scream tour house

FILMING LOCATIONS

Welcome to Woodsboro, California.

The fictional city was a composition of Santa Rosa, Glen Ellen, Sonoma and Healdsburg. Back in 2016, this website visited some of those locations and the article you can read here .

Enjoy to explore those places in here, but note that some are private properties and you should not be trespassed.

Becker’s House

Wes Craven and Marianne Maddalena  personally chose this house located on Sonoma Mountain Road, Glen Ellen, Route 12 , southeast of Santa Rosa. It is very secluded and you won’t be able to visit – or even find it without having an invitation.

Fun fact: It is very close to the house they’ve used in Cujo   (1983). Santa Rosa is located 55 miles North of San Francisco and is worldwide known for its vineyards.

Prescott’s House

The victorian style house – an horror classic type of architecture – was built in 1995. It is another location surrounded by  vineyards that you cannot visit without authorization.

Sidney Prescott’s house address is 1820 Calistoga Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 .

Woodsboro High School

Sonoma Community Center was the second option to be this fictional school. On the ending credits of SCREAM you can read “ No thanks whatsoever to the Santa Rosa City School District Governing Board ” – they were concerned about the movie violence forcing the production to head to  276 East Napa Street, Sonoma .

Woodsboro Town Square

This charming town square is known from its farm-to-table cuisine and winery. It is a simple but sophisticated place .

There you’ll find the fountain where the teens of SCREAM used to kill time. Located at Healdsburg Town Square, Healdsburg, CA 95448, EUA .

Woodsboro Police Station

This used to be a real police station, but after the filming, it became Oakville Grocery store located at 124 Matheson Street, Healdsburg .

A few steps ahead, you’ll find the corner were Sid punches Gale – but the door was removed.

Riley’s House

Another victorian house that belonged to a nice old lady at the time they’ve filmed SCREAM . You can see updated images here .

It is very close to where they filmed Pollyanna (1960) and Shadow of a Doubt (1943) – Fun Fact: apparently the Ghost Face mask was found by Marianne Maddalena , in this house the while she and Wes were scouting locations in Santa Rosa.

Grocery Store

The bodega located in Santa Rosa still exists and is called Pacific Market . Their slogan is “Your neighborhood grocer”.

Since I’m Not a Stalker was there in 2019, the place has passed for a few renovations. The photo belongs to that amazing website.

Located at 1465 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, CA, USA .

Video Store

Before Netflix , people used to rent their movies physically on video stores – it seems to be ancient history, but Bradley’s Video was one of those places.

To the nostalgic, Bloody Disgusting once rescued the place’s story.

Located at 3080 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa, CA 95403, USA .

Macher’s House

261 Turner Lane is actually 3871 Tomales Petaluma Rd, Tomales, CA 94971 . The huge property nowadays hosts several weddings and even some SCREAM-themed  events.

The iconic house was rebuilt on set in SCREAM 3 and SCREAM 5 and appeared in at least two other films: Running Wild (2017) and Dog Lover (2016).

All photos of this location were gently provided by Meggy Blaine . Check it out the video of her visit here .

The warehouse

If you think that the whole movie was shot in location, there’s a surprise! Some sets were built in a warehouse  – it was shown by SCREAM: THE INSIDE STORY and then discovered by I am not a stalker .

The scenes of Himbry’s office, Sid’s bedroom and the school bathroom scene were all shot there.

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What It's Really Like Inside The Iconic 'Scream' House

It's nearly identical to how you remember it.

UPDATE October 8, 2019 12:45 p.m.: This might be your last chance to see—and party—inside the iconic Scream movie home. According to TMZ , party organizers Anthony Masi and Nate Ragon have revealed that this is the last year for their horror movie-themed bash after renting out the house for $10,000.

“As we stated during Scream Comes Home, the owners have in fact moved back into the house and, with the exception of hosting a few weddings, they live there most of the year,” Masi and Ragon revealed on the event’s website . “We were lucky enough to be able to secure the home again for this party on Halloween night!”

Tickets for the Scream Halloween event are going for $199 a person, and only for horror movie fanatics who are 21 and older. If you want to get a closer look at the home and maybe even run into Ghostface, you'll want to act fast—there are only 150 tickets available.

ORIGINAL STORY October 18, 2018 5:41 p.m.: You know Stu's house from Scream ? The isolated mansion where a bunch of high schoolers decide to party regardless of a killer on the lose? Ah, yes, that house. It's iconic for anyone who loved the '90s thriller—and if that just so happens to be you, you can rent the house on Airbnb and live like you're Sidney Prescott.

The house is located at Spring Hill Estate , a 300-acre property in Tomales, California, that hosts weddings and events. The estate is located on top of a hill, and while the Scream scene might have been terrifying , the property is gorgeous, with the kind of picturesque view that kinda sorta makes the most head-scratching part of the movie make sense. ( Who cares about the threat of a killer, when you've got this killer view, amirite?! )

There are three different properties on the estate that guests can rent, including The Cottage and The Bassett Farmhouse . But the home that will forever be the Scream house to you is called the Victorian Elegance. It goes for $1,500 per night and can host up to 16 guests with its spacious five bedrooms and four bathrooms.

While many films use an exterior of a home and then shoot the interior elsewhere, likely in a studio, Scream actually filmed inside of the Victorian Elegance, so each room is nearly identical to how you remember it in the movie. You know this entry way...

And the kitchen. Oh man, the kitchen.

Spring Hill Estate is a popular wedding venue and, regardless of how horrifying Stu's party was, the weddings thrown on the property are quite stunning.

And if you're looking for something to do this Halloween, you can attend the two-day Halloween party being held at the house by Scream super fans Anthony Masi and Nate Ragon. They spent $22,000 to rent it out and tickets range from $200 to $1,750. At the $200 level you have general admissions, but for nearly $2,000 you can spend the night.

It looks beautiful, really, but if I stayed the night I think I would just hear "hello, Sidney" in my head all night long.

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More From Forbes

You can book a stay in the ‘scream’ home for $5 a night on airbnb.

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If you like scary movies, then you’ll want to know about a killer stay that Airbnb is making available this October: For $5, you can spend the night in the original “Scream” house. Local sheriff Dewey Riley (aka David Arquette) is the host and he’ll be greeting guests virtually at check-in.

The original “Scream” movie turns 25 this year. The teenage slasher film starring Drew Barrymore spawned a $300 million franchise—and Airbnb guests are invited to make some stovetop popcorn and binge all four “Scream” movies on VHS during the themed Airbnb stay. A fifth installment of the “Scream” is set to be released in early 2022. 

For $5 a night, you can book a stay in the original "Scream" house on Airbnb. The Victorian home is ... [+] located in Northern California.

While Woodsboro is a fictional town, the original “Scream” home—you recognize it as the Victorian home where teenagers partied while Ghostface was on the loose—is located in Santa Rosa, California. 

For a limited time, the iconic estate is available for three, one-night stays for up to four people on Oct. 27, Oct. 29 and Oct. 31. The bookings are available for just $5 a night in honor of the 90s horror franchise making a comeback in 2022. “Scream” superfans can request to book the stay beginning at 1 p.m. EDT on Oct. 12 on Airbnb .

Pop some popcorn before settling in for a "Scream" movie marathon.

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Sheriff Dewey on the Airbnb listing says: “As the local sheriff, it’s my duty to be your host to keep everything under control for your stay at the SCREAM house. What could possibly go wrong? In honor of SCREAM’s 25th anniversary and the upcoming 2022 film, face your fears and stay the night where Ghostface’s terrors began.”

Sheriff Dewey Riley (aka David Arquette) is the host of this limited-time Airbnb stay in the ... [+] original "Scream" house.

In addition to having the chance to explore the home in its original gory glory (there’s knife marks on the door to the garage where Dewey’s sister Tatum met her unfortunate demise in the film), the “Scream” stay comes with some unique, spooky amenities. There’s a dedicated phone line for reaching Ghostface to ask questions or make requests, but consider yourself warned because he just might call the house, too. 

The house will also be stocked with snacks, like Jiffy Pop, ice cream and Reddi-whip, plus pizza. 

If you don’t make the cut for the stay in this Northern California home, though, you still will have a chance to learn behind-the-scenes secrets of the Scream franchise from Kevin Williamson, the original “Scream screenwriter” and the executive producer of the soon-to-be-released Scream movie. He’s hosting an Online Experience on Oct. 28.

