History Film / Scream1996

* UnrevealAngle: Casey unmasks the killer, but the camera moves up before the viewer can see the killer's true face.

* DeathBySex: Lampshaded.
-->'''[[MetaGuy Randy:]]''' Rule #1 [for surviving a horror movie]. You can never have sex. (boos from the crowd) Big no-no! Sex equals death, okay?

** [[spoiler:Sidney]] also qualifies when she first talks to the killer:

*** This leads to an IronicEcho, where she is forced to run upstairs instead of outside when the killer attacks moments later.

'''Stu:''' "I'll be right back!"

* GenreRelaunch: This movie's popularity revitalized the slasher sub-genre which had been flailing for the last several years with very few slashers being released period, let alone in theaters. ''Scream'' gave the sub-genre a credibility with critics it had never really had before (with even critics like Creator/RogerEbert who were notoriously harsh on most slasher films praising it) and its success led to not only sequels but also several other slasher films that featured LeaningOnTheFourthWall style-humor regarding horror cliches that also got theatrical releases (not to mention tons of DirectToVideo releases) and there were so many of these meta-slashers that eventually slasher films that played things more straight came back into vogue as well.

** Casey comments that the first ''Nightmare'' film was a great film but that its sequels were bad.

** [[spoiler:At one point in the climax, Gale flubs the chance to shoot Billy since the gun she stole from him and Stu had the safety on; Billy then kicks her into a porch post, rendering her unconscious, and snarks to her body about the safety. Later, as Billy's about to kill Sidney, Gale successfully shoots him, subsequently remarking, "Guess I remembered the safety ''that'' time, you bastard."]]
** [[spoiler:Shortly afterwards, as Gale, Randy and Sidney stand over Billy's body, Randy notes that in scary movies, [[ThisIsThePartWhere this is the moment when]] the seemingly defeated killer returns for "one last scare." Billy does just that, and Sidney immediately answers him with a bullet between the eyes before saying, "Not in my movie."]]

** The line that not only reveals [[spoiler:Stu as the killer, but combined with (and immediately following) the above, reveals there are ''two'' killers]].

** [[spoiler:At one point in the climax, Gale flubs the chance to shoot Billy since the gun she stole from him and Stu had the safety on; Billy then kicks her into a porch post, rendering her unconscious, and snarks to her body about the safety. Later, as Billy's about to kill Sidney, she successfully shoots him, subsequently remarking, "Guess I remembered the safety ''that'' time, you bastard."]]

** [[AvertedTrope Almost]] happens to Sidney when she has the foresight to lock the front door after receiving a threatening phone call from Ghostface... only for it to turn out that he was already inside the house, meaning that she had just locked herself in AloneWithThePsycho. Unable to get the front door open in time, she winds up having to run upstairs to escape -- exactly the move that she mocked as a cliche of TooDumbToLive slasher victims only minutes before!
** Randy too almost died because Ghostface snuck up behind him while he was watching ''Film/{{Halloween|1978}}'', berating Laurie Strode to look behind her. Had Ghostface not been distracted, Randy almost surely would've been killed right there. The kicker is that he is played by Creator/JamieKennedy, and Laurie is played by Creator/JamieLeeCurtis. What's he shouting? "[[ActorAllusion Look behind you Jamie! Jamie! Look behind you!]]"

** When Casey's parents return home, they notice that the front door is slightly ajar. [[spoiler: This hints at multiple killers because the killer Casey saw entered through the broken patio doors.]]
** In the beginning of the film when Billy and Sidney discuss their relationship, the song "Don't Fear the Reaper" plays, [[spoiler: which is rather fitting because Ghostface's costume in-universe is known as the Father Death costume.]]
** It happens pretty early on, but after Ghostface mysteriously disappears, [[spoiler: Billy]] conveniently happens to be going in Sidney's window. Dewey also finds the mask nearby, how odd is that? [[spoiler: At this point in time it was Stu as Ghostface, but the timing is impeccable and too convenient to not have been set up.]]

