Scream

In the small town of Woodsboro, California, high school student Casey Becker is home alone when she receives a phone call from an unknown person. Their conversation about horror films turns sadistic when the caller reveals that her boyfriend, Steve Orth, is tied up on the patio. He forces Casey to answer horror trivia to save Steve's life, but after she incorrectly answers a question about Friday the 13th, Steve is murdered. Casey attempts to escape, but is fatally stabbed by someone wearing a "Ghostface" costume, and her disemboweled corpse is then discovered hanging from a tree by her parents.
The following morning, the media descend on Woodsboro as police investigate the murders. Casey's classmate Sidney Prescott is struggling with the approaching first anniversary of the rape and murder of her mother, Maureen, for which Cotton Weary was convicted. The trauma has also prevented Sidney from consummating her relationship with her boyfriend, Billy Loomis. With her father, Neil, traveling for work, Sidney waits at home alone for her friend Tatum Riley. Sidney receives a taunting phone call referencing Maureen's death before Ghostface attacks her. The killer flees moments before Billy climbs through her bedroom window, but Sidney becomes suspicious after he drops a cellular phone. Billy is arrested by Deputy Sheriff Dewey, Tatum's older brother.
Outside the police station, Sidney confronts investigative journalist Gale Weathers, whose book claims Maureen had several extramarital affairs, including one with Cotton, whom Gale believes was misidentified as the killer by Sidney. Later, while staying at Tatum's house, Sidney receives another call from the killer, mocking her for incorrectly accusing Cotton and Billy. Police trace the calls to Neil's cellular phone, but are unable to locate him.
Following his release, Billy further alienates Sidney by comparing his mother's abandonment to Maureen's death. After classes are suspended in response to the murders, Principal Himbry is killed in his office. To celebrate the school's closure, Stu Macher, Tatum's boyfriend, invites her and Sidney to a party at his secluded home while Dewey and Gale monitor the gathering in case the killer appears. Ghostface isolates Tatum in the garage and crushes her neck in the automatic garage door. As fellow student Randy Meeks explains the "rules" of surviving a horror film, news arrives of Himbry's murder, prompting most of the partygoers to leave to see his hanging body. They nearly run over Dewey and Gale, inadvertently leading them to Neil's hidden car.
Billy arrives to reconcile with Sidney, and the two have sex. Shortly afterward, Ghostface attacks and apparently stabs Billy. Sidney escapes the house while the killer murders Gale's cameraman, Kenny, and stabs Dewey. Attempting to flee in her news van, Gale crashes and is knocked unconscious. Sidney locks herself inside the house, trapping Stu and Randy outside as they accuse each other of being the killer.
Billy suddenly reappears, seemingly wounded, and lets Randy inside before shooting him, revealing both himself and Stu as the killer. Billy explains that they murdered Maureen after discovering her affair with his father, which caused Billy's mother to abandon the family. The pair kidnapped Neil to frame him for the murders, and proceed to stab each other to make themselves appear to be the sole survivors. However, Gale unexpectedly returns and distracts them, allowing Sidney to incapacitate Billy and kill Stu by dropping a television set on his head. Billy attacks Sidney one final time, but Gale shoots him. After Randy warns that horror film killers always return for one last scare, Billy lunges at them, and Sidney shoots him in the head, killing him. As dawn breaks, Neil is rescued, Dewey is taken away by ambulance, and Gale reports on the night's events.