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| “ | Thank God you're okay… because I really… really wanted to be the one to kill you. | „ |
| ~ Richie Kirsch revealing himself as he stabs Sam. |
| “ | What are you gonna do now, huh? Make a scary phone call to me? Pop out of that closet in a Ghostface mask? No, 'cause you are the villain… and the villain DIES IN THE END! THOSE ARE THE RULES! | „ |
| ~ Richie sadistically gloating before he attempts to kill Sam. |
Richard "Richie" Kirsch is the main antagonist of the 2022 slasher film Scream and the overarching antagonist of its 2023 sequel Scream VI.
He is a devout fan of the in-universe film franchise Stab who plotted a killing spree alongside his lover and partner Amber Freeman in order to make a new sequel for the series in their own image. He is Sam Carpenter's boyfriend-turned-archenemy, Wayne Bailey's son, and the older brother of Ethan Landry and Quinn Bailey.
He is played by Jack Quaid, who also played Marvel in The Hunger Games and the Lizard in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. Whilst in-disguise, he is voiced by Roger L. Jackson. In-costume scenes as Ghostface were portrayed by Keith Ward, Paul Burke and Jack Quaid.
Biography[]
Past[]
Richie was an obsessed fan of the Stab franchise. Despite claiming that the "whole franchise went off the rails by number 5", he still loved all the films. He was excited to see the reboot, Stab, the eighth film in the series. However, he swirled into a rage after he deemed the film the worst in the series, claiming it ruined the franchise.
Richie started lurking the Stab Reddit, where he met Amber Freeman, another fan of the series who also hated the eighth film and lived in Woodsboro, California. After a correspondence, the two began a romantic relationship and began to plot a murder spree that would inspire a new reboot that would "save" the franchise. Amber informed Richie that the town drunk was the mother of a girl named Samantha Carpenter, the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis. Richie tracked Sam down and started dating her.
Scream (2022)[]
One night, Tara Carpenter, Sam's estranged sister, is attacked and stabbed repeatedly by Amber in Woodsboro. Richie had previously recorded a video of Amber brushing her hair in her room, which they then used to trick Tara into playing along. Richie was also been the one talking to Tara on the phone. Tara is badly injured, but survives the attack. The next day, Richie is seen at work flirting and spending time with Sam. Tara's attack trickd Sam into returning to Woodsboro. Richie comes with for "moral support", but in reality goes with because he needs to aid Amber on their killing spree.
Richie listens to Dewey's rules.
He later takes the role of the Ghostface at the hospital, when he tries to attack Sam, but fails. The next day, he and Amber go after Tara and Sam at the hospital. First, Amber attacks and he pretends to save the two sisters but Dewey Riley eventually intervenes and leads them to the elevator, where he sends them off alone without him to guard them. He goes to try to finish off Amber by shooting her in the head, but instead, she stabs and kills Dewey.
Tara is traumatized by this and after reconciling with Sam after their fight and saving Tara's life, Sam decides they they leave Woodsboro and go somewhere secret and safe. Richie drives them out of Woodsboro, but secretly hides Tara's inhaler. She realizes her inhaler is missing, but remembers she left one at Amber's house previously. Richie pretends to refuse and be scared of going but drives them to Amber's house anyway, where there is a party going on in honor of awes after he and his mom were murdered. Richie gets everyone to leave the party. At this time, Amber goes alone to get some drinks, although she actually goes downstairs alone so she can get dressed as Ghostface and attack Chad Meeks-Martin. However, she is caught by Mindy, Chad's sister, who begins to suspect her and tells her to go upstairs.
Amber goes outside and attacks Chad savagely, but Amber fails to kill him because she sees Tara and Sam arriving at the house. Inside the house, Richie asks Mindy if he can go to the basement and grab some drinks but then returns from the basement and attacks Mindy, stabbing her. However, Richie does not succeed in killing her. During a conversation between the suspects later on, Amber reveals herself to be one of the two killers. However, Richie runs with Sam downstairs, and as he remarks that there must have been two killers, Sam begins to realize that he was the more prominent Ghostface, and she ran to save Tara and Sidney Prescott.
