Even though the title of the movie spoofs Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1991), almost the entire movie is a spoof of the movie Psycho (1960). Both films were inspired by Ed Gein.
One of two movies where Dom DeLuise plays someone with the word "pizza" in their name. The other was Pizza the Hut in Spaceballs - Mel Brooks' verrückte Raumfahrt (1987).
Martin Balsam, playing a detective who shares his name, spoofs his role as Milton Arbogast in Psycho (1960).
Cast of the movie includes at least 6 known movie directors: Ezio Greggio (director himself), Joe Dante (dying man on a street) and John Carpenter (Trenchcoat Man, appearing in the same scene as Dante), Rudy De Luca (Malicious Mel, the Checkout Maniac), John Landis (FBI Agent; Landis himself is known for casting other directors in his movies) and Mel Brooks (checkout guest). Also Dom DeLuise, John Astin, Tony Cox and Peter DeLuise, while primarily associated with acting all worked as directors at least once at the time of filming which makes it 10. If we also take into consideration Billy Zane, Sal Landi, David DeLuise, Lance Kinsey, Daniel McVicar, Rino Piccolo and Jeff Celentano then the final number of directors seen in the movie is 17. It might seem out of the blue addition, but Das Schweigen der Lämmer (1991), of which this movie is a parody also features a large number of directors in the cast and a number of 6 is usually drawn (although it is 7 if we count Jonathan Demme, director of the movie himself).
Malicious Mel, the Checkout Maniac (Rudy De Luca) is named after Mel Brooks, a frequent collaborator of both De Luca and director Ezio Greggio. Brooks himself appears later on in the movie.