cameo, which was declined because he was filming Knives Out 2 (2022).

On Twitter, he wrote “SCREAM 8: A BENOIT BLANC MYSTERY.“

“Every town has an Elm Street“, and Woodsboro wouldn’t be different. There are a few references thrown about Wes Craven‘s 1984 masterpiece.

The first one happens in the beginning, when Tara replies to the killer about Sidney Prescott, saying that “she lived on Elm” – which was a reference cut from the first film. Later, when Sam and Richie are arriving in Woodsboro, we see that this street is now much more urbanized.

One of Vince’s tattoos (expanded on the next topic: Wes Craven | Vince Schneider’s Tattoos) is a crossover between Freddie and Woody Woodpecker.

There’s also a very visual parallel that Rick Pour, makeup FX artist from Bearded Skulls MUFX, revealed. When Amber gets toasted, her burnt wounds were based on Freddy Krueger’s skin.

The son of Leslie Macher and Stu’s nephew, Vince (Kyle Gallner), was a blank canvas for the guys at Bearded Skulls MUFX to paint. So, they decided to go with the fantastic idea of creating an entire set of tattoos homaging the body of work of Wes Craven. You can read Fangoria‘s detailed article on this here.

Freddie Woodpecker – A mix of Freddie Krueger with Woody Woodpecker is references Nightmare on Elm Street but also Wes Craven‘s love for birds. The fun fact is that Kyle Gallner was on the 2010 remake.

WC72 – WC it’s kind of obvious, but the 72 is more elaborated. It refers to Wes’ first horror film: The Last House on the Left, released in 1972.

Shocker – The electrifying story of the serial killer that refuses to stay dead, even after the electric hair, receives a nod in here.

There are also tattoos referencing Red Eye and Friday the 13th – a film he didn’t direct, of course, but is a mention of his constant collaboration with Sean S. Cunningham, the series creator and producer of The Last House on the Left.