The red robe and mask are available to wear during your stay in the Scream house.

 Original SCREAM screenwriter, SCREAM (2022) executive producer and scary movie expert Kevin Williamson will host an Online Experience on Thursday, October 28 that will give guests a chance to learn behind-the-scenes secrets of the SCREAM franchise, including the cast, characters, plot twists and more.

The limited-time stay at the “Scream” house is the latest rental from Airbnb that dials up nostalgia. The vacation rental company recently made a sweet bearbnb treehouse inspired by “Winnie the Pooh” available for rent in England as part of Disney’s 95th anniversary celebrations. And, in 2020, the manager of the last Blockbuster opened up the Bend, Oregon movie rental shop for 90s-inspired sleepovers bookable via Airbnb.

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Video: Take A Tour Of The Original ‘Scream’ House

It’s always nice to see an iconic film location that’s still standing. This obviously includes Stu Macher’s house from Scream , which was used heavily during the movie’s third act. What’s more, both the interiors and exteriors for the house were taken from the same real-life building, located in Tomales, California. If that’s not enough, the iconic structure mostly looks the same all these years later. Now YouTube channel Dead Meat has taken the opportunity to give a tour of the fan-favorite Scream house.

The tour, which you can see below, is led by both James and Chelsea from the Dead Meat channel. The two go over all of the iconic spots in the house that were shown in the classic movie , and it’s such a great treat for fans. After all, many movies have locations that are built with stages or were torn down after a certain amount of time. As such, it really is great to see that Stu Macher’s iconic house from Scream still stands and looks the way it did in 1996.

Here’s the video:

Meanwhile, if fans are still anxious for more Scream content, there is a new movie on the way this month. And what’s also great about this new film, is that it also uses Stu Macher’s house from the original Scream ! While plot details are scarce, early reviews for the film have been quite positive . As such, it’s presumable that the film does great justice to this beloved shooting location.

Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett directed the new Scream , taking over for the late Wes Craven who directed the original four films. James Vanderbilt wrote the script with Guy Busick. Original  Scream  screenwriter Kevin Williamson is executive producing alongside Chad Villella. Project X Entertainment’s James Vanderbilt, Paul Neinstein and William Sherak are serving as producers on the film.

The cast for  Scream  includes returning cast members David Arquette, Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Marley Shelton, and Roger L. Jackson. The new cast members include Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Mason Gooding, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Dylan Minnette, Mikey Madison, Sonia Ben Ammar and Kyle Gallner.

Scream  is currently scheduled to hit theaters on January 14, 2022.

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Airbnb Is Hosting a Spooky Stay at the Original 'Scream' House

What's your favorite scary movie?

Astrid was the Senior Special Projects Editor at TripSavvy.

Courtesy of Airbnb

With spooky season just around the corner and the fifth installment of iconic horror franchise "Scream" arriving in January 2022, Airbnb, Paramount, and Spyglass Media have teamed up to give horror movie fans a truly killer experience: one night at the house where the original "Scream" was filmed.

Beginning on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. EST, fans can head to Airbnb and book a one-night stay on either Oct. 27, 29, or 31 at the northern California estate for only $5 a night. During their time in the house, which in the original film belonged to Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), guests will receive a virtual greeting at check-in from everyone's favorite small-town sheriff, Dewey Riley (David Arquette). Guests will then have free range to explore the house in all its original glory, including the knife marks on the doors where Dewey's sister Tatum sadly met her demise at the hands of Ghostface.

Other perks? A movie marathon of all four "Scream" films—on VHS, natch—to prep for the upcoming new release, alongside plenty of snacks like Jiffy Pop, ice cream, and pizza. You'll also get a dedicated phone line to reach out to Ghostface with questions—but be warned: he might reach out to you first.

Bookings are first come, first served, and only open to residents of the United States. The Tomales, California house will follow the rules in line with local safety guidelines and abide by Airbnb's five-step enhanced cleaning process. All guests will be responsible for their own travel to and from Northern California.

For fans who can't make it, "Scream" screenwriter Kevin Williamson will host an online Airbnb experience sharing an inside look at the secrets of the film franchise. Those interested can book a spot here beginning Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. EST. Tickets cost $100, with 100 percent of all proceeds being donated to The Trevor Project.

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Live the Ultimate ‘Scream’ Airbnb Experience At the Original Movie’s Iconic House With Host Dewey Riley!

As we all eagerly await Scream ‘s January 2022 theatrical release, Airbnb, Paramount and Spyglass Media are teaming up to celebrate the film with a stay at Stu Macher’s (Matthew Lillard) house from the original film (it even features Ghostface’s knife scratch marks on the doors and includes the iconic “brick” phone)! Those Scream superfans who opt for the in-person experience will get to meet everyone’s favorite small-town sheriff, Dewey Riley (aka David Arquette), who will be hosting the totally killer overnight stay.

For those of us who don’t live in California or are unable to travel, original Scream screenwriter Kevin Williamson will host an online experience called “ Secrets of Scream ” to regale guests with the behind-the-scenes secrets of the film and details of the upcoming 2022 release that only he knows. “Anything anybody wants to know about Scream , the filming of it, the secrets or anything that hasn’t been revealed yet will be discussed,” Williamson said. “It will be exciting to go back down memory lane.”  In reference to the new film, Williamson said: “When I watched it I thought it was very nostalgic. There was something about it that was new and fresh and had all of these new characters racing through it, but…it has a little bit of a warm fuzzy center to it.”

While Airbnb will make a one-time donation to Ween Dream, which provides free Halloween costumes to children in need nationwide, 100% of all proceeds from the “Secrets of Scream ” virtual experience will be donated to The Trevor Project , thanks to Williamson’s suggestion. “ The Trevor Project is a charity that’s near and dear to me. I’ve been a part of it for a long time,” Williamson said, “and I believe the range for attempted suicide is almost five times higher for gay teens [compared to heterosexual teens]. I just feel like that’s too big a number. Obviously any number is too big, but that statistic is kind of shocking.”

Full details of the events can be found below:

For the “Secrets of Scream ” Online Experience: On Thursday, October 28th, Kevin will host an Online Experience that will give guests an inside look at the secrets of the Scream  franchise, including the cast, characters, plot twists and more. Those interested can book a spot on Tuesday, October 12, at 1 pm EDT at  airbnb.com/SecretsofSCREAM . 100% of all proceeds from the “Secrets of Scream ” will be donated to The Trevor Project.

For the Ultimate Scream Airbnb Experience: “Dewey” will host three, one-night stays for up to four people at the Northern California estate on October 27, October 29 and October 31 for only $5* a night. Interested guests can request to book the three individual, one-night stays through the Airbnb platform at airbnb.com/halloween when booking opens at 1pm EDT on October 12. During their stays, guests will get to experience all the scariest elements of the original  SCREAM , including:

• A virtual greeting at check-in from Dewey (as long as Ghostface doesn’t catch him first).
• The chance to explore the  SCREAM  house in all its original glory, from knife marks on the doors to the garage where Dewey’s sister Tatum met her unfortunate demise.
• A movie marathon featuring all four  SCREAM films  (on VHS, of course) to get caught up ahead of the next  SCREAM  release.
• A dedicated phone line for reaching Ghostface, in case victims (ahem, guests) dare to ask any questions or make requests — but watch out, he might just call the house, too.
• Classic 90s snack favorites, like Jiffy Pop, ice cream with all the Reddi-whip you could ever want and pizza, if you’re able to stomach it.
• The chance to take home unique  SCREAM  memorabilia, including a DVD bundle of the first four  SCREAM  films, Woodsboro High gear,  SCREAM  (2022) posters and more.

Those looking to book should note that this stay’s rules are in strict adherence with local COVID-19 guidelines. And guests can rest easy knowing that onsite staff will follow the Center for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines as well as  Airbnb’s COVID-19 Safety Practices , which include wearing a mask, practicing social distancing, and abiding by our five-step enhanced cleaning process. Guests are responsible for their own travel to and from Northern California.**

* Plus taxes and fees

**Those who request to book must currently live in the United States.

A journalist for Bloody Disgusting since 2015, Trace writes film reviews and editorials, as well as co-hosts Bloody Disgusting's Horror Queers podcast, which looks at horror films through a queer lens. He has since become dedicated to amplifying queer voices in the horror community, while also injecting his own personal flair into film discourse. Trace lives in Denver, CO with his husband and their two dogs. Find him on Twitter @TracedThurman

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Dash Kwiatkowski Discusses Queer Paranormal Series ‘Liminal’ and Ghost Hunting with Ray Wise [Interview]

Welcome back to DEAD Time . I hope you left a light on for me, because this month we’re talking about things that go bump in the night, but in a new way—from a queer and transgender perspective.

