Death Screams

In the riverfront area, Ted and Angie are brutally killed while having sex, and their bodies are later dumped into the water. The act of violence sets a chilling tone for the town and signals that a killer is at large.

Bob and Kathy, both young college students, come home for summer vacation and decide to attend the traveling carnival on its last night. The plan brings together the group who will converge on the carnival and set the film's social dynamics in motion. Their choice to join the carnival promises a night of danger and thrills.

Lily, a local grocery clerk, feels she is being followed as she walks home. She and her grandmother Agnes then attend the carnival together, drawing Lily more deeply into the night's plans. The scene introduces Lily as a central figure in the ensuing events.

Neil Marshall, the town coach, makes overt romantic advances toward Lily at the carnival. His ex-girlfriend Sara witnesses this and responds by covering his car with shaving cream in a fit of anger. Her actions foreshadow a violent confrontation to come.

Shortly after, Sara is shot with an arrow and stumbles toward an abandoned carousel. An assailant suffocates her with a plastic bag, leaving the killer's identity still unknown. The murder marks the first clear escalation of the killer's activity.

At nightfall, Lily drops Bob and Kathy at their homes and agrees to meet them later at the river bonfire. The arrangement deepens the bond among the weekend group and sets up the night's central gathering. The river bonfire will be the scene of further peril.

Ramona goes to Neil's house to seek him out, but he rebuffs her advances. Sheriff Avery, meanwhile, faces tension at home when his wife calls to report that their son Casey has run away. The personal grief and town tensions foreshadow a volatile night.

Neil prepares to leave for the bonfire but hears noises in the attic above his garage. Avery arrives and discovers the garage smeared in blood, then a corpse falls from the rafters. The killer is already inside the town and closing in on the living.

At the bonfire, Sandy swims and laughs with the others as Ramona and Tom kiss nearby. The corpses of Ted and Angie drift into Sandy’s path, and she is murdered when her throat is slashed by the killer. The crowd remains unaware of the killer's proximity.

Bob, Kathy, Lily, and Ramona decide to visit the local cemetery after the bonfire, with the forest path offering a terrifically tense backdrop. A sudden rainstorm breaks out, forcing them to seek shelter and heightening the sense of danger. The eerie mood deepens as they move deeper into the night.

Seeking shelter from the rain, the group breaks into a nearby abandoned house. Diddle ventures outside toward the outhouse and is found hanged, a gruesome discovery that foreshadows the killer's reach. The tension among the survivors swells as fear takes hold.

Walker dies violently as he returns to his truck, his head severed by the killer. Sheila follows and is slain shortly afterward. Tom discovers severed heads and is then made a target himself in the cemetery.

Neil is revealed as the killer and bursts into the attic to attack Lily. She fights him off and slashes his throat with a shard of broken glass, buying a momentary victory. Sheriff Avery arrives and shoots Neil, ending his threat for the moment.

Police arrive to save Lily, Bob, and Kathy as the killer is finally neutralized. Sheriff Avery shoots Neil in the head, and the town begins to recover from the night's horrors. The film closes with the corpses of Angie, Ted, and Sandy floating near the dam in the river.