Scream 2 makes fun of the first Scream (1996) when Gale Weathers writes a book based on the Woodsboro murders and turns it into a movie called Stab. "We have fun of the idea that she didn't quite get it right," says screenwriter Kevin Williamson.
In the beginning of Scream 2, Maureen wanted to see a "Sandra Bullock" movie, playing right down the street.
Magazines Entertainment Weekly and Black Beat are mentioned during the conversation between Maureen and Phil.
In the film Stab, the Casey Becker portrayer gets naked and turns on the shower, which is in reference to Janet Leigh's shower scene in Psycho (1960).
Do note that the phrase "sequels suck" is heard throughout the film, dishing out all the self-parody of horror sequels. "So, of course, the big discussions in [Sidney's drama] class are whether sequels are bullshit or not," says Wes Craven. Films that were mentioned during Randy's film class sequence included The Godfather (1972), The Godfather: Part II (1974), Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), The Terminator (1984), Terminator: Judgement Day (1991) and House II: The Second Story (1987).
Murphy mentions the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon game when talking to Sidney.
Hans Zimmer's music from Broken Arrow (1996) is used as part of the score for Scream 2. Mainly as Dewey's theme.
When Hallie is looking through her closet, a striped sweater is hanging on the door that resembles Freddy Krueger's sweater in Wes Craven's A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
Cici talks about a recent episode of Party of Five (1994), which happens to be the one-hour TV-drama series Neve Campbell stars in.
Cici is flipping through channels and comes across Nosferatu, eine Symphonie des Grauens (1922).
One of Cici's friends imitates the theme from Friday the 13th (1980) on the phone.
Mickey and Randy argue about Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980) at the frat party. Hallie then mentions the "furry" Ewoks from Return of the Jedi (1983)
When Gale arrives at the Omega Beta Zeta house, Joel mentions Faces of Death (1978).
Officer Richards and Officer Andrews are assigned as Sidney's bodyguards. The names of the detectives are in reference to Kyle Richards and Brian Andrews who portrayed the two young kids in Halloween (1978).
Hallie asks Sidney which one of the police detectives is Kevin Costner, which is in reference to The Bodyguard (1992).
In the campus cafeteria, Mickey explains to Hallie that Derek is mocking the movie Top Gun (1986), when he starts singing a love song to Sidney from the TV show The Partridge Family (1970).
Randy states that Joe Blow nobody, the stagecoach driver from one episode of Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman (1992), plays him in the movie Stab, while David Schwimmer plays Dewey. Schwimmer happens to be one of the stars of Friends (1994), a show in which David Arquette made a guest appearance on.
When Randy points out the suspects to Dewey, he mentions Mrs. Vorhees from Friday the 13th (1980) and Candyman (1992).
When Gus Gold is discussing the drama play with Sidney, he repeatedly mentions fate. There was a similar scene in Halloween (1978), where Laurie (the protagonist like Sidney) is sitting in a classroom, and an unseen teacher is going on about the different ways fate was thought of by philosophers.
Sidney stars in the drama play Cassandra (1986), which reflects her own life.
Regarding nude shots of herself on the Internet, Gale Weathers cracks: "It was just my head on Jennifer Aniston's body." Aniston is Courteney Cox's co-star in the sitcom Friends (1994).
When Dewey, Randy and Gale start talking about dead bodies, Joel begins to leave and tells them he'll be back when they talk about more like something out of TV's Saved by the Bell (1989).
In response to the killer's question, Randy proclaims Showgirls (1995) as his favorite scary movie since it was "absolutely frightening".
Randy mentions Final Exam (1981), Graduation Day (1981) and Splatter University (1984), The House on Sorority Row (1983) and The Dorm That Dripped Blood (1970) while talking with the killer on the phone.
Randy mentions Manson, Bundy, O.J. and Son of Sam as previous killers.
Cotton Weary encourages Sidney to do an interview with "class act" Diane Sawyer.
Mickey predicts to Sidney he'll get Dershovitz and Cochran to represent him during the trial, with Bob Dole on the witness stand and Christian Coalition paying his legal fees.
Mickey tells Sidney she has a Linda Hamilton thing going, which is a reference to Hamilton's pumped-up role in T2: Judgement Day (1991).