Dash Kwiatkowski (they/them) is a writer, podcaster, and paranormal investigator who created a new queer paranormal series called Liminal , which can be seen on YouTube. Dash has assembled a paranormal team that includes comedian and journalist Rosa Escandón (she/her), who co-hosts the podcast Psychic Friendz with Dash, and storyteller, performer, artist, and practicing witch Rockette Fox (she/her), who also hosts the podcast Fantastically Strange .

The pilot episode of Liminal screened internationally at various film festivals and has won several awards including the ASSAP Gold Award for “Best Paranormal Investigation Film” and the Gold Award for “Best TV Episode/Pilot” at the Fortean Film Fest, as well as “Excellence” in the “Documentary Category” and “Exceptional Merit” in “Content/Message Delivery, Research, and Viewer Impact: inspirational” at the The LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival.

The first episode of Liminal premiered on YouTube in July and follows the team as they travel to Tennessee to investigate the Bell Witch haunting and interview several queer and transgender members of the paranormal community and explore the overlap of magic and the trans experience in the American South. A bonus episode of Liminal this month features the team ghost hunting with Twin Peaks ’ Ray Wise , as well as doing a paranormal investigation at Ray’s daughter’s home, which might be haunted.

You can watch both episodes on the Liminal YouTube channel here . The team is crowdfunding for future episodes of the show and if you would like to help out, you can donate here .

Bloody Disgusting was delighted to have the opportunity to talk with Dash Kwiatkowski about creating Liminal , the paranormal as a queer space, paranormal investigating with Ray Wise, and a lot more.

Bloody Disgusting: When did you first become interested in the paranormal and what inspired you to create the series Liminal ?

Dash Kwiatkowski: I’ve been a fan of paranormal television and literature since I was very small. I used to watch a lot of ghost shows. In 2020, when the pandemic first started, I was making my way out of an over a decade long stand-up comedy career, because it was hard to do with the pandemic and I was feeling burnt out with the industry. I had this moment when I thought, “Well, I’ve always been interested in the paranormal and ghost hunting. And there are so many cataclysmic global things happening right now that I sort of want to do things that are fun and interesting to me [laughs].” So, I decided to give paranormal investigation and ghost hunting a shot. I went out with some friends, without cameras, and we tried some different contact methods we had seen and heard about.

Things got very interesting immediately, and very reactive, and I was already thinking about this idea of liminal spaces and bridges and borders and hallways and hospitals being sort of hotbeds of paranormal activity. I was thinking about that with my own identity. One of the things on the show as a mixed race, non-binary, transgender person, there are elements of me that are sort of permanently liminal. But even with binary trans people, there is liminality in the sort of shift and the change with how you are perceived versus how you feel. I just really started thinking about liminality with regard to human identity and how that connected with the strange and the paranormal.

Queer people love cryptids and tarot and all sorts of things like that, and I got to thinking that maybe that’s not just a one-way love. There is a book called Transgender Warriors by Leslie Feinberg and the book goes into a lot of the history of trans people and people outside of the gender binary historically. So, I was very inspired by seeing all these different moments from the past of the world of people outside of the gender binary who were treated as mystical, treated as magical, and I think that was a very influential and inspiring text for me as I sort of crystalized my ideas for this show.

BD: Your team uses the Estes Method a lot, which makes me think you’re a fan of Hellier . Why do you think the Estes Method is such an effective tool for paranormal investigations?

DK: I am a fan of Hellier . I think the Estes Method eliminates a lot of the confirmation bias that comes up with traditional spirit box use, where people ask a question and they’re sort of expecting an answer and your brain puts together, from whatever noise is coming from the box, that the human brain wants to find meaning in things, especially if they’re expecting it. So, I think by eliminating the confirmation bias, it gives the people doing it a sense of confidence. One of my things with magic and the paranormal in general is I truly believe intentionality is so crucial for anything magical. I think that the Estes Method is really aided by feeling like a ritual. There are a lot of things you can do like taking EVPs, but it doesn’t feel as ritualized as putting on isolation headphones and a blindfold and sitting there holding the spirit box in your hands. There is something that feels very ritualistic about it that I think really helps the person involved and the people around them to be in more of a brain space that I think allows for genuine connection to happen.

BD: In the first episode of Liminal , your team travels to Tennessee to investigate the Bell Witch haunting, conduct interviews, and you even perform an unexpected ritual. What is the most interesting thing you learned about the intersection of magic and the queer and trans experience in the South?

DK: One of the biggest takeaways for me is the idiosyncratic nature of both things. We interviewed lots of different people with lots of different practices. Some people use cartomancy, and some people have specific cultural magical practices. All of these methodologies feel so fruitful to each individual practitioner, and it sort of reminded me of how, we say trans a lot culturally, but very rarely are two people trans in exactly the same way. It can mean so many different things and cover so many broad types of identity. So, when I’m thinking about transness as it intersects with magic, I think one of the most interesting takeaways for me is that you’re bringing together two things that are so sort of dependent on the individual experiencing.

I think that’s really what I love about magic and the paranormal because you can have any sort of unexplainable and really fantastical experience and then when you try to explain it to someone they can say, “Oh sure, it’s just a coincidence.” And there is a dismissal that anyone who was not involved in the actual experience is very easy to sort of do. I think in both what I perceive to be the intrinsic connection, as well as the day-to-day experience, there is something just really beautiful about how idiosyncratic transness is and how idiosyncratic magic is, and especially when you bring those two things together.

BD: You conducted a paranormal investigation with Ray Wise in the bonus episode and he even shared some fascinating lore behind Twin Peaks ! I’m a huge fan of Twin Peaks , so that was super interesting to me. What was that experience like?

DK: It was such a delight being able to work with Ray Wise. He’s been a supporter and a defender of queer and trans people for a lot longer than a lot of people in Hollywood and that’s always very heartwarming to me when people in their personal lives have been just cool about who I am and the people I care about. It was very exciting; he brought his own paranormal investigation gear. That’s actually how we got invited to investigate with him.

BD: He brought his own paranormal equipment? That’s wild!

DK: Yeah, he did! [laughs] He’s the only person who has ever done that with us, showed up with his own stuff. So, he’s down. That’s the cool thing. He’s down for so much stuff. I was talking to him about egregores and tulpas and he was like, “Oh yes, I’m familiar with those.” And I was like, “That’s great! That rocks!” [laughs] He’s actually so cool. He’s a very sweet man and he thinks about a lot of interesting metaphysical paranormal things. It’s just really delightful to talk to him about it. His daughter, Kyna, is a friend of mine and she was texting me, “Oh yeah, my dad is buying REM pods and gear,” and I said, “What’s he doing that for?” [laughs] And she said, “He thinks my apartment is haunted.” I said, “Oh. Does he know we do what we do?” And she was like, “I don’t think so.” So, she talked to him about it, and he was very excited about the idea of us coming out and investigating with him. It was honestly his idea to do the investigation in the first place, which is also very exciting.

When we interviewed him, he told us a ghost story that I have never heard about his own experience with what he feels was the spirit of his uncle. All the stuff that came up when we did the Estes Method with him was so interesting. The words racehorse and chariot kept coming up and afterwards I realized you can think of racehorse as Ray’s horse. Then you think of Twin Peaks and the whole “the horse is the white of the eyes,” so it all sort of connects back to Ray Wise [laughs].

BD: I was intrigued by the investigation around Kyna Wise, Ray’s daughter, who had a close friend pass away in her house. It was so intense and very emotional to watch. Do you feel like you were able to give Kyna some closure and maybe peace about her friend’s death and the presence in her home?

