The Scream franchise is well-known for its self-aware, satirical, and highly referential take on the horror genre. Scream 7, which premieres on February 27, is sure to continue that time-honored tradition.
When the first Scream movie emerged in 1996, it helped revitalize a flailing horror genre. In a time when movies were overflowing with tropes and clichés, Scream stared those clichés right in the eyes, didn’t flinch, and instead deftly wound them into its narrative.
Nearly three decades later, that still holds true. Here is a non-comprehensive list of some of the horror movies the Scream franchise has paid homage to during its long and gory tenure.
- Psycho
- A Nightmare on Elm Street
- Carrie
- When a Stranger Calls
- Friday the 13th
- The Exorcist
- Candyman
- Prom Night
- The Town That Dreaded Sundown
- I Spit on Your Grave
- Deep Red
- Halloween
- The Howling
- The Silence of the Lambs
- The Babadook
- It Follows, Hereditary, and The Witch
Psycho
The Scream movies reference one movie more frequently than any other: Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960). This trend started early on in the first Scream film, when one Ghostface killer’s name is revealed to be Billy Loomis. The surname Loomis is a clear reference to Psycho character Sam Loomis, who reveals the truth about Norman Bates.
Yet another Psycho reference that appears in the first film is not only a direct quote, but a direct namedrop. In one scene, Billy quotes Psycho and says, “We all go a little mad sometimes.” Then he adds, “Anthony Perkins, Psycho.”
Then, at the beginning of Scream 2, the Woodsboro murders have been adapted into a movie, and Heather Graham plays Casey in the film-within-the-film. In one scene, she undresses and enters the shower—a clear homage to Marion Crane’s famous Psycho shower scene if there ever was one. The shower scene pops up again in Scream (2022) in a flashback that shows Wes getting into the shower in a very Psycho-esque fashion.
If all the Psycho references weren’t obvious enough, Psycho posters appear in more than one Scream movie. A Psycho poster can be seen on the walls of Mindy and Chad Meeks-Martin’s house in Scream (2022), and behind Ghostface imitators Jason Carvey and Greg Bruckner in Scream VI.
A Nightmare on Elm Street
In the first Scream movie, Ghostface references A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) star Freddy Krueger. “Is that the one where the guy had knives for fingers? I liked that movie. It was scary,” he says. “Yeah, the first one was, but the rest sucked,” Drew Barrymore’s Casey Becker replies—a response that has polarized some Nightmare on Elm Street fans.
Additionally, Billy (Skeet Ulrich) enters Sidney (Neve Campbell)’s window in a similar way to how Nancy (Heather Langenkamp)’s boyfriend Glen (Johnny Depp) does in A Nightmare on Elm Street, largely because Scream creators considered Ulrich a ‘90s version of Depp’s character in the ‘80s classic. Director Wes Craven himself has a cameo in the original Scream where he plays a janitor dressed like Freddy Krueger whose nametag reads, “Fred.”
Carrie
Billy Loomis is a textbook of horror references in the first Scream movie, and he also references Stephen King’s iconic bullying-revenge horror film Carrie (1976) in his description of his crime scene preparations. “Corn syrup. Same thing they used for pig’s blood in Carrie,” he says.
When a Stranger Calls
Yet another horror movie referenced in Scream is 1979’s When a Stranger Calls, which itself is based on an old urban legend about a babysitter tormented by a mysterious caller—only to eventually realize, famously, that the call is actually coming from inside the house. The first Scream movie has its own take on this scene.
Friday the 13th
Yet another film referenced by Ghostface in the first Scream is Friday the 13th (1980), the famous summer camp-based slasher film. “Name the killer in Friday the 13th?” he says.
The Exorcist
In a decidedly un-romantic turn, Billy references the classic, possibly cursed demon possession film The Exorcist (1973) in the first Scream. “I was home watching television. ‘The Exorcist’ was on. It got me thinking of you,” he tells Sidney. Additionally, Linda Blair—who played the little girl, Regan MacNiel, in The Exorcist—appears as a TV reporter questioning Sidney.
Candyman
In one scene in the original Scream, Sidney labels Ghostface “The Candyman,” a clear reference to this supernatural 1992 classic. “His heart’s broken!” Stu (Matthew Lillard) responds.
Prom Night
The first Scream also pays homage to Jamie Lee Curtis with a reference to her 1980 movie Prom Night when Randy (Jamie Kennedy) urges them all to watch the movie for research. “If they’d watch Prom Night, they’d save time,” he says. “There’s a formula to it—a very simple formula. Everybody’s a suspect!”
Curtis is also referenced throughout the Scream movies, and at one point in Scream, Sidney says, “The Fog, Terror Train, Prom Night… How come Jamie Lee Curtis is in all of these movies?” to which Randy replies, “She’s the scream queen.”
The Town That Dreaded Sundown
At one point in Scream 2, Sidney references this classic 1976 movie about a serial killer who torments a border town when she compares her own town to this film.
I Spit on Your Grave
“What movie is this from? I Spit on Your Garage?” is a famous quote said by Tatum (Rose McGowan) in the first Scream movie. It is also a reference to I Spit on Your Grave, a somewhat niche and particularly graphic revenge horror film.
Deep Red
As Sidney runs from Ghostface in the first film, she passes through a room where dolls have been strung from the ceiling, which is a tribute to a scene from this 1975 horror classic. Of course, dolls appear in many, many horror films, and there are also many real-life stories about allegedly haunted dolls to match—there’s just something about the uncanny valley effect.
Halloween
After Psycho, Halloween (1978) might be the most frequently referenced horror movie in Scream. In the opening scenes of the original movie, the one question out of all of Ghostface’s horror movie-related queries that Casey gets right is, “Who is the killer in Halloween?”
Both movies also use different versions of the song “Don’t Fear the Reaper,” and in both movies, different characters tell each other some version of “go to the Mackenzies for help.” The characters even decide to watch Halloween during Stu’s fateful party—and that’s just to name a few times this classic appeared in Scream.
The Howling
Another classic ‘80s horror film, this 1981 movie tells the story of a news anchor being stalked by a serial killer. In Scream, Tatum references this movie and refers to star Dee Wallace as a scream queen. Randy also names the movie at his video store.
The Silence of the Lambs
Billy Loomis also name-drops this iconic 1991 serial killer film in Scream—or rather, he name-drops Clarice Starling, the movie’s protagonist played by Jodie Foster. The Silence of the Lambs is still considered one of the only horror films to win an Oscar for Best Picture.
The Babadook
Scream (2022) set its sights on more modern horror movies and features contemporary references to go along with that. In this movie, Tara (Jenna Ortega) calls the film The Babadook “an amazing meditation on motherhood and grief,” and later says she “prefers” the movie to the real-life horror she’s experiencing.
It Follows, Hereditary, and The Witch
When Ghostface tries to force her to answer questions about Stab, the fictional film-within-a-film that premiered in Scream 2 and told the story of the first film’s events, Tara says she knows more about these three highly lauded contemporary horror masterpieces—David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, Robert Eggers’s The Witch, and Ari Aster’s Hereditary—than the movie that tells the story of her own tormenter.