*** [[spoiler:An even smarter one with the same sentence. Stu was going to "be right back!" after he grabbed some beers from the garage. Given this was the location where Tatum was very recently killed, and that Stu didn't feel like her fresh corpse hanging from the doors was worthy of a mention, this foreshadows both that there is more than one killer; and that Stu is one of them.]]
*** And finally: [[spoiler: the fact that Stu says "''I'll be right back!''" not once but twice foreshadows that he's going to be pushing up daisies before the credits roll. Albeit delayed somewhat.]]
** The serial killer has an obsession with horror movies, right? [[spoiler: Billy, before the sex scene, compares Sidney's situation to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'', a horror movie which spawned the PsychologicalThriller genre, and also says 'It's all just a movie'.]]

---> "No, please don't kill me Mr. Ghostface! I wanna be in the sequel!"

---> ''[referring to horror movies]'' "They're all the same; some killer stalking some big breasted girl who can't act, who always runs up the stairs when she should be going out the front door. It's insulting."

* HaHaHaNo: When Randy asks Stu if he thinks Sidney would go out with him, Stu laughs and points at him in the most flamboyant way possible before putting on a deadly serious face and saying "No. I don't. At all. No."
* HarassingPhoneCall: In the opening scene, the killer calls Casey repeatedly before killing her. The next day, he calls Sidney repeatedly too.

** The line that reveals [[spoiler:Billy Loomis]] as the killer just before [[spoiler:he shoots Randy Meeks (albeit non-fatally)]]:

'''Randy:''' No, no! Big no no, big no!\\

''(crowd of drinking teenagers cheer and clink their beers)''\\

* BathroomStallOfOverheardInsults: Sidney hears a cheerleader and her friend heavily criticizing her in the bathroom of the school.

* BlownAcrossTheRoom: [[spoiler:Randy]] gets thrown backwards several feet by a gunshot.
* TheCameo: Creator/LindaBlair cameos as the reporter who asks Sidney "how does it feel to almost be brutally murdered?"

** [[spoiler: While the killer is approaching Randy, he's watching ''Halloween'' and is saying "turn around, Jamie" to Jamie Lee Curtis. Randy is played by ''Jamie'' Kennedy]].

-->'''[[spoiler:Stu]]:''' See, it's a fun game Sidney. We ask you questions and if you get one wrong, BOO-GAH!, you die.\\

** Well, this wouldn't be an actual trope. Randy is definitely known for his knowledge of horror movies, and plus, you have to remember they only believed it was Randy before 'shit got real' in their respective situations. In addition to this, Scream is a whodunnit as well, so as Randy states explicitly, everyone IS a suspect. So, this dialogue is intentional, to make Randy look suspicious.

* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Played straight, then later subverted.

* TakeThatCritics: Ghostface's line "Don't you blame the movies! Movies don't create psychos! Movies make psychos more creative!" is a dig at the people who blame violent media for the actions of crazed individuals. In fact, Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson put said line into the movie after dealing with the UsefulNotes/MotionPictureAssociation, who were concerned that the violence in ''Scream'' would inspire {{Copycat Killer}}s imitating the film.

-->[[spoiler: '''Sidney:''' (using voice changer) Not so fast. We're going to play a little game. It's called (in normal voice) guess who just phoned the police and reported your sorry mother fucking ass!]]

** Stu exclaims "''it's a scream, baby!''"

--> "I never thought I'd be so glad to be a virgin."

** In the intro, the phone call starts off like a friendly chat between two strangers, until...

** "Surprise Sidney", which not only reveals [[spoiler:Stu as the killer, but combined with (and immediately following) the above, reveals there are ''two'' killers]].
** [[spoiler:Billy Loomis']] MotiveRant to Sidney. Even [[spoiler:his accomplice Stu]] was shocked by this.

* HateSink: [[spoiler:Upon being revealed to be one of the killers, Billy is shown to be a deranged teenager who talks Stu into being his accomplice in terrorizing and murdering their friends. He also turns out to be a [[BastardBoyfriend manipulative creep of a boyfriend]] as he gets Sidney to sleep with him, shortly before revealing he and Stu are the ones who murdered her mother. Not even Billy's issues with his mother and his family breaking apart garner him sympathy, as he's seen by the survivors, with [[HatedByAll nothing but disdain]]. Ironically the only one who still cares for him is his mother, as the second movie shows.]]