As the protagonists fight Amber on the stairs, he comes and pretends to help, until he stabs Sam with a knife, just before he reveals himself to be Ghostface and therefore the second killer as well as the more prominent one. He reveals that he used the disguised voice machine while he was Ghostface, and had Tara's inhaler the whole time to lure both her and Sam into Amber's house. While that he was bossing Amber around as the two of them wanted to make a "requel" by killing innocents and frame Sam to make her look like villain in their movie since she's related to the first Ghostface killer Billy.
Richie then sends Amber to kill Tara but Amber warns Richie that Tara is not there. Richie and Amber do not know that earlier, Sam released Tara, as she wasn't fooled by Richie's lies when he tried to turn Sam against Tara. They stage a little trap for the two Ghostfaces and, as Amber tries to find Tara, she hits Amber with her crutches, then multiple times as she's knocked to the ground, Sam them attacks Richie when he got distracted by Amber's grunts, as she violently bites him in the arm where Amber scraped him to pretend she tried to kill him earlier, and Sam escapes and hides as Richie chases her.
After Amber fights the heroes, she surprisingly manages to knock Tara down, then fights Sidney and Gale to the death, she managed to get the upper hand quick on both of them but them they both get the upper hand on her, as Gale throws her into the stove and burn her alive, Richie starts to battle with Sam, and reveals his true colors one more time, implying that she should have never trust a lover and that villains like her meet their ends. However, she eventually had the upper hand and she stabbed him multiple times in a psychotic fight of rage. As Richie lies injured and terrified, begging for his ending, Sam sadistically twists his words with no mercy slits his throat open, putting an end to Richie's life and killing spree forever. The others arrive, and Sidney warns that the killers will come back for one last time. Sam then shoots Richie in his chest and face multiple times to make sure that won't be the case.
Scream VI[]
After his death, Richie's film scheme inspires Jason Carvey and Greg Bruckner to plan their own Ghostface killings. However, a different Ghostface killed Greg and Jason, beginning the New York Ghostface Murders. It is eventually revealed that these latter murders are committed by Wayne Bailey, Ethan Landry, and Quinn Bailey. All of the trio turn out to be Richie's family. Wayne, along with his other kids, Ethan and Quinn, tried to avenge Richie's death.
Richie's family.
In addition, it is revealed that Ghostface's shrine belonged to Richie as his father never shared his love of movies, but helped him build the shrine from the evidence he had collected over the years, because, he really loved his son. The family fail to avenge Richie, however, as each of them is killed by the Carpenter sisters due to their lack of proper teamwork, lack of focus, heavy arrogance and gloating too much like Richie did which led to all their deaths same as him.
Personality[]
Richie appeared to be very nice, shy and supportive to help Sam, but in reality like Amber, Richie is a sadistic and psychopathic cold blooded killer who enjoys hurting others. Whatever love he gave to people, most notably to his girlfriend Sam, was all a ploy to avoid suspicion. The only exception to his cruelty is Amber, who he seems to truly love, and was even visibly horrified when Dewey shot Amber when she was under the mask. Moreover, despite his unfavorable attitude, it is implied that he is on good terms with his family because they will try to avenge him in Scream VI. Richie has showed to be a real selfish hypocrite, he took the advantage of Sam and Tara's argument he overheard in the hospital, later to trick Sam into turning against Tara because of her rude behavior and her miracle survival, and somehow tied up, trying to make Sam think she's the killer but it didn't fool Sam at all and untied her so they can stop Richie and Amber with the help of Sidney and Gale. Richie was shown to be a coward during his fight against Samantha as he acted arrogantly when he was in a favored position but when Samantha gained the upper hand, he started panicking, crying and begging her mercy.
However, unlike Amber, whose sadism is largely motivated by thrill-seeking and curiosity, Richie's sadism is largely motivated by ego and self-righteousness. As a result, both killers have their own characteristics. When Richie attacks people (like Mindy) there tends to be only one deep stab wound. As opposed to Amber, when she attacks her victims (like Tara) they tend to be stabbed brutally numerous times.