DK: I think peace for sure and that’s just from talking with her afterwards. Kyna is one of my best friends and we talk almost every day [laughs]. We’ve been chatting a lot, and she did let me know that after we had gone a lot of the energy, absolutely the negative feeling, did feel like it had gone. I think that comes from the internal feeling and the internal sense. I love sort of a goofy ghost show; I love sensationalist shows; I watch all of those, too [laughs]. But I never want to make a show where we’re going to come in and bust someone’s ghost or something like that. We’re not trying to say, “We’re going to solve your ghost issue or whatever,” because I don’t think I have that kind of power, to be honest [laughs]! I do not know how to bust a ghost and I’m not going to be inviting any exorcists to dress like professional bowlers onto my show either. That isn’t the realm that we want to exist in.

But if someone can personally feel better and feel maybe a little bit at peace with something, I think that can help with some of the negative feelings that can feel energetically bad. What’s fun is that I’m kind of pretty skeptical of everything that we’re doing. Kyna kept saying, “Well, if I’m going to be on board with this, if I’m going to believe what we’re talking about, I’m just approaching it with good faith and open-mindedness as much as I can.” I do think it’s funny that she is much more skeptical than Ray because Ray is on board one hundred percent [laughs] and Kyna was just like, “Yeah, well we’ll see.” I think there is something to that. A lot of people talk about haunting as this idea that is it an external force or is it the force is sort of internal from us manifesting in the world around us based on how we’re feeling, based on things happening.

I’ve heard a lot of people make the theory that even in the Bell Witch haunting it was a grief tulpa from trauma and abuse that affected everything around the family. So, I think there are a lot of arguments to be made that are very interesting discussions to be had about where do hauntings come from. So, when I think about what Kyna was going through and just the sadness and feelings of having someone you love very much and you do your best to take care of them, there is a lot of emotion there. Even if Kyna doesn’t think that we necessarily channeled the ghost of her beloved friend, going through the ritual, going through the process, I think can be helpful and create peace.

With regard to closure, one of the things that I think is really interesting about this episode is that I kind of feel like it doesn’t end in a hard closure sort of way, but it does end in a sort of peaceful way, and I kind of like that. I like that sense of where we landed just because I feel like when you’re making episodes of television it’s very tempting to want to tie everything up in a narrative bow and that’s never what I want us to do with this show. On the most obvious level, we’re never going to hide a production assistant behind a door to slam it shut, but I also don’t want to pretend to have a big closure moment if one doesn’t happen. To me, that feels very real. We’re trying to go out there and document what happens and present the reality of what we’re experiencing and what the people we’re investigating with are experiencing.

BD: In the first episode, you said that you believe the paranormal is a queer space. Do you have a theory about queer and trans people gravitating towards the paranormal or specifically being surrounded by high strangeness?

DK: I think there are several levels to it. I think one of the levels is almost a very practical, and even mundane, sense of kinship. When you grow up in a culture that tells you intrinsically and inherently that you are coded villainously—if you watch The Lion King and you see how Scar is animated and you see, “Oh, this is a gay lion trying to destroy the nuclear family.” If you look at Ursula in The Little Mermaid , she is modeled after specific queer people, right? So, I think on a mundane level there is a sense of kinship. If you exist in a way where you are told, if not explicitly, but at least implicitly, by everything around you like media and the news that you are villainous, what you are is villainous, I think when you see ghosts and cryptids and monsters and all these things that we are intrinsically told are villainous and to be feared, there is this idea that, “Well, I’m told that I’m to be feared and maybe none of us are to be feared. Maybe none of us are bad. Maybe there is nothing evil hiding in the woods late at night. Maybe everything is just misunderstood in the way that I feel misunderstood.” I think on the mundane level there is a sense of kinship in being othered and being painted villainously.

I do think even beyond that, there is something intrinsically and inherently magical about feeling something inside of you. Feeling something like, “I am not necessarily what I’m being told that I am. I’m being told that I am a gender by everyone around me. I’m being told that my sexuality has to be a certain way by culture, by my parents, by everyone I know. I’m being told that I am something and I just sort of know inside that that’s not what I am.” I think that there is something to taking your identity and taking who you are and who you know yourself to be and expanding beyond what anyone has told you is possible. That is so intrinsically magical. I think that there is so much magic to that and to that style of existence that a person like me who has believed there is magical phenomenon all of my life.

I believe that there is magic that is so interactive and as soon as you take a step into the world of magic, I believe you are greeted by all sorts of interesting forces and synchronicities and occurrences and things that science and other things tell you are not real and could not actually happen. But you feel it and it feels very real even if it’s not something that is provable in some sort of measurable way. So, I think there is something about the experience of expanding beyond what you are told is possible that calls out to magic and the strange. I think magic and the strange returns that call.

Check out the official trailer for Liminal below and for more information on the show, the team, and much more you can visit the Liminal TV website .

Friday, September 6 – These SIX New Horror Movies Released Today

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Do you like scary movies? Airbnb will let you rent the ‘Scream’ house.

If you like scary movies, as the ghostly voice famously asks on the other end of the phone, you can now stay in the original house from the horror movie “Scream.”

Because this Halloween season marks the film’s 25th anniversary, Airbnb will be offering three one-night stays for up to four people at the Northern California estate where the movie took place.

Bookings for Oct. 27, 29 and 31 will open for anyone living in the United States on Tuesday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. Eastern time via the Airbnb website , where you will find additional scary stays such as haunted mansions, cottages, hotels, castles and a haunted manor where this reporter slept last year .

The completely correct guide to a perfectly cliche fall getaway

Besides just being really scared, guests will have the opportunity to explore the two-story property in Tomales, Calif., and see eerie details such as knife marks on the doors to the garage. They will also get a virtual greeting at check-in from their host, David Arquette, who will be reprising his role as small-town sheriff Dewey Riley.

Arquette also promises to lend his expertise so guests can survive any Ghostface encounters.

Once guests are settled (or unsettled) in, they can binge-watch all four “Scream” movies while snacking on ’90s-appropriate snacks such as Jiffy Pop, pizza and ice cream. And to re-create the terror of the film, guests have access to a “brick phone” that connects them straight to the killer. Note: The phone line goes both ways.

I rented a haunted house on Airbnb; here's how it went.

On their way out, guests can take home memorabilia such as “Scream” DVDs, Woodsboro High garb, posters for the new movie coming out January 2022 and other swag.

Fans of the film who don’t stay in the house can book an Airbnb Online Experience on Oct. 28 with Kevin Williamson, who is the original movie’s screenwriter, an executive producer for the upcoming one and a scary movie expert. (Unrelated note: Williams also created “Dawson’s Creek.”)

The “Scream” house follows an ever-growing list of pop-culture-related stunts from Airbnb. Last summer, the company promoted overnights at the world’s last Blockbuster in Bend, Ore., the FAO Schwarz toy store in Manhattan for the holidays and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile .

More travel news

How we travel now: More people are taking booze-free trips — and airlines and hotels are taking note. Some couples are ditching the traditional honeymoon for a “buddymoon” with their pals. Interested? Here are the best tools for making a group trip work.

Bad behavior: Entitled tourists are running amok, defacing the Colosseum , getting rowdy in Bali and messing with wild animals in national parks. Some destinations are fighting back with public awareness campaigns — or just by telling out-of-control visitors to stay away .

Safety concerns: A door blew off an Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max 9 jet, leaving passengers traumatized — but without serious injuries. The ordeal led to widespread flight cancellations after the jet was grounded, and some travelers have taken steps to avoid the plane in the future. The incident has also sparked a fresh discussion about whether it’s safe to fly with a baby on your lap .

In The Footsteps of Ghostface: Scream Filming Locations

Who knew the slasher classic Scream hailed from such a bucolic county?

Written by: Gem Seddon

Published on: May 13, 2023

This post is based on extensive research. While I only visited two locations, this felt more suited to this category. The information contained within is thoroughly fact-checked. We will update this post with firsthand impressions once we visit more locales.

While house sitting alone one night, screenwriter Kevin Williamson caught a TV special on the Gainesville Ripper. Suitably spooked, he called a friend for company and the pair began quizzing each other on horror movie trivia. And so, the spark for Scream was born. 

Table of Contents

Williamson holed up for a week to bash out the script, leading to a bidding frenzy that eventually caught the eye of Dimension Films, and in turn, Wes Craven. Thanks to Williamson’s knowing script, the Scream series reinvigorated the gasping slasher genre in the mid-90s. 