* CommonKnowledge: InUniverse -- during the opening trivia game, Casey states that Jason Voorhees is the killer in the original ''Film/FridayTheThirteenth'' and objects to being told that this is the wrong answer. However, Ghostface is quick to point out that despite Jason becoming the BreakoutCharacter of his franchise, he didn't become the lead villain until the first sequel.

* FiveSecondForeshadowing: [[spoiler:Tatum's death has shades of this. First, the song that plays before Tatum enters the garage is "Drop Dead Gorgeous". Second, Tatum upon entering the garage immediately activates the garage door for light, and the camera notably has a lingering shot on the garage door and its smaller cat flap.]]
** Done with an actual thirty-second delay (but only five for the audience) when Sidney and Kenny the cameraman [[spoiler: are watching surveillance footage of the party and notice Ghostface creeping up on Randy. Kenny starts to head out of the van to warn him, but sees the front door open and remembers the delay just in time for Ghostface to appear and slit his throat.]]

* {{Homage}}:
** ''Film/Dementia13'': The shot of Casey being dragged across the grass is one.
** ''Film/Suspiria1977'': Casey's death hanging from the tree is one to the hanging death.
* GenreRelaunch: The film brought the Slasher genre, which had been struggling since its Golden Age ended along with the 80's, back invogue, due to its both lampshading many of the genre's clichés but also managing to still be quite scary in spite of it.
* GenreDeconstruction: Of slasher movies. Frustrated that the characters in a slasher flick never seem to [[WhatAnIdiot make the right decisions]] or [[IdiotBall lose intelligence around the killer]]? Here, the main cast are GenreSavvy, but ''so is the killer'', which only makes the film more intense as the characters make sound decisions and still get cut down. [[spoiler: The ending also wonderfully plays with so many horror movie expectations that it could almost take up a page by itself. The killer isn't a deranged mutant or [[BeautyEqualsGoodness horribly maimed individual]], but two relatively handsome and popular young white teens. There are two killers at play instead of just one. The climax of the film is one of the ''killers'' making a mistake instead of the main characters, which then allows the FinalGirl to get the upper hand. She then takes the gimmicks of Ghostface and plays them against the villains to freak them out as their plans fall apart, and dresses as Ghostface one final time to hide in the darkness of a closet and stab the killer when he's distracted.]]

* TheCheerleader: A cheerleader appears in the bathroom scene. As it fits with the trope of the bitchy cheerleader, she badmouths Sidney, who has just been attacked by the killer.

->''"What's your favorite scary movie?"''
-->--'''Ghostface'''

** At one point, [[spoiler:Sheriff Burke]] gets a close-up shot, which reveals that he wears the same kind of shoes as the killer. And then he barely appears for the rest of the film.

** Gale Weathers states that she thinks that Cotton Weary was framed for murdering Sidney's mother. [[spoiler:Turns out she's right; Billy did it.]]
** In the video store, Randy correctly states that [[spoiler:Billy]] is the top suspect and that [[spoiler:Sidney's dad]] is the RedHerring. Not only that, he calls [[spoiler:Stu]] a "stupid little lapdog" [[spoiler:when he's the accomplice to Billy's rampage]]. In addition, scary music plays when [[spoiler:Billy and Stu]] gang up on Randy.
** [[spoiler:Stu]] celebrates the closure of the school after [[spoiler:the principal]] is murdered.

*** And finally: [[spoiler: the fact that Stu says "''I'll be right back!''" foreshadows that he's going to be pushing up daisies before the credits roll. Albeit delayed somewhat.]]

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: In the video store, when Randy is telling Stu that "there's always some stupid, bullshit reason to kill your girlfriend", a woman behind him takes notice and decides to get away as he keeps getting creepier.

-->'''Sidney''': But this is life, this isn't a movie.
-->'''Billy''': Sure it is, Sid. It's all a movie. It's all one great big movie, only you can't pick your genre.
-->'''Sidney''': Why can't I be a Meg Ryan movie...''[beat]'' or even a good porno? ''[cue coitus]''

* CombatPragmatist: [[spoiler: After stabbing Billy with an umbrella, Sidney [[{{Squick}} sticks her finger through the wound]] to gain the upper hand]].