According to Scream's directors, most, if not all, of the killings were carried out by Amber, and this is explained by the fact that she was the muscle and the knife of the team, while Richie was more of a liaison and in the mind of the duo. Richie is a strategist, cunning, sadistic and manipulative, managing to convince Sam for a short time that his sister Tara could be one of the Ghostfaces. He also managed to hide Tara's inhaler so that she could go to Amber's house and the two of them could put their plan into practice.
Richie flatly rejected the idea of "toxic fandoms", declaring that fandoms are about love and passion, and genuinely viewed himself as a kind of hero to save his beloved Stab franchise that he felt had been ruined. The fourth murder spree had not been adapted into a film because years prior Sidney had threatened to sue Sunrise Studios, the company making the Stab films. This resulted in the creation of a reboot called "Stab", which was universally panned. Richie and Amber were especially upset, though Richie was clearly more angry about it than Amber. So, Richie devised a way to get Sidney to come to Woodsboro and kill her, so Sunrise Studios would be able to make a film based on true events again.
Victims[]
Confirmed Victims[]
| Wes Hicks | Stabbed in the neck. |
Speculated Victims[]
| Vince Schneider | Stabbed in the neck. | |
| Deputy Clay | Throat Slit. |
Quotes[]
| “ | Richie/Ghostface: Hello. Is Christina there? Tara: No, she's not available. May I take a message? Ghostface: Ah, yeah, um... Sorry, I'm a friend of hers from group... Oh, shit... Tara: From her shit? Ghostface: Look, just... tell her I'm from group. I'm Charlie, she's got my number. Tara: She goes to your group? Ghostface: I shouldn't have... Just tell her that Charlie called. Tara: I will do exactly that, Charlie, once you tell me, what kind of group we're talking about. Is it AA? NA? Ghostface: You sound exactly like she describes you. Tara: She talks about me in group? Ghostface: Look, I don't think I can really talk about that. Tara: What does she say about me? Ghostface: Well, she loves you very much. Tara: Oh, what does she love about me? Ghostface: Um, well... She loves that you're creative. You love art and TV and movies. Tara: Lots of people love movies. Ghostface: Yeah, but she says you love scary movies and that you guys have that in common. She's proud of making a fan out of you. Tara: She is? Ghostface: Yeah, she told me the other day, she wonders... what's your favorite scary movie? Tara: The Babadook, it's an amazing meditation on motherhood and grief. Ghostface: Isn't that a little fancy pants? Tara: Well, it's elevated horror. Ghostface: Uh-huh, what does that mean, "Elevated horror"? Tara: It's scary, but with complex emotional and thematic underpinnings, it's not just some schlocky, cheeseball nonsense with wall-to-wall jumpscares. Ghostface: Sounds kind of boring to me. Have you ever seen "Stab"? Tara: Once, I think, at a sleepover when I was, like, 12. Ghostface: You live in Woodsboro and you don't know "Stab"? Your mother loves that movie, she talks about it all the time in group. How well do you remember the original? Tara: I don't know I mean, it was super '90s. It was really over-lit and everyone had weird hair. Ghostface: Uh-huh... Do you remember the beginning? Tara: Not really. It started with a kill scene, right? They always started with a kill scene. Ghostface: Yeah, that's right. That's right... It's a girl at home, alone. She answers a wrong number and starts talking with the killer, who makes her play a game. Would you like to play a game... Tara? |
„ |
| ~ Richie's phone call with Tara. |
