Scream's best Easter eggs and references

Scream spoilers follow.

It doesn't take you long to realise Scream is made by fans of the franchise and, as such, it is absolutely packed with Easter eggs and references.

As with other Scream movies, there's plenty of the usual meta gags at the wider horror genre and movie industry as a whole. This time around, the main target is the current trend for "requels" – a sequel that acts as both a reboot and a sequel to what's come before.

But among the self-aware jibes, Scream (which is available to pre-order now, by the way)also contains plenty of nods to the previous movies in the series that will delight fans. In case you didn't spot them all first time round, we're here to help with our favourite Easter eggs and references in Scream.

Be warned though, spoilers are ahead, so don't read on unless you've seen the movie.

1. "Do you like scary movies?"

There's a reference in almost every bit of Scream's excellent opening sequence which gives a modern twist to the opening of the first movie, which saw Casey (Drew Barrymore) tormented by Ghostface.

This time around the target is Tara (Jenna Ortega) who tells Ghostface she's mostly a fan of "elevated horror", calling The Babadook an "amazing meditation on motherhood and grief".

Where Casey was quizzed on classic horrors, Tara is quizzed on the Stab franchise in an extremely meta sequence that also acts as a Scream refresher. Hilariously, she looks up the answers on her mobile, while talking to Ghostface on the landline.

And in a first for the Scream franchise, Tara might be stabbed several times by Ghostface, but she somehow survives.

2. 'Red Right Hand'

The first victim of the new movie turns out to be resident Woodsboro bad boy Vince, who is stabbed by Ghostface outside a bar.

Vince is drawn to a car when its headlights are switched on and when he strolls over to the car, he notices the radio is on. What's playing? Well, none other than 'Red Right Hand' by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.

When Ghostface inevitably appears behind Vince, the track continues to play out in the background as Vince is killed. While some might know it more now as Peaky Blinders' theme song, 'Red Right Hand' appeared in each movie of the original Scream trilogy.

3. Tatum Riley

After Ghostface's initial attacks, it's no surprise that Tara's sister Sam (Melissa Barrera) seeks out the help of Dewey (David Arquette) who still lives in Woodsboro.

He's not had the best of times of it as he was asked to retire from the police and he's split up with Gale (Courteney Cox), now presenting a breakfast show in New York. (We see Gale talking about bangs, a nod to her infamous Scream 3 haircut.)

When we first see Dewey's home, it's shown that he's kept his sister Tatum's ashes after her death. She was played by Rose McGowan in the first Scream movie and was memorably killed by a garage door.

That's not the only nod to a previous character either. When Dewey phones Sidney (Neve Campbell) to warn her to not come back, she mentions her husband Mark which is presumably a nod to Detective Mark Kincaid (Patrick Dempsey) who was in Scream 3.

It could just be a random Mark, but this is our fan fiction and we're sticking to it.

4. Keeping it in the family

It's revealed that Sam's real father is none other than Billy Loomis, which she found out when she read her mother's diaries when she was 13.

Sam hallucinates about the killer which sees Skeet Ulrich reprise his role in a couple of brief cameo scenes. (Her surname, Carpenter, is clearly intentional too as it's a nod to legendary horror director John Carpenter, who directed Halloween, featuring Dr Sam Loomis – himself a reference to a character in Hitchcock's Psycho. Phew!)

She's not the only new character in Scream to be connected to Woodsboro's past either.

Vince is the nephew of Billy's partner-in-crime Stu (although sadly we don't see Matthew Lillard back in any way), while Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding) are the niece and nephew of Randy (Jamie Kennedy).

The latter gives the new movie the chance to bring Heather Matarazzo back for a brief cameo as Randy's sister Martha, who we met in Scream 3. She's even set up a "Randy Memorial Home Theatre" in her home. Awww.

5. Rian Johnson

One of the running gags in the new movie is that the eighth Stab movie has just come out, simply titled Stab instead of Stab 8 (wink wink).

It was directed by the "Knives Out guy" and some of the Stab fandom absolutely hated it as it did something completely different to their franchise, with a "Mary Sue" in the lead and controversial elements such as Ghostface wielding a flamethrower.