* TwoDunIt: [[spoiler: Billy and Stu]], as it happens. This is also true in later films but is less of a twist after this first film set the pattern.

--->'''Casey:''' Why do you want to know my name?\\
'''Ghostface:''' [[ParanoiaFuel Because I want to know who I'm looking at]].

* AdultFear: Hearing your daughter's weakening cries for "Mom" through the phone as she is dragged to her death is horrifying for any parent. Having it punctuated with seeing her body hanging from a tree, entrails hanging out, puts things firmly within this trope.

*** Randy pegs Billy as the killer and Stu tries to dissuade him by saying he thinks Sidney's dad is guilty because he's gone missing. [[spoiler:Randy responds by calling Stu a lapdog and suggesting that Sidney's dad is only a RedHerring. On rewatch, Randy is entirely correct, both by calling Stu a lapdog (since he's Billy's accomplice) and about Sidney's dad being a misdirect (as Billy and Stu plan to frame him for their crimes). It's also apparent that Stu is trying to make Randy think Mr. Prescott is guilty in order to frame him and keep suspicion off Billy.]]

** Randy pegs Billy as the killer and Stu tries to dissuade him by saying he thinks Sidney's dad is guilty because he's gone missing. [[spoiler:Randy responds by calling Stu a lapdog and suggesting that Sidney's dad is only a RedHerring. On rewatch, Randy is entirely correct, both by calling Stu a lapdog (since he's Billy's accomplice) and about Sidney's dad being a misdirect (as Billy and Stu plan to frame him for their crimes). It's also apparent that Stu is trying to make Randy think Mr. Prescott is guilty in order to frame him and keep suspicion off Billy.]]

* ShoutOut:
** A character named Billy ''[[Film/{{Halloween1978}} Loomis]]''. Casey also says that it's her favorite movie.
** Randy says that if the cops watched ''Film/{{Prom Night|1980}}'', they would find the suspect more quickly.
** Tatum says the killer could be a woman, as in ''Film/BasicInstinct''.
** Randy calls Billy [[Film/TheTexasChainsawMassacre "Leatherface"]] after he spots Billy arriving to the party.
** Billy calls Sid Creator/JodieFoster, presumably a ShoutOut to ''Film/TheSilenceOfTheLambs''.
** Billy also says they used corn starch for blood, like in ''Film/Carrie1976''.
** Stu states that Sidney branded Billy "[[Film/{{Candyman}} The Candyman]]".
** Sidney describes Woodsboro during the killing spree as "[[Film/TheTownThatDreadedSundown the town that dreaded sundown]]".
** ''Film/TheHowling'' is referenced by Randy when a woman at the video store is asking for "the movie with ''[[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial E.T.'s]]'' [[Creator/DeeWallace mom]] in it".
** In addition to ''Halloween'', ''Film/{{Hellraiser}}'' and ''Film/TerrorTrain'' are name-dropped.
** [[spoiler:During Tatum's death scene, she]] says to the killer "What movie is this? [[Film/ISpitOnYourGrave I spit on your garage?]]"

* WrongGenreSavvy: Tatum says that the killer "could easily be female". [[spoiler: Both killers turn out to be male, although the second and fourth movies have a female killer]].

* AttackTheInjury: After stabbing [[spoiler:Billy]] with the point of an umbrella, Sidney later jabs her digs her finger into the open wound.

** Billy is able to enter Sidney's house by climbing to her window. [[spoiler:It is implied this is how Stu (as Ghostface) manages to enter the house to attack Sidney as Billy later shows up at the same window, which is revealed to still be open.]]

** Dewey's gun is a more literal example. It first appears on Dewey's person due to Dewey's job as a cop and becomes important by the third act. [[spoiler:There, Dewey takes it out when investigating Stu's house, but after he is incapacitated, Sidney uses it to threaten Stu and Randy but unfortunately hands it off to Billy, who betrays her trust. Later, Gale steals it and pulls it on Billy and Stu to buy Sidney time to get away]] and it then turns into a ChekhovsBoomerang [[spoiler:when Gale manages to shoot Billy with it]].