| “ | Tara: [thinks she talks to Amber] This isn't f-cking funny, Amber. Richie/Ghostface: I told you, this isn't Amber... [Richie shares a video of Amber to Tara] Amber's looking particularly fetching tonight, she really shouldn't leave her phone lying around for anyone to clone. Tara: What do you want? Ghostface: I told you, I want to play a game. "Stab" movie trivia, three rounds. You call the cops - she dies. You get a question wrong - she dies. Her parents aren't home and I can be in that room in 15 seconds. You want a warmup question? Tara: I told you I don't know these movies! Ask me about something I do know. Ask me about "It Follows", ask me about "Hereditary", ask me about "The Witch"... Ghostface: In the first "Stab" movie, what Woodsboro native was introduced as the franchise's main character? Tara: It's Sidney Prescott, it's Sidney Prescott and she lived on Elm. Ghostface: Correct. You see, you're gonna do great at this. Okay, question one... Tara: No, I got that one right, it should count. Ghostface: Anyone could have gotten that one right. Sidney is in every movie but the last one. Question one: Who wrote the original book, that the "Stab" movies are based on? Tara: Um... The chick from TV! Ghostface: "The chick from TV" is not gonna cut it, Tara. Tara: Oh, Gale Weathers! It's Gale Weathers, you motherf-cker! Ghostface: Correct, Amber might live to see the sunrise. Question two: Who played the dumb bitch at the beginning of "Stab 1" who answers the phone and gets carved up by the killer? Tara: F-ck you! Ghostface: Is that the answer you're going with? A non-answer counts as a wrong answer, Tara. Time's running out. Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock... Tara: Heather Graham! Ghostface: Correct! You pulled that one out, now for the final question: Who was the killer in "Stab 1"? Tara: Oh, I know this one, you f-ck! It's Billy Loomis! It's Billy Loomis and he was Sidney's boyfriend and he was played by Luke Wilson, and I got you, asshole! I got it, I got it right! Ghostface: Oh, I'm sorry, Tara, but that's just not correct... Tara: What? No, no, it is... It is that is right... Ghostface: The correct answer is Billy Loomis, and - Stu Macher! There are two killers in the original "Stab". I'm afraid someone's got to die now. |
„ |
| ~ Richie plays a "game" with Tara. |
| “ | Richie: I’ve actually never seen Stab. Sam: You’ve never seen Stab? Not even the one that came out last year? Richie: I’ve never seen Gone With the Wind either, but I don’t consider it like a huge hole in my cinematic education. Sam: Most of the Stab movies are based on things that happened here. Richie: Define “things”. Sam: Things like… a guy named Billy Loomis and his friend carved up a bunch of high-school kids while wearing this Halloween ghost mask. Richie: You mean like in Halloween? Sam: No. Not like in Halloween. Richie: Sounds a lot like Halloween. Sam: All right, it’s a little like Halloween. And every decade or so, some idiot gets the bright idea to put on the mask, kill his friends, and get famous, too. The last time it happened was in 2011. Richie: And we came here voluntarily? Sam: Well, I got to make sure Tara’s okay. Richie: Yes, of course. And I got to make sure we don’t get sliced up by some lunatic who saw Friday the 13th and thought: “You know what? That Jason guy, he’s got some pretty solid ideas”. |
„ |
| ~ Richie lies to Sam that he never watched Stab. |
| “ | Sam: Were you listening at the door? Richie: No, no, of course not... Okay, yeah, I was listening at the door. Sam: It doesn’t freak you out, that my real father was a serial killer? Richie: I mean… yeah. A great deal, yeah. Sam: Okay, well, then go I get it, I just got to stay and figure it out. Richie: I’m not leaving you here, Sam. Sam: You know that part in horror movies where you want to yell at the characters to be smart and get the f-ck out? This is that part, Richie. You should get the f-ck out. Richie: But I’m staying... I love you. Sam: You’re such a dumbass. Richie: I’m such a dumbass... So… your sister won’t talk to you. The police aren’t gonna help. What’s our next move? Sam: We go talk to an expert. |
„ |
| ~ Richie and Sam's "next move". |
