The film took 8 weeks to complete. Because the production budget was only 15 million U.S. dollars, the producer had planned to shoot in Vancouver, because it saved 1 million compared to the United States, but Craven insisted on shooting in the United States, and almost because of opinions. Withdrawal due to differences, and in the end, the Weinstein brothers had to compromise. When looking for a filming location, the producers were very optimistic about North Carolina at first, but large-scale construction and renovation projects will inevitably cost a lot of filming expenses. The crew who transferred to California quickly took a fancy to Sonoma and Santa Rosa. In order to set the scene on the campus of Santa Rosa Middle School, the producer accepted the school’s request to read the script first. The violent content and ridicule of the film immediately angered the school board. The school management was afraid that this horror film would do bad to the students. As a result, the local newspaper immediately criticized the film, and the parents of the students also firmly opposed the crew's entry into the filming. The crew had to change to complete the filming at the Sonoma Community Center.
At the beginning of the production of the film, the first task that the special effects team took over was to create a mask for the killer in the film. Williamson did not explain the specific style of the killer mask in the script. While searching for a filming location, the film producer Marian Madeleine accidentally discovered a grimace mask. Craven hopes to adopt this mask, but the design copyright of the mask belongs to theclothing company. Although the special effects team submitted many designs, Craven thought it was not as good as the grimace mask. In order to avoid infringement, the special effects team had to try to modify it, but the effect was not satisfactory. When unable to do anything, the producer finally listened to Craven's suggestion and secured the right to use the mask.