** [[DrugsAreBad Never drink alcohol or do drugs]]. [[spoiler: (Though Randy drinks beer and survives as do most of the kids at the party.)]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: [[spoiler:Casey]] so very much. First she is psychologically tortured, including [[ForcedToWatch having to see her boyfriend die when she gets a question wrong]] then she gets her throat cut as she tries to escape, before finally being disemboweled. As if this weren't horrible enough, the killer then [[DeadGuyOnDisplay hangs her body up where her parents are sure to see.]]

* DeathlyUnmasking: An example of the inverted instance; after having her throat slashed and as she slowly bleeds out, [[spoiler: Casey]] takes off Ghostface's mask as she dies. The audience doesn't see the killer's face but she does. (Her look of recognition implies that the Ghostface in question is probably [[spoiler: Stu, her ex-boyfriend]].)

** Subverted, however, by [[spoiler:Sidney]], who has sex [[spoiler:(with the killer!)]] and still survives. [[spoiler:The killer ''does'' die after he has sex, so ... played straight?]]
* DeceasedFallGuyGambit: [[spoiler:Billy and Stu reveal this was the last stage of their plan, to kill Neil Prescott and plant the voice changer on him to make it look like he went insane one year after the death of his wife and went on a murder spree.]]

* EnvironmentalSymbolism: In the opening sequence, Casey popcorn burns and expands as the scene gets more intense.

* {{Fanservice}}: This is the most fanservicy of all the Scream films, with a scene of Neve Campbell in a leg barring dress and unclothing to sleep with her boyfriend. Likely as a commentary on the genre's reliance on skin and highlighting how vulnerable Sidney is.
* FinalGirl: [[spoiler: Sidney is a reconstruction of the trope. In spite of having sex and not being the most wholesome teenager, she is able to outwit the killer. However there are three other survivors too]].

** Done with an actual thirty-second delay (but only five for the audience) when Sidney and Kenny the cameraman [[spoiler: are watching surveillance on the party and notices Ghostface creeping up on Randy. Kenny starts to head out of the van to warn him, but sees the front door open and remembers the delay just in time for Ghostface to appear and slit his throat.]]
* ForTheEvulz: At first, [[spoiler:Billy]] admits to not having any particular motive for the killings, and just committing them for the fun of it. When pressed for a motive, however, [[spoiler:he reveals that it's also revenge for Sidney's mother having an affair with his father and breaking up his parents' marriage]]. On the other hand, [[spoiler:Stu]] appears to have been an outright example of this trope although [[spoiler:the film implies that Stu murdered Casey and Steve because Casey dumped him for Steve.]]

** It happens pretty early on, but after Ghostface mysteriously disappears, [[spoiler: Billy]] conveniently happens to be going in Sidney's window. Dewey also finds the mask nearby, how odd is that? [[spoiler: At this point in time it was Stu in Ghostface, but the timing is impeccable and too convenient to not have been set up.]]

*** And finally: [[spoiler: The fact that Stu says "''I'll be right back!''" foreshadows that he's going to be pushing up daisies before the credits roll. Albeit delayed somewhat.]]

** Before Randy explains the "rules", he pauses ''Film/Halloween1978'' at the exact point when Michael raises his knife to stab Bob. Throughout his explanation of the slasher rules, Randy stands in front of the television with Michael's knife pointed ominously at his back. [[spoiler:This foreshadows a later scene in which Ghostface raises his knife to stab Randy in the back but stops midway in his attack, allowing Randy to survive.]]