| “ | Richie: Gale Weathers, weren’t you two…? Dewey: Yeah... Who’s he? Sam: This is Richie, my boyfriend. Dewey: How long have you known him? Sam: Six months? Dewey: Did he know who your dad was when you met, express any interest in Woodsboro or the Ghostface killings? Richie: What the hell are you talking about? Dewey: Your killer’s obsessed with the Stab movies, right? Well, there are certain rules to surviving a Stab movie. Believe me, I know. Rule number one: Never trust the love interest. They seem sweet, caring, supportive. Then welcome to act 3, where they’re trying to rip your head off. Richie: I was with Sam in Modesto when Tara was attacked. Dewey: And let me guess, you were just in the other room, conveniently unaccounted for when she was attacked at the hospital. Richie: Ok, do I have to take this from shitty Sam Elliott over here, or what? Dewey: Rule number two: The killer’s motive is always connected to something in the past. Sam: I’m related to Billy. Richie: Right, but then why kill that random Vince guy? Dewey: That’s for you to figure out. And rule number three, and this is the most important rule: The first victim always has a friend group that the killer is a part of. Does your sister have a close-knit group of friends? Sam: Yeah. She does. Dewey: Then look for the killer there. If you can find out why they’re doing this, you can figure out who’s next. |
„ |
| ~ Richie listens to Dewey's rules. |
| “ | Yeah, he’s way more fun in the movies. | „ |
| ~ Richie to Sam about Dewey. |
| “ | The first f-cking rule of these movies is don’t split up! | „ |
| ~ Richie to Sam, who drives away to the motel. |
| “ | You know, that Mindy girl wasn’t kidding. Stab 8 is not like the others. I mean, no connection to the other movies. No legacy characters at all. This franchise goes off the rails with number five. | „ |
| ~ Richie to Sam about the Stab franchise. |
| “ | Did you hit me with the phone? | „ |
| ~ Richie to Tara in the hospital, an homage to Stu Macher's line from the original Scream. |
| “ | All right! Let’s get the f-ck out of town, huh? Nice to meet… We met. Sam, please get in the car so we never have to see these people again. | „ |
| ~ Richie Kirsch. |
| “ | Hey, hey, hey! Hello! Can we cut the music, please? Hi… Gen Z. How are you? Both Sam and Tara here have been attacked by the killer twice. Now they’re here, which makes this place a huge murder target, so… if I were you, I would probably leave. [gets hit with a cup] Okay, I tried to be nice. Get the f-ck out! Please get the f-ck out. Sincerely, get the f-ck out. Thank you. Thank you all. I’m saving your life. I promise. | „ |
| ~ Richie kicks partygoers out from Amber's party. |
| “ | Richie: Hi... Is there any beer left? There’s none in the kitchen. Mindy: Yes, Richie, there’s beer in the basement. Right behind you. Basement. Richie: Yeah. Do you want to come with me? Mindy: No. But you were right to ask. Richie: Yeah. Okay, "I’ll be right back". [both laugh] Yeah... [enters the basement]. Mindy: Well, he’s dead. |
„ |
| ~ Richie and Mindy. |
| “ | Richie: [appears in the living room after Mindy attack, dropping a bottle of beer] What the f-ck? Sam: Richie, where the f-ck were you? Richie: I went into the basement to get some beer. Amber: You went to the basement alone? Richie: I asked her to come with me! She said no! Liv: [runs into the living room, crying] Jesus Christ! Amber: [to Liv] Stay the f-ck back. [to all] I was with Tara, but the rest of you were wandering around. One of you is the f-cking killer! Liv: F-ck you, Amber. F-ck you! Sam: Why is there blood on your hands? Liv: What? [tears] I found Chad. I found Chad and he’s… Sam: Chad? Amber: You’re f-cking lying. Richie: You’re the killer. Liv: No, I’m not. Amber: Liv, stop. Liv, just stop! Liv: F-ck you Amber! I'm not the f-cking killer! Amber: I know. [shoots Liv, then turns to Tara and Richie] Welcome to act three. Richie: RUN! |
„ |
| ~ Richie is "shocked" that Amber is the killer. |
| “ | Look, I think… I think the other killer might be Tara. She’s the one that brought us here and you two have been estranged for years. I mean... how well do you really know her? | „ |
| ~ Richie foolishly tries to convice Sam that Tara is the second killer. |
| “ | Richie/Ghostface: Hello, Sidney! Sidney: Hello there. Where'd you go? Ghostface: Oh, this isn't Amber. I'm the other one. Sidney: Oh, there’s two of you, again... I've seen this movie before. Ghostface: Not this movie Sidney! Sidney: You really need some new material. Ghostface: I got you here, didn’t I? Sidney: You might actually be the most derivative one of all. I mean, Christ, the same house? Ghostface: Maybe so. But you forgot the first rule of surviving a Stab movie. Never answer the… Sidney: I'm bored. Ghostface: WAIT! |
