What actually happens
A quiz with a bad prize
The movie starts in Woodsboro, California, with a teenager named Casey Becker alone in her house when an unknown caller rings. They talk about horror films, and the talk turns nasty when the caller reveals that Steve Orth, her boyfriend, is bound on the patio. Casey has to answer trivia questions to keep him alive, and she gets one wrong about Friday the 13th. Steve is killed. Casey runs, but someone in a Ghostface costume catches her and stabs her. Her parents come home and find her body hanging from a tree. That is the scene most people dread, and it comes first, so it is over before the rest of the movie starts.
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Sidney gets her own call
The next morning reporters and police fill the town. Sidney Prescott, a classmate of Casey's, is approaching the first anniversary of her mother Maureen's murder. Cotton Weary was convicted of it on Sidney's word. Her father Neil is away for work, so she waits at home for her friend Tatum Riley and gets a taunting call about her mother. Then Ghostface attacks her. The killer leaves just before her boyfriend Billy Loomis climbs in through her window, and Sidney grows suspicious when Billy drops a cellular phone. Deputy Dewey, who is Tatum's older brother, arrests him. Sidney then argues with the journalist Gale Weathers, who thinks Cotton was the wrong man. Another call comes while Sidney stays at Tatum's. The police trace the calls to Neil's phone but cannot find him.
A school closure and a house party
Billy is released, and he upsets Sidney further by comparing his mother leaving the family to Maureen's death. Classes are suspended because of the murders, and Principal Himbry is murdered in his office. To celebrate the closure, Tatum's boyfriend Stu Macher asks her and Sidney over to a party at his remote house. Dewey and Gale watch the party in case the killer shows up. Ghostface corners Tatum in the garage and uses the automatic door to crush her neck. Randy Meeks explains the rules for surviving a horror movie to the other guests, and then word arrives about Himbry's body. Most of the guests leave to go and look at it. On the way, they nearly hit Dewey and Gale, which leads the two of them to Neil's hidden car.
Everyone accuses everyone
Billy comes to the party to make up with Sidney, and they sleep together. Soon after, Ghostface attacks and seems to stab Billy. Sidney gets out of the house while the killer murders Kenny, Gale's cameraman, and stabs Dewey. Gale tries to drive away in her news van and crashes, which knocks her out. Sidney locks herself back inside the house, which leaves Stu and Randy on the outside. Each of them says the other one is the killer, and from where Sidney is standing, either could be right.
The ending, explained
Billy reappears, apparently wounded, lets Randy in and shoots him. That reveals him as one of the killers, with Stu as the other. Billy says they murdered Maureen after finding out she had an affair with his father, which made Billy's mother leave. They kidnapped Neil to frame him, and now they stab each other so they can pose as the only survivors. Gale comes back and distracts them. Sidney takes Billy down and kills Stu by dropping a television on his head. Gale shoots Billy, and Randy's warning about killers returning for one last scare proves right when Billy lunges again and Sidney shoots him in the head. At dawn Neil is rescued, Dewey goes off in an ambulance, and Gale reports on the night.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether there's a scene after the credits, so stay through them if it matters to you.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Scream scary?
Yes, Scream is a 5 out of 10 with a medium level of dread. Most of the fear is sudden masked jumps and tense phone calls, and the gore is a few stabbings and one grim scene in a garage.
How does Scream end?
Billy Loomis and Stu Macher are revealed as the killers. Sidney kills Stu with a television, and Billy is shot by Gale and then by Sidney. Sidney, Gale and Randy survive, Neil is rescued, and Dewey leaves in an ambulance.
Does the dog die in Scream?
No dog dies in Scream. The one animal that shows up is a cat that runs through a garage, and it's fine.
Is there a post-credits scene in Scream?
Nobody has confirmed whether Scream has a scene after the credits, so stay through them if it matters to you.
Who is Ghostface in Scream?
Ghostface is two people in Scream: Sidney's boyfriend Billy Loomis and his friend Stu Macher. They killed Sidney's mother Maureen a year earlier and spent the movie framing Sidney's father.
