1996 saw the release of the Scream franchise revitalizing the style of slasher movies forever. Inspired by a real-life murder spree, Wes Craven wanted to make Scream unique and different and it worked with Scream now having gained cult status. The original Scream movie is still now the highest-grossing slasher of all time.
This article takes a look at all of the different Ghostface killers from the five movies released so far, ranking each killer from the best to worst, based on many different factors.
9. Richie Kirsch – Scream 2022
Richie was part of a pair of killers in the latest scream movie, Scream 2022. The directors decided to revert back to the formula of the first movie, to go down the “boyfriend as the killer” route with Richie being the partner of Sam Carpenter, who happens to be the long-lost daughter of the original Ghostface Billy Loomis.
He ranks down the bottom here as he is one of the most forgettable of all the killers, only being involved in two kills, while also playing second fiddle to the main killer in this movie, Amber Freeman.
The only reason some people may remember him is because of his links to one of the main girls. Also, he was given a charity kill in the form of Wes Hicks, who was in the movie to pay respect to the original director Wes Craven who passed away in 2015.
8. Charlie Walker – Scream 4
Charlie may not have been the main protagonist of Scream 4, but it was his nice guy persona, love for Jill, and his end goal of becoming the last survivor that have allowed him to make an impression. Similar to Richie, Charlie also played backup to the main killer, but it was the directors who let him down by trying to make him a villain version of Randy Meeks from the original two movies.
A movie fanatic and a lover of the Stab movies in the Scream universe, Charlie used his movie expertise to execute three kills which were Olivia, Robbie, and either Jenny or Marnie, as we never know which of Charlie or Jill gets which kill.
Also, with Scream 6 set to be released in the next few weeks, it has been established that Charlie had a failed kill in his movie with Kirby surviving her stab wounds, with Hayden Panettiere reprising her role.
7. Roman Bridger – Scream 3
With the most kills in the Scream franchise at nine, it’s hard to believe that Roman is ranked so far down the list. Well, to be honest, Scream 3 is the worst of all the movies, with the shoddy storyline, Courtney Cox’s awful hairstyle, very little screen time, and the super unrealistic voice changer that can somehow perfectly match the voice of anybody in the movie.
Killing Christine Hamilton, Cotton Weary, Sarah Darling, Steven Stone, Tom Prinze, Angeline Tyler, Tyson Fox, Jennifer Jolie, and John Milton was no mean feat for just one person. However, that was not the main takeaway from this movie, it was the reveal at the end that shocked all the viewers, that he was the illegitimate child of Maureen Prescott, which made him the biological sister of Sidney Prescott.
Another reveal was that he happened to be the mastermind behind the Woodsboro massacre in the original Scream movie and was the brains behind the operation, getting Stu Macher and Billy Loomis to do all of his dirty work.
6. Mrs. Loomis – Scream 2
By far the weirdest killer of the franchise and also the joint least kills as Ghostface. Her one and only kill never even happens on screen, with Randy Meeks meeting his fate at the hands of her knife. Working alongside her partner in crime Mickey Altieri, Mrs. Loomis is the brains behind the operations while Mickey is the brawn.
She is introduced in Scream 2 as a local journalist under a random alias known as Debbie Salt. However, in the final scenes of the movie, it is revealed that she is the mother of the original Ghostface Billy Loomis. Her whole plan was to avenge her son’s murder at the hands of Sidney Prescott.
The psychotic maniac’s way in was to manipulate a student (Mickey Altieri) and in return for doing all her dirty work, she would pay for all of his tuition fees. However, after what looked like a successful killing spree in Scream 2 and her getting away with everything, that is all scuppered when Cotton Weary returns at the end and shoots her and kills her.
She ranks sixth because while her body count wasn’t exactly impressive, her psychotic tendencies and the ability to hide her real identity until the end of the movie was fantastic cinema.
5. Amber Freeman – Scream 2022
The second Scream 2022 protagonist enters the list at number five. Five kills in the fifth movie and ranking number five it all seems very fitting for a superb Ghostface, with potentially the best Ghostface death.
When paired with Ritchie they were an excellent team, but Amber was clearly the boss. After successfully becoming best friends with the main character Tara Carpenter whose sister Sam Carpenter is the daughter of OG Ghostface Billy Loomis, Amber’s story only develops from there.
Using her fantastic manipulation tactics to infiltrate Tara’s friendship group, Amber was eventually able to gain the trust of Tara more than she could trust her own sister. However, her biggest claim to fame as Ghostface was killing Scream legend, Dewey Riley. After every Ghostface attempted to murder Woodsboro’s top sheriff, it happened to be Amber who finally ended his life, with the most heart-wrenching death in the franchise. Killing a legend comes with consequences though and that is where Sidney Prescott and Gail Weathers come into the equation.