In case you weren't aware, that was a nod to the backlash from certain fans to Rian Johnson's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which also happened to be the eighth movie in the main Star Wars series (if you skip over Rogue One).

This isn't meant to be a gag in support of that backlash, it's clearly taking the piss out of it and toxic fandom in general, especially as that turns out to be the main motivation of the two killers, Richie (Jack Quaid) and Amber (Mikey Madison).

And Johnson gets a shout-out in the closing credits in the special thanks section, so we can only hope he was in on the brilliant gag.

6. Lemon squares

Another new Scream character with a link to Woodsboro's past is Wes (Dylan Minnette), the son of Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton) who has now been made Sheriff in the time since Scream 4.

Unaware that his mother has been brutally killed by Ghostface outside their home, Wes is going about preparing the dinner that she's bringing home. As he goes to the fridge, he sees a note that reads, "Lemon squares in the fridge."

Fans will know this is exactly what Judy offers to Dewey in Scream 4, leading Gale to tell her that they "taste like ass". Sadly, Wes never gets to try them before he's also brutally murdered by Ghostface.

7. Kirby's fate

We've got into it in more detail here, but it's worth mentioning what's sure to be the most celebrated Easter egg of the new Scream movie: Kirby is alive!

The fate of Hayden Panettiere's character from Scream 4 has long been debated by fans as we never actually saw her die. She was pretty badly stabbed by Ghostface, sure, but characters have survived worse so fans always had hope.

We get confirmation that Kirby is alive when we see Richie watching a YouTube video about the new Stab movie. One of the videos he's recommended to watch next is an "interview with survivor Kirby Reed", with Kirby in the screengrab.

8. "For Wes"

To truly pay homage to the original movie, Scream simply had to end with a party where all the survivors and potential killers gather in one place for the big finale.

In the new movie, this party is held in as a memorial party for Wes, killed earlier in the movie. But that character name isn't a coincidence as it also acts as a tribute to Wes Craven, who passed away in 2015, with the characters even raising a toast "for Wes".

And if you missed this nod to the director who revolutionised the horror genre, the movie even ends with the words "For Wes" written in the same font style as the title Scream was in the first movie.

9. Ghostface is behind you!

During this final party, the new movie gets extremely meta even by Scream standards – and we don't mean Richie joking about the fact that he'll "be right back" before going into the basement.

Mindy is seen watching Stab while lounging on the sofa in the same way that her uncle Randy was shown watching Halloween in the first movie. The scene she's watching is the Stab take on this scene when Ghostface starts to creep up behind Randy, while he's telling Laurie Strode to turn around in Halloween.

In the new movie, Mindy is telling Randy to turn around to spot Ghostface, all while the new Ghostface is creeping up behind her too. So it's an update of a scene that was in the original which, in turn, was remade as a movie-within-a-movie that Mindy is watching.

And if you can work out all the levels of meta in that, then good luck to you.

10. Stu's house

The party isn't taking place at any house though. As Sidney discovers when she tracks Sam to the house, it's the old home of Stu Macher as fans had long-suspected from the trailer.

Amber's family moved in there and it's what started her obsession with Stu and the previous Woodsboro murders. That in turn led to her meeting Richie on a Reddit Stab forum and the duo concocting their plan for their own real-life Stab movie.

Sidney has learnt her lessons from the last time she was in the house though. Instead of opening doors to track Amber down, she shoots through every door before opening it. Sure, she hits Richie in the leg, but since he turns out to be a wrong'un, it doesn't matter.

To add to the nostalgia, the movie ends with the same camera shot as the first movie with the camera panning out and above the house.

11. Blood wipe

Sam takes some inspiration from her father when it comes to stopping Richie as she violently stabs him multiple times. Billy 'watches' on proudly from a nearby reflection as she cuts Richie's throat to kill him.

After she's done it, Sam wipes the blood off the knife with her hand in the same fashion as we've seen Ghostface do it ever since the first movie was released. One such occasion even happened after Ghostface 'killed' Billy in the first movie.

Is it a sign that Sam is bound to follow in her father's footsteps and be the next Ghostface killer? We doubt it, but it's chilling to watch all the same.

Scream is out now in cinemas.

This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io