slasher flick." However, it is also important to note that in this brief instant, Craven juxtaposes the commonplace ringing of a telephone with the more infrequent and horrifying sounds of a knife and a scream; this contrast immediately establishes a close tie between an average household scene and impending violence.
             Throughout the opening scene and Scream as a whole, the otherwise-average phone continues to function as a horrifying device, eliciting fearful responses in the audience and in the film itself. The beginning sequence is structured around six phone calls; with each phone call the audience and Casey, the protagonist, become more nervous and suspicious of the caller. All of the contact between Casey and the caller is over the phone; thus, advantages of technology which we take for granted on a daily basis, allow the killer to have a real, threatening presence without actually being inside the house. As this presence is manifested almost completely through the telephone, we can say that, in Scream, the commonplace object assumes a
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