Peppered with self-aware teens and horror references galore, the then-titled Scary Movie came to life under Craven’s directorial eye. Once it hit theaters, audiences loved its mash of scares and chuckles and word of mouth spread. At the end of its theatrical run, Scream scared up $173 million in worldwide box office receipts, and the horror genre was given a new lease of life.

Where was Scream filmed?

The Scream filming locations are anchored in the Northern California wine country. The Sonoma County towns of Glen Ellen, Tomales, Healdsburg, Sonoma, and Santa Rosa all feature in the film, lending the slasher the perfect  small-town atmosphere. 

For fans of the Scream franchise, visiting the film’s actual locations goes beyond mere sightseeing; it’s an experience that brings it shuddering to life. There’s an undeniable feeling that comes from standing in the same spots immortalised on film. Trust me, this is coming from someone (me, it was me) who got weirdly choked up at the grocery store where Sidney and Tatum pick up party snacks.

This guide will dive into why these spots were selected by Craven and his production crew, what happened during the location shoots, and how you can visit the Scream filming locations yourself. 

Why these locations were handpicked for Scream

3080 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa, California 95403

1465 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, California 95404

217 Healdsburg Avenue, Healdsburg, California 95448

124 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, California 95448

824 Mcdonald Avenue, Santa Rosa, California 95404

276 East Napa Street, Sonoma, California 95476

7420 Sonoma Mountain Road, Glen Ellen, California 95442

This is a private residence. 1800 Calistoga Road, Santa Rosa, California 95404

3871 Tomales Petaluma Road, Petaluma, California 94971

The first draft of Williamson’s screenplay initially took place in his home town of Bayboro, North Carolina. But production struggled to find locations that fit his exact descriptions without requiring a lot of work.

They needed “either a lot of painting or upgrading or downgrading,” explains production designer Bruce Alan Miller in the E! A True Hollywood Story: Scream documentary. The dark, brick homesteads they visited in Wilmington didn’t sync up with Craven’s vision. 

After reading the script, Craven knew it was critical to find the right spot, and as a native Californian he felt it had to be rooted in the west coast state. He wanted to find a place to tap into a special sort of Americana.

Nevertheless, the Weinsteins had other ideas, wanting to save $1 million dollars by shooting in Canada. And while producers ventured to Vancouver for a preliminary scout, ultimately Craven “took a hard stand,” and insisted that the movie shoot in the US. 

“We looked in L.A., and we flew to San Jose and drove up to Northern California, stopping at towns and looking,” co-executive producer Stuart M. Besser told E! And, in February 1996, they found the fictionalised version of Bayboro, now known as Woodsboro, in the small towns of Sonoma County.

Situated an hour’s drive north of the San Francisco Bay Area, the wine country’s bucolic, small-town feel matched the atmosphere of Williamson’s script. “Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Tomales Bay… all of those towns, they had a charm to them, they had a small-town America feel to them,” said Miller. 

This echoed Craven’s wishes for a filming location on homegrown soil. “I wanted very much that very, very American feel to it, so that’s how we ended up there,” Craven reveals in Scream: The Inside Story .

Not only that, it aligned with Miller’s goals for the production design. Unlike North Carolina, where they struggled to find houses that matched the specific geography inked into Williamson’s script, in Sonoma they uncovered a range of perfect homesteads none of which required any major building.

The glass windows from Casey Becker’s front porch, intricate sprawl of Stu Macher’s home, all of these key components were crucial to exacting the terror of the setpieces, were found on their scouting missions.

So let’s dive into them.

Primary Scream filming locations

Stu macher’s house : 3871 tomales-petaluma road, tomales, ca.

“It all began with a Scream over 911, and ended in a bloodbath that has rocked the small town of Woodsboro,” begins Gale Weathers’ voiceover accompanied by a wide shot of a Californian sunrise illuminating the wine country foothills. It’s hard to imagine that closing shot without that breathtaking view of the Cotati Valley from the Tomales Bay location. 

The Victorian homestead was built in 1990 for Jack and Carolyn MacPhail, a couple who both passed away in 1991 shortly before construction was completed. The house remained in the family until it was listed for sale several years later. Details of the couple’s passing didn’t elude the filmmakers, with cast and crew both aware of the dwelling’s macabre history. 

In a set interview featured in the Behind the Scream documentary, Matthew Lillard said: “Literally – two people have died in the house. So coming up the hill and you’re doing a Wes Craven film and somebody tells you, ‘Oh, by the way, two people have died in the house,’ it brings on an entirely new thing.” 

The house sat on the market until Scream location manager Eric Klosterman came across it one morning. According to Miller, Klosterman was at a bakery in downtown Tomales and spotted the house in the realtor’s window next door.  Once Craven and Miller saw it, they knew it was the one with the latter stating the abode appeared like a “haunted house”: 

“It’s set up on this hill which is spooky looking,” Miller explained, “And there’s this flow around the house with lots of ways that people could walk and go from one room to another. Somebody could be in trouble in the driveway or in the front of the house, and you wouldn’t know about it in the TV room.”

But its success rested upon more than the house’s layout – Craven’s keen eye for horror movie geography brought those aspects clearly to life. 

“You have to solve certain problems that relate to the geography of the house,” stated Craven in Cinefantastique’s Lawrence French in January 1997, explaining the script’s original attic chase sequence between Sidney and the killer. “But we never found a house that was designed like that.” So, they reworked the script based on the layout of the Tomales homestead. The Victorian mansion’s unique framework could easily have proven confusing for audiences, but Craven turned it into a memorable location.

On the dressing front, the production was delighted by most of the existing components but augmented it some. “We wanted Stu’s home to have elements of a dark and haunted Gothic house and it needed to be very isolated,” Craven added.

“The art department went in there and did an enormous number on the house. We put in all sorts of beams, and stained-glass windows, darkened all the colors, and brought in all the set dressings. It was done in a sort of farmhouse style, and we changed it into a Gothic farmhouse. We shot everything right in the house, and even used the attic. The attic wasn’t very creepy, so we darkened it.”

Scenes filmed at 3871 Tomales-Petaluma Road

Arguably the most beloved horror movie finale of all time, the movie’s last act takes place entirely at 3871 Tomales-Petaluma Road, als known as 261 Turner Lane in the movie.

From the moment the Top Story news van pulls up to its long, winding driveway to the opening bars of Birdbrain’s “Youth in America”, all the way through to Gale Weathers’ closing report to camera, the film’s twists and turns all unravel here. 

Here are the scenes that take place at Stu’s house:

• Randy, Stu and friends watch Halloween
• Sidney and Billy sneak off to have sex
• Tatum’s death in the garage
• Gale and Dewey’s walk in the woods
• Sidney’s chase with the killer
• The final kitchen showdown

Stories from the set

One of horror history’s most well-loved endings took a whopping 21 nights to shoot, its cast and crew calling it quits as the sun rose and starting over again the next evening. This rigorous shooting schedule took its toll. 

Every sequence that takes place at Stu’s house technically falls under Scene 118 in the script, making it one of the longest scenes of the production. The crew even got t-shirts printed up that read “I Survived Scene 118′:

The assistant director referred to it on the daily call sheets as the “People live, people die” scene. Is it any wonder Craven called it “the scene from hell?”

Sidney Prescott’s house – 1820 Calistoga Road, Santa Rosa, CA

The Prescott house appears only in a handful of scenes but it needed a specific atmosphere for the movie’s second attack sequence that strikes when Sidney is home alone. “There is something that’s not normal about it, it’s just sitting there, isolated by itself,” Miller told E!. 

“We wanted houses that were vulnerable.” Miller explained to Cinefantastique when discussing how they chose the Woodsboro dwellings. “We didn’t want homes that looked like castles, or that you could really protect yourself in. We needed houses that were close to the ground, and that had windows and doors that were very accessible, so if somebody was going to be stalking them, they could get to them very quickly. 

It would be your average middle-class teenager’s home, with nothing too scary about it. When they come home, they think they’re safe and then all of a sudden there’s a knock at the front door, and then there’s a knock at the back door. What teenager thinks that death is just around the corner? They just don’t think in those terms, but in reality they are susceptible to being stalked.”

Scenes filmed at 1820 Calistoga Road

• Sidney exits the school bus and enter her home
• A montage of shots as the sunsets
• Sidney on the phone with Tatum 
• Sidney on the phone with the killer, and the chase sequence
• The cops arrive and Sidney is outside in an ambulance

“Fantastic location,” laughs Craven on the Scream audio commentary, before revealing how much it cost to use the home: “We just about bought it between the rental fees and the repair fees.”

