The horror comes from the crowd's reaction. They think it’s a publicity stunt. They cheer. They film it on their camcorders. This scene is Craven’s brutal indictment of desensitization. We, the audience, are the monsters who treat murder as entertainment. It is visceral, shocking, and immediately sets apart as a film with something to say.
In an era before broadband internet was ubiquitous, pirated copies of the script flooded fan sites. The original plan featured a very different killer reveal and different survivors. In a desperate, unprecedented move, Williamson scrapped the entire third act while filming was already underway. He rewrote the ending from a hotel room in Los Angeles, faxing pages to the Atlanta set daily. Scream 2
The death scenes are always more elaborate ("carnage candy"). Never assume the killer is dead. Subversion The horror comes from the crowd's reaction