- When Casey nurses his wounds in the bathroom at the beginning of the movie, graffiti above his head reads, "Tito and Tarantula." This is the band of Tito Larriva, who has composed music and acted in director Robert Rodriguez's other movies, Desperado (1995) and From Dusk Till Dawn (1996).
- Near the end, Marybeth refuses to take the alien drug test by saying she's allergic. Jordana Brewster's character Delilah says, "Yeah, and I'm Portuguese." In real life, Brewster can speak fluent Portuguese.
- Jon Stewart plays Prof. Edward Furlong in this movie. Actor Edward Furlong played John Connor in Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), chased by the T-1000 Terminator played by Robert Patrick (Coach Joe Willis).
- At one point, the principal suggests saving money by reusing the set from "Our Town". The joke in this is that Thornton Wilder's "Our Town" has no set.
- In a scene where students are being called to the principal's office, one name called is Thomas Nix. In reality, Tommy Nix is one of director Robert Rodriguez's friends from college. He helped Rodriguez write his second feature Roadracers (1994) (TV).
- The high school band in the football scene is from Austin High School in Austin, Texas, which is the high school that President George W. Bush's daughters, Barbara and Jenna, attended.
- The car Zeke drives is a 1970 Pontiac GTO.
- In one scene, Marybeth asks a girl punk where the office is. This girl is director Robert Rodriguez's sister.
- The role of Delilah was originally written for Charisma Carpenter. She turned it down because she felt the role was too similar to her character Cordelia on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). Councidently, Sarah Michelle Gellar who is another Buffy star, also turned down a role.
- In exchange for product placement in this film for clothier Tommy Hilfiger's fashion line, the teens from the movie's cast appeared together in a TV commercial & print ad campaign for Tommy Jeans throughout 1998.
- A lot of the filming was done at the high school in Lockhart Texas. The football team was used and the city was told to show up for the football game and were given fake t-shirts to wear in the stands.
- Cameo: [Harry Jay Knowles] [The bespectacled, red-haired teacher having his injury examined by Nurse Harper (Salma Hayek). Knowles is a long time friend of Robert Rodriguez and a fellow resident of Austin, Texas, where this movie was filmed.]
- Cameo: [The girl student with the black top and tan skirt who laughs at Elijah Wood getting his balls smashed into a flagpole was Austin rocker Sarah Talbot] who at the time was the front woman for The Hollywood Wife Beaters. Laughing at Wood was her idea and the director keep it in.
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Trivia items below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- SPOILER: When Jon Stewart's character is talking to Salma Hayek's, and she rebuffs him, he says, "Why don't you just stick a pen in my eye?" Later in the movie, that's exactly what the children do.
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