„ |
| ~ Richie's phone call with Sidney. |
| “ | Sidney: [after shooting Richie's leg and finding him in the closet] Put your hands up! Show me your hands! What are you doing in there? Richie: Um... Hiding from murderers... Sidney: I told you to come out! Richie: I’m not gonna come out! You’re shooting everything! [Ghostface jumps out and attacks Sidney] Holy shit, it’s Ghostface! |
„ |
| ~ Richie and Sidney. |
| “ | Sit the f-ck down, Prescott! | „ |
| ~ Richie to Sidney after his reveal as Ghostface. |
| “ | I know. It’s a bummer it’s me. [turns on the voice modulator] But it really was the best choice for the movie! [laughs] Sam: This isn’t a f-cking movie! Richie: No. But it will be. That’s the point, right, Amber? Amber: Right, hon! |
„ |
| ~ Richie's reveal. |
| “ | Someone has to save the franchise! You see, no one has made a great Stab movie since the first one. Not really. | „ |
| ~ Richie revealing his true motives and plans. |
| “ | Richie: Sidney Prescott. Y'know, I'm a really big fan. Sidney Prescott: Go f-ck yourself! Richie: You see the latest Stab movie? Sidney Prescott: Not really a fan of scary movies. Richie: That checks out. Anyway, it sucked balls. Because nobody takes the true fans seriously. Not really. They just laugh at us, and WHY!? Because we love something!? We're just a f-cking joke to them!? How can fandom be toxic? It's about love! They don't f-cking understand these movies are important to people! And we're gonna help them! Hollywood's totally f-cking out of ideas, so we decided we'd give them some new source material to follow. You know, bring it back to basics. Because that's how you make a great Stab movie, Sam. Based on actual events. |
„ |
| ~ Richie explaining his motivation for the killings. |
| “ | Sam: You did all this just to make me the hero of your f-cked-up movie? Richie: Oh, sweetie, you’re not the hero... You’re the villain. The daughter of Billy Loomis who sees f-cked-up visions of her dead dad. Sidney Prescott killed your father. You… did all this just to get her back to Woodsboro. |
„ |
| ~ Richie to Sam during the revelations. |
| “ | Richie: [after Sidney was stabbed] I’m so sorry, Sid. We can’t let you live, either I mean, surviving this many times… that would just be ridiculous. This time the fans are gonna be the ones who win. That about cover it? Amber: You nailed it, baby. Richie: [to Amber] Get Tara out of the closet. We got to start staging the bodies! [to Sam] You really should’ve listened to Dewey! He nailed it in one! Dude, look at the love interest! Are you f-cking stupid?! I even had you convinced it could be your sister! |
„ |
| ~ Richie taunts Sidney and Sam. |
| “ | Sam! Where you going? Your big scene’s coming up! | „ |
| ~ Richie to Sam after she escaped. |
| “ | That’s the thing about slashers, Sam. So many blood trails. This one yours? Only one way to find out! | „ |
| ~ Richie is looking for Sam. |
| “ | Stop... f-cking up... MY... ENDING! | „ |
| ~ Richie while fighting Sam. |
| “ | Richie Kirsch: [whimpering] WAIT! WAIT... What about... my ending?! Sam Carpenter: Here it comes. [slashes his throat] |
„ |
| ~ Richie's last words. |
Trivia[]
- His character name was confirmed by HelloSidney.com. ses the partygoers as "Gen Z" indicating his differing generation label (millennial). Despite this, he is secretly dating a teenager.
- Richie, unlike other Ghostface’s, also knows how to hack as we saw in the beginning of Scream 5 he was able to hack into Tara’s home security.
- Richie is the fifth Scream villain to team up with a woman Ghostface, after Nancy Loomis and Mickey Altieri, Charlie Walker and Jill Roberts, Piper Shaw and Kieran Wilcox, and Beth with Jamal Elliot, as well as being the first male Ghostface so far who wasn't a subordinate to his female accomplice. The two of them worked together in the same way,
- Richie is also the third Scream antagonist to be a love interest of some sort, the first being Billy Loomis himself and the second being Kieran Wilcox.
External Links[]
- Richie Kirsch on the Scream Wiki
[]
 Villains
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Ghostfaces Lakewood Slashers Others See Also | ||