Warning! Contains spoilers for all Scream movies.
Summary
- The Scream movies have been set in various locations beyond the main setting of Woodsboro, California, including Ohio, New York City, and Michigan.
- Filming locations for the Scream series have included towns around California, Georgia, and Michigan, as well as Los Angeles and Montreal, Quebec.
- Scream 6 takes place in New York City but was actually filmed in Montreal, using various locations to recreate the look and feel of NYC.
Although the main setting of the Scream franchise is the fictional town of Woodsboro, California, not all movies have been set there, and here’s every filming location in the Scream saga so far. Premiering with the first movie in 1996, the Scream series follows Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), the main target of serial killer Ghostface, whose identity shifts from film to film. Sidney passed the Final Girl torch to Sam Carpenter (Melissa Barrera) in Scream (2022), but the saga's formula remains the same.
The first Ghostface murders took place in Woodsboro, California, but subsequent Ghostface killers haven't restricted themselves to just Woodsboro. Ghostface has followed Sidney to Ohio and California, and Sam to New York City in Scream 6, expanding the Scream saga beyond Woodsboro. Surely, Woodsboro will always be the main location in the world of Scream, but over the course of six movies, the saga has visited a variety of places to bring Sidney and Tara's stories to life – and here's where Woodsboro is and every other notable location in the Scream movie series.
Filming Locations: Scream
Hitting theaters in the winter of 1996, the first Scream film was met with huge success and moved horror further into the mainstream. Its satirical brilliance heightened by the presence of Wes Craven as director, the film turns the slasher genre inside out, citing past franchises such as Halloween and Craven's own Nightmare on Elm Street. Working off the rules installed by the slasher films of the 70s, Scream is a spoof on suburban fear, its setting serving as a vital point of parody. In order to create the town of Woodsboro, the production crew of Scream used multiple locations around California, including Santa Rosa and Tomales.
The notable fountain where Sidney and friends discuss the gruesome murder of Casey Becker can be found in the town square of Healdsburg, California, where the Woodsboro Police Station was also created, with the Healdsburg station serving as its exterior. The Sonoma Community Center was transformed into Woodsboro High School, where Principal Himbry was murdered. The video shop where Sidney's friend and horror film fanatic, Randy Meeks, works was brought to life by Bradley Video of Santa Rosa, while Stu's now iconic home that hosts the climatic party massacre is located in Tomales, California.
Filming Locations: Scream 2
Scream 2 follows Sidney and Randy to college where their treacherous past repeats itself, forcing them to go up against Ghostface once again. In an effort to distance themselves from the Woodsboro murders, Sidney and Randy leave town and attend Windsor College. The two survivors are quickly thrown into a familiar hell, this time their college campus acting as the killer's new hunting grounds. Though not specifically stated, it is clear from license plates, zip codes, and local news reports that the fictional school is set somewhere in Ohio (although the filming locations were all within California and Georgia).
Scream 2 kicks off at the premiere of Stab, the first in a popular series of films depicting the now-famous Woodsboro murders. Though the interior of the premiere scenes were filmed at Vista Theater in Hollywood, the exterior shots were gathered from the Rialto Theater in South Pasadena. A gory Ghostface killing in the theater preludes the coming attacks on Sidney and her friends, jump-starting the events of the second film. From there, the setting shifts to Windsor College, which was made up of shots of Atlanta, Georgia, and California, specifically shooting the sorority house murder of CiCi Cooper (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in the Pasadena area of Los Angeles.
Filming Locations: Scream 3
It is no surprise that the entirety of Scream 3 was shot in California since the film is set in Los Angeles during the production of the latest Stab movie, the fictional franchise still thrilling audiences. Sidney, Gale, and Dewey take to Hollywood after being lured by Ghostface, once again active and out for blood. Mainly taking place on the set of Stab 3 and at various homes belonging to the film's cast and crew, shots were gathered from many notable Los Angeles hotspots.