* GenreRelaunch: The film brought the Slasher genre, which had been struggling since its Golden Age ended along with the 80's, back in in vogue, due to its both lampshading many of the genre's clichés but also managing to still be quite scary in spite of it.
* GenreDeconstruction: Of slasher movies. Frustrated that the characters in a slasher flick never seem to [[WhatAnIdiot make the right decisions]] or [[IdiotBall lose intelligence around the killer]]? Here, the main cast are GenreSavvy, but ''so is the killer'', which only makes the film more intense as the characters make sound decisions and still get cut down. [[spoiler: The ending also wonderfully plays with so many horror movie expectations that it could almost take up a page by itself. The killer isn't a deranged mutant or [[BeautyEqualsGoodness horribly maimed individual]], but two relatively handsome and popular young white teens. There are also two killers at play instead of just on. The climax of the film is one of the ''killers'' making a mistake instead of the main characters, which then allows the FinalGirl to get the upper hand. She then takes the gimmicks of Ghostface and plays them against the villains to freak them out as their plans fall apart, and dresses as Ghostface one final time to hide in the darkness of a closet and stab the killer when he's distracted.]]

** [[spoiler:Billy and Stu qualify as they invoke horror movie tropes to trick and kill their victims and invoke some {{Whodunnit}} tropes to avoid suspicion by their potential victims and the police. Subverted in that they eventually decided to stab each other ''before'' trying to kill Sidney and her dad.]]

---> ''[referring to horror movies]'' "They're all the same; some killer stalking some big breasted girl who can't act, who's always runs up the stairs when she should be going out the front door. It's insulting."

* HateSink: [[spoiler:Upon being revealed to be one of the killers, Billy is shown to be a deranged teenager who talks Stu into being his accomplice in terrorizing and murdering their friends. He also turns out to be a [[BastardBoyfriend manipulative creep of a boyfriend]] as he gets Sidney to sleep with him, shortly before revealing he and Stu are the ones who murdered her mother. Not even Billy's issues with his mother and his family breaking apart granted him sympathy, as he's seen by the survivors, with [[HatedByAll nothing but disdain]]. Ironically the only one who still cares for him is his mother, as the second movie shows.]]

* IfItBleedsItLeads: Gale is bad at this (though she eventually gets better), the reporter played by Linda Blair is if anything worse:

** [[spoiler: Billy was manipulating Sidney all along to sleep with him, but he wasn't wrong that letting her mother's death ruin her fears of intimacy was an unhealthy way to live.]]

-->'''[[spoiler:Stu]]:''' See it's a fun game Sidney. We ask you questions and if you get one wrong, BOO-GAH!, you die.\\

* NeverTheObviousSuspect: The film loves playing with this trope. [[spoiler:Billy is the obvious suspect early on, but the film also likes pointing to Sidney's dad as an obvious suspect as well, given how the police have trouble tracking him down after the start of the Woodsboro murders. The trope is played straight with Sidney's father but subverted with Billy. It is also played straight with Stu but with the twist that he's only one of the two killers.]]

* NoodleIncident:A subtle one. Sidney and Tatum, upon being eventually threatened by Ghostface for the first time, both initially assume it's Randy playing a joke on them. Considering that both girls are shown to be pretty smart, and they come to this conclusion completely independently of each other, it does raise the question, what kind of pranks has Randy pulled before?
** Well, this wouldn't be an actual trope. Randy is definitely known for his knowledge of horror movies, and plus, you have to remember they only believed it was Randy before 'shit got real' in their respective situations.In addition to this, Scream is a whodunnit as well, so as Randy states explicitly, everyone IS a suspect. So, this dialogue is intentional, to make Randy look suspicious.

* {{Reconstruction}}: While the story carries a lot of GenreDeconstruction quirks, ''Scream'' functions as a attempt to revitalize the slasher movie genre by playing with particular tropes and making them frightening again. As just one example, Ghostface is yet another dime-a-dozen slasher movie villain, but his ingenuity and sheer persistence make him intimidating and throws off the audience. They're used to the killer being a slow-paced, lumbering MightyGlacier, so Ghostface ''sprinting'' towards his targets with his knife brandished makes him way more frightening, to say nothing of the ways he can manipulate people into falling for his tricks. As well, the identity of the killer is often something given to the audience fairly early into a slasher movie, with the focus more around the scares and gore than anything else. In ''Scream'', the identity of the killer is a huge plot point, arguably to the point of being a DrivingQuestion, which only serves to ratchet up the tension as the body count gets higher and the list of probable suspects gets even lower. [[spoiler: Which also works in the films favor when one of the supposed victims turns out to be the killer, and TheReveal that two people are acting in tandem as Ghostface.]]

