Scream: Woodsboro in Sonoma County

Casey Becker is home alone when the phone rings. The caller has her boyfriend, Steve Orth, tied up on the patio and makes her answer horror-film trivia to save him. She gets a Friday the 13th question wrong, Steve is murdered, and Casey is stabbed before her parents find her body hanging from a tree. The opening was shot at a house on Sonoma Mountain Road in Glen Ellen, southeast of Santa Rosa, and the film uses the house's isolation.

Location precision: Casey's house is fictional; the pin marks the Glen Ellen house on Sonoma Mountain Road used for the opening.

Sidney Prescott waits at home alone for Tatum Riley when the phone rings. The caller taunts her about her mother's death, and then Ghostface comes through the house; Sidney fights him off. Billy Loomis climbs through her bedroom window moments later, and the cell phone he drops makes her suspect him. The house used for the attack is at 1820 Calistoga Road, north of Santa Rosa.

Location precision: Sidney's house is fictional; the pin marks the Santa Rosa house at 1820 Calistoga Road used for the filming.

Outside the police station, Sidney confronts Gale Weathers, the journalist whose book claims Maureen Prescott had several extramarital affairs, including one with Cotton Weary, and that Cotton was misidentified as her killer. The confrontation follows Billy Loomis's arrest and puts Sidney face to face with the reporter who wrote the book about her mother's death. The exterior was shot at the Healdsburg Police Station, on the town square.

Woodsboro High was meant to be Santa Rosa High School, chosen for its gothic, castle-like look, but the Santa Rosa school board refused permission in March 1996 after objections to the script's violent content. The production moved to the Sonoma Community Center, a former elementary school at 276 East Napa Street in Sonoma, and modified it with larger desks and lockers to pass as a high school. In the film, classes are suspended after the murders and Principal Himbry is killed in his office.

Visitor guidance: The former school at 276 East Napa Street is now the Sonoma Community Center.

The town square is where the teenagers gather by the fountain to trade the grisly details of the Ghostface murders. The central cast shot a major scene around that fountain, and the square stands in for Woodsboro's civic heart, with the police station exterior nearby. Healdsburg is a Sonoma County city on the Russian River, and the 1996 film was shot in and around the town.

Visitor guidance: Healdsburg Plaza is the public square in the center of Healdsburg.

Randy Meeks, played by Jamie Kennedy, is the group's horror-film enthusiast and works at Bradley Video, the rental shop that appears in the film. The store was a real Santa Rosa shop at 3080 Marlow Road, and it is listed among the Santa Rosa locations the production used. Randy later explains the rules of surviving a horror film at Stu's party, but the video store is where he spends his working hours.

Sidney stays at Tatum's house after the first attack, and the killer calls again, mocking her for accusing Cotton Weary and Billy Loomis. The call is traced to Sidney's father's cell phone, deepening the fear that Neil Prescott is involved. It is the second time the killer has reached Sidney by phone. The interiors of Tatum's home were filmed at 824 McDonald Avenue in Santa Rosa.

Location precision: Tatum's house is fictional; the pin marks the Santa Rosa house at 824 McDonald Avenue used for its interiors.

Stu Macher invites the group to a party at his secluded house to celebrate the school closure. The party becomes the film's 42-minute climax: Tatum is killed in the garage, Randy explains the rules, and Billy and Stu are revealed as the killers who murdered Maureen Prescott. Sidney fights back, and Stu dies under a television set. The house was an unoccupied property in Tomales, chosen for its isolated, foreboding atmosphere; it is a private house overlooking the town.

Location precision: Stu's house is fictional; the pin marks the Tomales property used for the finale.