The fictional Sunrise Studios at the head of the Stab franchise is represented by the CBS Studio Center in the San Fernando Valley, while the home of Cotton Weary was located in West Hollywood. Weary, wrongfully accused of the murder of Sidney's mother in the first film, is now the successful host of his own talk show, but is killed in his home by Ghostface in Scream 3's opening scene. Featuring several grand Los Angeles homes, the filmmakers took to the Hollywood Hills and Silverlake for their shots of houses belonging to characters Jennifer Jolie and John Milton.
Filming Locations: Scream 4
Though Sidney escapes the grip of her hometown during the second and third films, Scream 4 sees her return to Woodsboro, tormented once again by Ghostface's wrath. This time around, filmmakers chose to shoot Woodsboro in Michigan using towns around the Ann Arbor area to re-create the original Scream setting.
The town of Northville is home to the Next Chapter Bookstore & Bistro, which was used to represent the Woodsboro bookstore where Sidney hosts a book reading to promote her survival story Out of Darkness. Northville is also home to Kirby's house, where the fourth film's final massacre is set. Woodsworth Middle School in Dearborn, a town just outside of Detroit, was used as Woodsboro High, the school community once again reeling from the gruesome murder of a classmate at the hands of Ghostface.
Ann Arbor itself was the filming location for the house of Jill Roberts, Sidney's young cousin with whom she stays while in Woodsboro. The neighborhood of North Burns Park was also used for Jill's friend Olivia's house, the scene of the latter's brutal murder. Lastly, the notorious barn where local film buffs host a yearly "Stab-a-thon" party can be found in Saline, Michigan.
Filming Locations: Scream (2022)
25 years after the events in the first Scream movie, another Woodsboro California massacre reunites Sidney, Dewey, and Gale, but also introduces a new generation of protagonists in Sam Carpenter and her sister Tara. When Tara gets hospitalized after she's attacked at home by someone wearing the Ghostface mask, Sam is forced to work with the original three protagonists to prevent her own death. As Wes Craven unfortunately died in 2015, Scream 5 is directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett.
Much of the filming for Scream (2022) took place in Wilmington, North Carolina. Williston Middle School served as Woodsboro High, the ILA Union Building was transformed into the Woodsboro Police Station, while interior shots were taken in a large suburban home on Arden Rd. and Country Club Rd. Scenes with Sam and Richie were filmed at Cardinal Lanes Bowling on Shipyard Blvd.
Sidney's jogging scene was filmed at the Wilmington Riverwalk, while a house on Chestnut St. served as the home of Sheriff Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton). As for the entrance to Woodsboro City, this was filmed on East Lake Shore Drive. Other Scream 5 filming locations in Wilmington, North Carolina include the Wilmington Convention Center, Reggie's Bar, Castle Street, South Live Oak Parkway, and 5th Avenue.
Filming Locations: Scream 6
The sequel to 2022's Scream, Scream VI takes place largely in New York City as the survivors of the 2022 Woodsboro murders look to start a new chapter in their lives. However, they can't seem to shake off danger, as another Ghostface-obsessed killer targets them for being survivors of the Woodsboro legacy attacks. In a twist on the classic formula, Scream 6 uses the infamous indifference of New York City to stage a shocking public attack by the new Ghostface. The 2023 Scream movie succeeds at establishing new franchise roots in the most famous city in the world.
However, Scream VI was actually shot in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood in Montreal, particularly a shop on Sherbrooke St., served as Abe's Snake Bodega in an early Sam and Tara scene. Central to Scream 6's plot, the fictional Blackmore University is actually McGill University in Montreal. Meanwhile, rather than an abandoned NYC theater, the Ghostface shrine is really located in a large theater called Le National. As for the scenes that supposedly take place in Central Park, Montreal's La Fontaine Park was used in Scream 6 for its similarities to the iconic NYC location.
Various streets in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighborhood were used to further establish the look and feel of NYC. Filmmakers changed store names, created fake subway stations, and even added yellow cabs to get the look just right. If the Scream saga continues to expand with a seventh movie, it's to be seen if it will take the survivors (and possibly Gale, too) back to Woodsboro, California, or will continue exploring other places.