** Played with beautifully in the case of [[spoiler:Billy]] in that the red herrings aren't red herrings at all. [[spoiler:The movie practically screams "this is the killer" whenever Billy's onscreen (a phone falling out of his pocket after a call from the killer, an unstable attitude, his tendency to show up only after someone is killed), and does it so much that everyone assumes this is the film trying to distract you from the real killer. The trickery is upped further when Sidney is taunted by Ghostface while Billy is being held by the police, and again when Billy is apparently killed. At this point, the viewer is led to think "so obviously that means it was Sidney's father the whole time!" It then takes the usual horror denouement of "the too-obvious red herring is killed off, and the real killer is the person the FinalGirl thought she could trust the most (her father)" in a very inventive direction by doubling back on itself: the RedHerring ''was'' the killer, his death was faked, there were actually ''two'' killers, and the guy you thought you could trust was trustworthy after all! In addition, with the revelation that Stu and Billy are the killers, the other suspects, including Sidney's father, are the real red herrings of the movie.]]

** [[spoiler: Principal Himbry]] is another major suspect, [[spoiler: at least for the first half of the film]]. His introductory scene has him touching Sidney a little too fondly to the point that the Sheriff gives him a concerned look. In a later scene, [[spoiler:Himbry]] threatens two prankster students with scissors, which showcases his violent nature. What helps in this misdirection is that the [[AudibleSharpness sounds that his scissors make]] are the same sounds made by Ghostface's knife.

** [[spoiler: Randy]] is a good fit for Ghostface in that like Ghostface, he too is a horror movie fanatic. In fact, during Sidney's first phone call with Ghostface, Sidney initially believes that the caller was [[spoiler:Randy]] trying to scare her. Later, [[spoiler:[[GenreSavvy Randy]]]] [[LampshadeHanging acknowledges]] this as he notes that if the Woodsboro murders were a [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall scary movie]], he would be the prime suspect. Once [[spoiler:Randy]] reveals that he has a crush on Sidney, it's pretty clear what [[StalkerWithaCrush type of motive]] he would have if he were the killer.

*** Ultimately, the killer's big, black shoes are a red herring as most of the suspects in the movie wear the same type of shoes.

** In the opening scene, Ghostface seemingly [[VillainTeleportation teleports]] around Casey's house. [[spoiler: On a first viewing, this seems to be the movie being sloppy and giving Ghostface OffscreenTeleportation powers, a common horror movie trope. However, on repeat viewings, one realizes this teleportation is realistically possible because there are two killers at the house not one.]]
*** Also relevant, Ghostface's final trivia question to Casey: "What door am I at?". [[spoiler: "He" was at ''[[BigBadDuumvirate both]]'' [[HeadsIWinTailsYouLose doors]].]]
*** Similarly, the fact that the killer knows his way around Casey's house is an early sign that it's someone familiar to Casey as [[spoiler: Stu, her ex-boyfriend, is.]]

** On a first viewing, Billy sneaking into Sidney's house is a romantic gesture. [[spoiler:On repeat viewings, the implication is darker as Billy has just finished murdering Casey and Steve and is only visiting Sidney to set up an alibi.]]

*** Then, Randy jokingly accuses [[spoiler:Stu]] of murdering Casey and Steve. In response, Tatum states that [[spoiler:Stu]] was at her house at the night of the murders, but Randy counters that [[spoiler:Stu]] could have been at Tatum's house before or after the murders. [[spoiler:On repeat viewings, one can infer that Stu was at Tatum's house after the murders since Billy arrived at Sidney's house after the murders as well. Most importantly, this scene shows how thorough Billy and Stu's plans were as they visited their girlfriends after the murders to set up their alibis.]]
*** After Randy questions the legitimacy of [[spoiler: Stu's alibi]], [[spoiler:Stu]] is noticeably less cocky and denies murdering anyone to which [[spoiler:Billy]] has to reassure [[spoiler:Stu]] that no one seriously accused [[spoiler:Stu]] of anything. When the conversation becomes more comedic again, [[spoiler:Stu [[BlackComedy threatens to gut Randy]], which in hindsight, becomes less funny when one realizes that later on, Stu comes close to killing Randy while the latter is too busy watching ''Film/{{Halloween|1978}}''.]]
** After [[spoiler:Tatum's]] murder [[spoiler:Billy]] shows up wanting to talk with Sid. Notice [[spoiler:the look he gives Stu, clearly signalling that he took care of business.]]
** For a first time viewer, it seems like Stu's mockingly declaring "I'll be right back!" just seconds after being warned not to by Randy is just another instance of many of Stu being a dumbass. [[spoiler: On repeat viewings, we realize that the real reason for his confidence and prankish tone is because he knows he genuinely has nothing to fear from breaking any of Randy's rules as he is one of the killers himself.]]