“We were shooting in the beautiful wine country around Santa Rosa, using some very interesting houses we found there, so I wanted to be able to see out of windows a lot, and get a sense of inside, outside, as opposed to doing interiors on a stage. There was a lot of tricky balancing of light levels from interior to exteriors. that we had to contend with. It’s a shame so much of the film takes place at night, because it’s so beautiful where we were shooting.

Casey Becker’s house – 7420 Sonoma Mountain Road, Glen Ellen, CA

“She worked for five days and made cinematic history in genre films,” Craven said of Barrymore’s performance in the film’s iconic opening sequence.  And for such an impactful, and devastating introduction to Scream , production sought an isolated house for Barrymore’s character Casey Becker to spend her final moments. 

Initially, they ventured to a familiar horror movie locale. “We’d gone to the Cujo house,” Miller told E!, “and I think that’s when the location manager saw the house back in the trees and made contact with the people.” While they opted not to shoot at the Cujo homestead, Williamson told The Ringer the famous abode was production basecamp for the opening shoot.

It was that “house back in the trees” which would go on to become the Beckers, and it was located next to an isolated vineyard. “Although it looks like this beautiful idyllic setting, if you’re in that house and someone’s wandering around outside stalking you, you’re very vulnerable.”

Scenes filmed at Casey’s house

• Casey on the phone with the killer
• Casey’s attack and death
• Casey’s parents coming home

Throughout production, Craven chose to shield the actor who voiced Ghostface from the cast. Roger Jackson, who plays the spectral killer, was not in the same room as Barrymore for filming. In fact, the two never met. “We hid him. We had separate rooms. He was never around. He was never at craft services. He was absolutely incognito. It made it scary for the actors and Wes just got better performances out of them,” executive producer Marianne Maddelena told THR .

“The first night when we were filming the bulk of the scene with Ms. Barrymore, I was outside the window under a little canopy trying to keep dry because it was raining,” Jackson explained to THR . 

“I’m looking at her through the window while I’m talking to her on the phone, but she couldn’t see outside. Then on the second night they moved me to the garage of the house and set me up with a monitor so I could watch the camera feed.”

Woodsboro High School – Sonoma Community Center, 276 E Napa St, Sonoma, CA

Discovering the Santa Rosa High School was part of what clinched the production’s decision to shoot in that area, Miller describing it as “Gothic, and has a kind of castle-like quality to it. It’s Gorgeous To Look At, and it looks a little scary.” 

But they didn’t shoot there. 

Despite this perfect locale, things didn’t quite go to plan. While the school administration and the Principal were excited for the movie’s production to enter its halls, shortly before cameras were set to roll the Santa Rosa School Board finally read the script and took umbrage with the violence.

In addition to the movie’s they even referred to the movie’s Principal Himbry as “foul-mouthed” even though he only calls two pranksters little shits.

At a public forum it was decided that the movie would not be shot there. Craven was frustrated by the way the decision had been reached: “It was all based on a manufactured reality… Over and over they were saying it was about disemboweled teenagers, and a foul-mouthed principal. From that you could imagine that every other scene is people being gutted, and having their viscera being thrown at the camera, while the principal was running around using four-letter words. If I heard that, I would say. ‘Hey. wait a minute, let me read it,’ but people just accepted that that was what the script was about, which was completely not the case.”

The way the issue was finally resolved was not to my liking,” Williamson told Cinefantastique, “because it was counter to the message of the film, which is that you can’t blame movies for real life violence. The Santa Rosa school board felt that, *We can, and we do,’ and they did. As a result, we weren’t allowed to shoot at their school. “

While the ethical frustrations facing the filmmakers were aplenty, the delay also cost Miramax what Craven estimated to be around $350,000. Despite several other schools in the surrounding area following suit, and refusing Craven’s production, they eventually found a spot that worked perfectly – Sonoma Community Center.

“It had been a high school and it didn’t fall under the jurisdiction of any of the school boards, so we could pay to use it,” said Dimension Films development head, Richard Potter. 

Scenes filmed at Sonoma Community Center

• Sidney arrives to school the morning after the opening deaths 
• Sidney in class
• Stu, Tatum, and Sidney hanging out at the lockers
• Sidney’s bathroom attack and discussion with Billy
• Stu, Tatum, and Sidney leave school when Principal Himbry announces curfew

Note: the Principal Himbry office sequences were shot on a warehouse set in downtown Santa Rosa.

Originally the Sonoma Grammar School, this landmark building became the Sonoma Community Center in 1952 and has since established its mission as a place “where recreational, artistic, instructive, literary, and educational projects for the general welfare of the community may be furthered.”

The Center recently celebrated its 70th birthday which included photos and mementoes from the Scream set.

The Riley house – 824 McDonald Ave, Santa Rosa, CA

The Riley house in Scream

The Riley household is nestled in amongst other Santa Rosa horror hotspot. ​​“It was right across the street from the house used by Alfred Hitchcock in Shadow of a Doubt, ” noted Miller. “It was a wonderful fluke, because Shadow of a Doubt is one of my favorite movies.” While Miller had hoped to film in that iconic horror abode, the upstairs landing didn’t have sufficient space, so they ventured across the street for what would become the Riley house.

Despite the upstairs being unsuited, one room at 904 MacDonald Ave did make it into the finished product: the kitchen from the Shadow of a Doubt house is where they filmed the Riley house breakfast scene. Thanks to Mark Hough for confirming!

Scenes filmed at the Riley house

• Sidney and Tatum hang out in Tatum’s bedroom
• Before the party they hang out on Tatum’s deck

During filming, Hitchcock hung out on 824’s beautiful porch – the very same wraparound one Sidney and Tatum spend time on while being stalked by Ghostface. 

While scouting for the location, the crew visited the house across the street – the aforementioned Shadow of a Doubt house which was owned by a widow whose grandchildren often came to stay. It was here, in one of their rooms, that producer Marienna Maddelena spotted a mask draped over a chair: the Ghostface mask that would become an iconic part of Scream lore.

“We were scouting a location and we went to this two-story house on this lovely street. The lady was fine with us walking around and I went upstairs and there was a boy’s bedroom. It had the feeling that no one had been in it for a while. Like, whoever had moved out. And I saw the mask sitting on a chair. At the time it had a white shroud. And I thought, “Oh my God, this mask, this is it.”

Downtown Woodsboro  – Healdsburg, CA Town Center

To capture the small-town feel Craven felt integral to the movie, producers honed in on Healdsburg Town Center to stand in for downtown Woodsboro.  “It had a very pretty town square,” revealed Miller to Cinefantastique. “It really looked more like New England than California.” 

The police station – City Hall, 124 Matheson Street, Healdsburg, CA

The police station where Billy is questioned, where Sidney waits for Tatum, and the infamous alleyway where Sidney punches Gale were all filmed at the same place — Healdsburg City Hall.

“There’s a City Hall on the corner of the square that we turned into our police station. We just changed some signs and put a few things in the windows.  We couldn’t use a real police station, because we would have been at their mercy, and we couldn’t be disrupting their police activity,” Miller told Cinefantastique. 

We also see the building later on when Dewey drops off Sidney and Tatum in town before the party. In this screenshot, you can see evidence of City Hall. Just beside Tatum is a drop-box for people to pay their city utility bills:

Healdsburg City Hall was relocated elsewhere shortly after filming on Scream wrapped, but the building remains. It’s now a deli called Oakville Grocery that retains some of the original – and recognisable – structures that made their way into the film. 

The town square and fountain – Healdsburg Plaza Park, 217 Healdsburg Ave, CA

The town square appears for establishing shots and lengthier dialogue sequences in Scream. Craven lensed quick snatches of a garbage truck to denote early morning in Woodsboro at the corner of the park, and part of the town curfew montage features store owners locking up and a mother and child rushing to their car.

But its most memorable sequence features the core gang chewing the fat over Casey and Steve’s murders. This is where we first meet Stu and Randy and we’re treated to the “liver alone” pun by Matthew Lillard and Matthew Lillard’s extremely long tongue. 

This one-acre urban park sits at the intersection of Matheson Street and Healdsburg Ave, and was dubbed one of the most beautiful town squares in the US .