** Combined with FreezeFrameBonus, as [[spoiler:Billy is "killed" he turns to Sidney with blood all over his shirt, but behind him you can see Ghostface quickly tuck the clean blade of the knife into his hand, making a kind of squeezing motion. Sidney looks to the killer, who shows her the bloody knife before wiping the blade clean again. Stu was applying the fake blood to the knife while Sidney was distracted.]]

** [[spoiler:Billy and Stu's plan was to kill Sidney and her father, Neil, and claim that he had gone insane and killed everyone in a DeceasedFallGuyGambit. Presumably this relied on nobody being able to notice that Neil had been tied up in Stu's house for a day and that the murders were actually committed by two people.]]
** [[spoiler:It's also implied briefly towards the end that this is Billy's ultimate plan regarding Stu as he stabbed Stu too deep with the knife (which Stu notices). It's possible although not outright confirmed that Billy was planning to frame Stu as Neil's partner.]]

* SlasherSmile: The killer [[spoiler: Billy Loomis]] pulls off an epic one near the end. While his partner yammers on about "watching a few movies, take a few notes", he merely stands there and silently starts smiling, till it's a full on grin, heading into TechnicallyASmile territory. Interestingly, while all the other Ghostfaces pull off some form of PsychoticSmirk during the movie, [[spoiler: Billy Loomis]] is the only one to really look like he's going to become LaughingMad from revealing his plans. It sends a shiver down your spine.
* SlashersPreferBlondes: Redheaded Drew Barrymore wore a blonde wig to play the film's opening victim Casey. [[spoiler: Tatum who is also blonde dies, and her actress likewise is not a natural blonde. Both female survivors are brunette]].

* SuburbanGothic: High school students in an upper class suburban town begin turning up dead and the killer[[spoiler:s are two of their classmates, born and raised in town, who have been planning this murder spree for the past year since they killed the protagonist's mother.]]

** For a pre-Columbine movie, the film shows the aftermath of the deaths of two high school students fairly accurately. The school atmosphere is pretty low, there's grief counselors meeting with the students, and the principal has a no tolerance policy when two pranksters run around in the mask the killer wore.
** [[spoiler:Injuries dealt by a knife are incredibly painful even if the wounds are non-lethal. Billy and Stu learn this the hard way when they try to give each other staged injuries to better establish Sidney's dad as the scapegoat.]]
* SuspectExistenceFailure: [[spoiler:Billy asks, soulfully, what he has to do to prove his innocence. A second later the killer leaps into the room and stabs him. Because ''Scream'' never met a trope it didn't want to [[PlayingWithATrope play with]], it turns out Billy's the killer ''anyway''. There were two killers and they engineered the whole thing to screw with Sidney.]]

* JustForFun/TelevisionIsTryingToKillUs: Invoked InUniverse when [[spoiler:Stu and Billy stab each other to [[DeliberateInjuryGambit make themselves appear to be another pair of victims]] in Ghostface's killing spree. However, they have no idea how debilitating just a single stab wound to the gut really is since they've based all of their medical knowledge on horror movies, and as a result, Sidney has a significant advantage when fighting back against them.]]

For the 1981 movie by the same title, see ''Film/{{Scream 1981}}''. For the 2022 reboot/sequel to this film, see ''Film/{{Scream 2022}}.

For the 1981 movie by the same title, see ''Film/{{Scream 1981}}''.