The grocery store – Pacific Market, 1465 Town and Country Drive, Santa Rosa, CA

The Pacific Market in Santa Rosa was known as Town and Country Market in 1996 during filming and when I visited in 2008. You can see my photo above (that’s my then-partner looking very excited about shopping carts) which I took without a movie still for reference – and I suspect I’m in the wrong spot entirely! Surely this means another visit is on the cards to rectify this massive error?

The scenes filmed here follow on from Sidney and Tatum hanging out at the Rileys. Dewey drops them off outside the police station and they wander over to the store, where they are stalked through the aisles by Ghostface.

Randy’s Video Store – Bradley Video, 3080 Marlow Road, Santa Rosa CA

Part of the allure of Scream is its love of movies. The video store where Randy works ropes in a slew of visual nods – a promotional standee of Jamie Lee Curtis in Mother’s Boys – alongside its staple sound bites. A customer asks Randy for “the werewolf movie with ET’s mom in it,” to which he fires back, “ The Howling . Horror. Straight ahead.” 

But it’s the existence of the actual establishment itself that anchors the film to its era. A small town under a curfew and what’s everyone doing? Hitting up the video store! And this isn’t a Blockbuster the kids frequent either, but a local Bay Area video store called Bradley Video. 

Unfortunately the store closed down in 2008 after the owner filed for bankruptcy, along with another 10 Bradley Video locations in the area. The building where it was once located remains vacant, if you want to visit it and commiserate.

A big thank you to I Am Not A Stalker for the image of Bradley Video.

Visiting the Scream filming locations

With the exception of three scenes – Sidney’s bedroom, Principal Himbry’s office and the high school bathroom – the entirety of Scream was filmed on location. Once you’re in Sonoma County you can explore most of the sites without permission. Several homes sit on private properties that require homeowner consent before visiting. 

Travel and accommodation options

Airports and public transportation.

The closest major airport is San Francisco International. Sonoma County Airport located in Santa Rosa offers direct flights from eleven locations in the US. Of course, you can connect from elsewhere at those departure airports too. 

From there, you can rent a car – you can book in advance thru Qeeq or try DiscoverCars.com to find a better price than going directly to the main car rental companies.

Take the bus

You can take a shuttle bus up to Sonoma County which takes around 2.5 hours and costs $48 with multiple drop-off options. 

A cheaper option is the Greyhound or Amtrak that takes you from San Francisco International Airport to Santa Rosa Transit Terminal. Find the best option on Busbud.

Hotels and lodging recommendations

Sonoma county offers plenty in the ways of budget, moderate, and luxury accommodations – it all depends on what you’re looking for. 

Mid-priced option: The DoubleTree by Hilton Sonoma Wine Country

The rates are what you’d expect for a three-star hotel in the middle of wine country, around $160 per night. Plus, if taking the SFO-Santa Rosa airport shuttle you can get dropped right at its doors. And, while it boasts the same name as the hotel where the cast stayed during filming, that original site burned down in the 2017 Tubbs Fire which devastated Santa Rosa and the surrounding areas. 

Luxury option: The Vintners

This is a more up-scale spot that starts at around $300 a night.

Budget option: Point Reyes Hostel

I stayed a little out of town at the Point Reyes Hostel, which was clean and affordable at around $50 a night. It’s around a 40 minute drive from Santa Rosa. You can also try a Quality Inn in Santa Rosa.

The Scream House tour

The only organized tour of the Scream locations currently on offer lets you experience the Victorian house at 3871 Tomales Petaluma Road – aka Stu’s house. 

The entire property is now a wedding venue that’s also leased out for other tours and parties – including a group that hosts Scream-related tours. For 2023, you can visit in July and October and prices are $200 per person. You can book over at Eventbrite . 

Self-guided tour tips

Preparing for your visit.

I’d recommend doing a combination of the Scream house tour along with a self-guided tour of some other key locations. 

Back in 2008 when I visited the locations, there were no house tours of Stu’s abode available. Somehow, we managed to find the road below – bear in mind, this was before smartphones, GPS, etc – and I snapped this phenomenal photo that appears as if it were plucked from the movie itself:

While you might struggle to see all of the locations, once you’ve visited Santa Rosa, Healdsburg and Sonoma – and once you see Stu’s house – you’ll get a feel for the movie. 

Navigating the locations

I recommend breaking up a visit into two days.

• Bradley Video, Santa Rosa
• Tatum’s house, Santa Rosa
• Pacific Market, Santa Rosa
• Woodsboro Town Square, Healdsburg
• Woodsboro Police Station, Healdsburg
• Sonoma Community Center, Sonoma
• Casey’s house, Glen Ellen – you might not have access 
• Stu’s house, Tomales-Petaluma Road – you can try to recreate my amazing photo up top from the roadside if you don’t opt for the tour!
• Sidney’s house, Santa Rosa – you may also struggle to get access as it’s now behind a gated driveway.
• If Day Two feels a little sparse – you can always visit a few other spots nearby.

Hiring a car offers the most ease to get to the more awkward spots, but local buses are an option.

Safety and etiquette while visiting

The biggest note about all of these locales is noting which ones are private residences and which ones are accessible to the public. Some homeowners don’t welcome Scream fans onto their property, which is to be expected. 

Places to Visit in the Area

Other horror movie locations nearby.

Luckily, John Carpenter’s The Fog lensed in this area. An hour’s drive west and you can visit the Point Reyes Lighthouse in Inverness where Stevie hosts her radio show amid the creeping fog. 

Hitchcock had some affection for the area, filming Shadow of a Doubt in Santa Rosa, then returning to film The Birds in nearby Bodega Bay a few years later.  

Local attractions and activities

Rancho Obi-Wan, Petaluma

If you’re a Star Wars fan then I’d recommend checking out Rancho Obi-Wan , the largest collection of Star Wars items in the world. Curated and carefully tended by Steve Sansweet, the former head of Fan Relations and Director of Content Management at Lucasfilm, this archive is nearly 25 years old.  

Jack London’s Wolf House, Glen Ellen

The remains of Jack London’s abode still sit, silently eroding, and they’re rather haunting. 

Tell us about your visit

That’s all here for now on the Scream locations, but if you’ve any hints or tips on how you perhaps got a better view of Stu’s house or if you got permission to snap a pic of Sidney’s house – let me know in the comments!

About Gem Seddon

4 thoughts on “In The Footsteps of Ghostface: Scream Filming Locations”

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Correction. Tatum’s kitchen was shot in the Shadow of a Doubt house. I was there.

Thank you Mark for shedding extra light on this location! Will update post to reflect this 🙂

The breakfast scene at Tatum’s house was actually filmed across the street from the actual location for Exteriors. It was shot inside the house that AlfredHitchcock used in shadow of a doubt. I know this because I lived in Santa Rosa at the time of filming and I am also involved in Film Production in the northern Bay Area. If you could make that correction it would be greatly appreciated, and I’m sure the fans would appreciate where that scene was actually shot

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Live updates, stay at the ‘scream’ house for $5 on airbnb with ghostface — if you dare.

This stay will be a scream.

Stu Macher’s house chilled horror fans in the 1996 thriller “Scream,” and it’s now just $5 to rent on Airbnb for three nights only.

On Oct. 27, 29 and 31, the house will welcome up to four guests who will get the real “Scream” experience — hopefully sans death.

The home is set up with a “dedicated phone line” to reach Ghostface, and guests will get a virtual greeting from “Scream” actor David Arquette playing his role as Deputy Dewey at check-in.

The $2.8 million mansion with straight grain wood detailing is not in the fictional horror town of Woodsboro — in reality, it’s at the end of a lane in a 298-acre wedding venue in Tomales, California.

As guests approach the 4,900-square-foot mansion, a Ghostface-patterned stained glass window sets the mood.

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A more subtle stained glass window appears over the front door in the movie, but was removed after production. This spookier version was specially installed for this promotion, timed to the 25th anniversary of “Scream.”

Inside, a grand foyer leads to four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a library, three fireplaces and two wood stoves, according to Realtor.com .

Airbnb promises that the house has knife marks on the doors and the same harrowing three-car garage where Tatum Riley, played by Rose McGowan , is killed in the movie.

Aside from the fictional deaths of Tatum Riley and Kenny Jones, the house has seen two actual deaths — those of the original owners, Jack and Carolyn MacPhail. The couple died in 1991 shortly after the house was built, according to reports .

The house is crammed with ’90s nostalgia, including VHS tapes of the four “Scream” movies and ’90s snack favorites like Jiffy Pop, according to Airbnb.

Guests will leave with “Scream” memorabilia including a DVD bundle, Woodsboro High gear and posters advertising the 2022 “Scream” remake, which will reportedly include Courteney Cox and David Arquette .

The booking will go live on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

Here's How You Can Stay in the Original Scream House—Just in Time for Halloween

For those who dare, airbnb is offering one-night stays at the original scream home later this month for just $5 a night. get the details and learn how ghostface will do his part to welcome you..

We have killer news for anyone out there who likes scary movies . 

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, Airbnb announced that users can book overnight stays in the original house from the 1996 horror film Scream . In honor of the movie's 25th anniversary, the Northern California estate can be booked for up to four people at just $5 a night. 

The house, located in the fictional town of Woodsboro in the film franchise, will be available for just three nights—October 27, October 29 and October 31. Airbnb promises that knife marks are on the doors, and brave souls can explore the garage where Tatum Riley (played by Rose McGowan ) was memorably killed in the film. 

Scream fans will also notice the signature brick cordless phone at the home, while guests will be treated to a movie marathon of the four Scream films on VHS. Additionally, there will be a phone line that can be used for contacting the villainous Ghostface, as he might be placing a call of his own. 

At check-in, guests will get a virtual greeting from sheriff Dewey Riley, as portrayed by David Arquette , plus the home will be stocked with such 1990s sleepover snacks as Jiffy Pop, Reddi-wip and pizza.

"Protecting the town of Woodsboro is my life's duty, and I've certainly developed a knack for escaping Ghostface," Sheriff Riley said in a statement for the occasion. "As your host, I'll be keeping a watchful eye on guests to ensure no one gets surprised by an unexpected plot twist. Trust me, horror movies always keep it interesting, for better or for worse..." 

The opportunity to stay in the home is timed not only to Halloween but also to help promote the upcoming release of Scream , which is released on Jan. 14, 2022. David Arquette, Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott) and Courteney Cox (Gale Weathers) all reprise their roles in the new film. 

Airbnb users can request a one-night stay at the residence by visiting this link  starting Tuesday, Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. PT.

Anyone unable to enjoy a night in the abode can sign up for a virtual experience to hear Kevin Williamson , the screenwriter for the original film, reveal secrets about the franchise. Bookings also begin on Oct. 12 at 10 a.m. PT by clicking here .

Keep scrolling to see images of the home.

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Original scream house can now be rented on airbnb.

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The original home used in the final act of Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher hit Scream can now be rented as accommodation on Airbnb. Though the franchise has produced three sequels to date, with a fourth due to arrive this coming January, the home from the first film has not made any repeat appearances in the series. Nonetheless, Scream fans would love the opportunity to spend a night in the place where the identities of the Ghostface killers were first revealed.

Aside from playing a major role in rejuvenating the teen slasher genre for a new generation of horror fans, Scream also managed to reclaim aspects of horror filmmaking that had long since become cliché. The teenage victim, home alone and pursued by a seemingly ubiquitous masked killer, hellbent on murdering as many teens as possible, and of course, the house party in which everyone who says I’ll be right back never returns. The film is a love letter to all ridiculous and improbable horror concepts and as the series expanded, so too did its possibilities for when and where Ghostface could strike . Still, after all these years and sequels, many Scream fans will argue that it’s tough to find a better location for terror than Stu Macher’s parent’s house in the first Scream film.

Related: Scream: The True Story That Inspired The 1996 Slasher

Now thanks to Airbnb, that exact house is available for Scream fans to spend the night at. Officially listed to the popular accommodation site as of October 12, long-time cast member David Arquette will be hosting the rental as his Scream persona, Sheriff Dewey Riley. Arquette recently took the time to promote the home via his personal Instagram account, which can be booked by up to four guests for three separate available vacancies on October 27, 29, and 31 st :

Check in to the house is handled virtually with a welcome message from Sheriff Dewey. In addition to this, lucky guests will be provided with VHS copies of all four Scream films, a dedicated phone line for those brave enough to try and reach Ghostface, a kitchen full of 1990’s era snacks like Jiffy Pop and Reddi-whip, and the chance to take home Scream  memorabilia – though currently, exactly how this process works has not been explained. The listing also hints at the possibility that guests could receive a call from Ghostface at some point during their stay. Fans will remember that the home’s garage is where Dewey’s sister Tatum (Rose McGowan) met her unfortunate demise , and this is just one of several key film locations that the Macher house offers Scream devotees.

It’s also important to point out that despite the Scream franchise being popular around the world, the Airbnb listing is only available to those currently residing in the United States. This bit of bad news aside, a stay in the home would be a thoroughly memorable night for any Scream fan, and there’s really no better way to prepare for the upcoming fifth Scream film than to spend a night where it all began 25 years ago.

Next: How Stu Can Return And Be Reformed In Scream 5

Source: David Arquette

Key Release Dates

Scream (2022).

Attention 'Scream' Fans — You Can Now Visit Stu's House IRL

Published Oct. 29 2021, 11:00 a.m. ET

What's better than watching your favorite horror movie over and over each Halloween season? Visiting the house that was featured in it, of course. If you're one of the millions of Scream fans who can quote the original movie like it's nobody's business, you'll be happy to know that Stu's house is real. And if you'd like to see the place that was used for the final bloody party scene in 1996's Scream , you can visit the location yourself.

Where is Stu's house from 'Scream'?

In the movie, Stu's house is in the fictional Woodsboro, Calif. in the middle of nowhere. In real life, Stu's party house is located in Tomales, Calif., 70 miles north of San Francisco.

Although parts of Scream were shot on sets, other scenes are filmed in real buildings that were already standing prior to filming.

Although Stu's house isn't haunted, there are stories about people dying in the house before filming began in 1996. In the Behind the Scream documentary, Matthew Lillard, who plays Stu, says two people died in the house before it was used for the movie.

"It's kind of, like, an eerie house," he says in the documentary. "Actually, two people have died in this house. Literally, two people have died in the house. So coming up the hill and you're doing a Wes Craven film and somebody tells you, 'Oh, by the way, two people have died in the house,' it brings on an entirely new thing."

According to the New York Post , however, the two people who died in the house weren't murdered at the hands of two disgruntled teenage boys (like the plot to Scream ). Instead, Dirt reports that the original owners of the Scream house, Jack and Carolyn MacPhail, died from illnesses unrelated to the house itself.

The famous 'Scream' house was briefly an Airbnb.

Prior to the 2021 Halloween season, David Arquette, who plays Dewey in all of the movies, was part of a Scream promotion offering a few lucky fans the chance to stay in Stu's house. Per the Airbnb listing, the $5 stays included classic '90s snacks like Jiffy Pop and the chance to get a call from Ghostface on a landline phone.

It doesn't look like Stu's house from Scream is still an Airbnb, though. The house is situated on land that's part of what's called the Spring Hill Estate. It's a wedding venue for most of the year.

And even though most of the weddings featured on the venue's website are full of Pinterest-perfect palace settings and centerpieces, you have to expect that some horror film buffs have taken advantage of the fact that you can get married at Stu's house.

You’ll be experiencing some major 𝙙𝙚𝙟𝙖 𝙫𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙤𝙤 in #SCREAM5 . Remember this tweet. 🔪 pic.twitter.com/imuTp4NcRO — 𝙎𝘾𝙍𝙀𝘼𝙈 🔪 𝙊𝘽𝙎𝙀𝙎𝙎𝙀𝘿 (@Scream_Obsessed) October 16, 2020

'Scream 5' revisits the former party house.

Although Stu dies at the end of the first Scream , the trailer for 2022's Scream (which fans have dubbed Scream 5 ), shows Sidney and Gale back at Stu's house. There's also a shot in the trailer featuring one of the new characters in Stu's old house, leading fans to believe she now lives there.

Scream 5 's plot also suggests that the new Ghostface (or Ghostfaces, plural, because history could repeat itself here) is killing people related to the former victims.

Exactly how Stu's old house will factor in (beyond as the home of one of the possible Scream 5 victims) remains to be seen. But longtime fans are here for the ride.

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