The original final girl and everyone’s favorite journalist team up to take down Amber and they do so by burning her alive via her own oven. Due to her toughness and durability as a Ghostface, even burning her does not kill her off, it is a bullet to the head from her best friend that eventually ends her killing spree.
4. Mickey Altieri – Scream 2
Mickey, Mickey, Mickey, probably the only Ghostface you can feel some sort of sympathy toward, but also the first Ghostface to unmask themselves on screen. Other than being spurred on by a mystery woman giving him money, Mickey has no genuine reason to wreak havoc on Sidney and her friends.
Every kill in Scream 2 is executed by Mickey, with the only exception being the murder of Randy Meeks, who perished at the hands of Debbie Loomis. After becoming best friends with Sidney while in college, the horror film fanatic eventually got to live out his horror film dream.
Mickey’s best scene in the movie is right before his death; in a room with Sidney and her boyfriend Derek, he almost convinces her that Derek was his accomplice. However, Sidney does not fall for that charade and ends up slashing his face with a necklace given to her by Derek. Then eventually he gets murdered by his partner in crime, Mrs. Loomis via three gunshots to the chest.
3. Billy Loomis – Scream
Now it is time for the top three. It might be surprising to see Billy at number 3. However, as great as he is, he falls just short compared to the remaining two killers. One of the original Ghostface killers alongside his best friend Stu Macher, Billy is by far the most sadistic of all the killers.
His killing spree actually takes place exactly one year before the Woodsboro murders in the first Scream movie. At the end of the film, it is established that he and Stu were the two who brutally murdered Maureen Prescott, the mother of Sidney, and made it look like she was also the victim of rape by Cotton Weary.
Billy’s story gets even darker because, after the murder of Maureen, he goes on to date and then aims to have sexual relations with her daughter Sidney. Right from the start Billy gave off killer vibes even when not in the Ghostface costume, making dark jokes about the deaths of his school friends and giving off a stalker vibe when around Sidney.
It has always been unclear as to which killer may have killed certain people in the first movie. However, we can confirm that Billy was behind the murders of Arthur Himbry and Tatum Riley. The murder of Tatum, albeit not the most realistic, was very different from any death seen before in a slasher, with her trying to escape out of the cat flap, Billy set the garage door to lift up crushing her body with the roof as it hit the top.
From watching Scream 2022, Billy’s legacy lives on forever, as the actor, Skeet Ulrich makes multiple cameos as a vision of his daughter Sam throughout the movie as she becomes involved in her own Woodsboro Murders.
2. Jill Roberts – Scream 4
This was the hardest part of the list, choosing between the top two spots. Eventually, we came to the decision that Jill Roberts takes the second spot, but comfortably ahead of any other killer on the list.
Being the main protagonist in her movie and with seven kills to her name, she is the most evil of all Ghostfaces. Alongside her killing partner Charlie Walker, they were able to take the lives of 10 people, with Jill going as far as to kill her own mother, Kate Roberts.
Jill was introduced to the big screen as the cousin to the original Scream queen, Sidney Prescott, and it was her resentment of her cousin’s fame that led to her becoming a psychopathic murdering machine. She played the goody-goody girl almost to a tee, by claiming innocence throughout the movie, because who in their right mind would blame Sidney Prescott’s cousin?
After taking the lives of her mom, Jenny Randall, Rebecca Walters, Deputy Hoss, Deputy Anthony Perkins, and Trevor Sheldon, Jill then turned her rage to her partner Charlie, stabbing the film nerd in his chest.
But, it was Jill’s death that a lot remember as it was at the hands of her own cousin Sidney. After Jill goes to the hospital to try and kill Sydney for the second time, Sidney gets her own back by sending electro currents through Jill’s brain with a defibrillator and then shooting her in the chest. A fitting end for such a sadistic killer.
1. Stu Macher – Scream
So, the number one spot goes to Stu Macher, portrayed by the movie legend himself Matthew Lillard. Stu appeared in the first movie alongside his best friend Billy Loomis and the two killers went on a murdering spree known as the Woodsboro murders.
Roman Bridger feeds Stu and Billy all the information and acts as the brains of the operation. This allowed Stu to be his own completely unhinged self and take on the killings as he saw fit. He may have only killed two people in the film but one did happen to be the gutting and stabbing of Steven Orth, the first onscreen death in the Scream franchise.
His second and final kill was another one that sticks strongly in the memory and that was the murder of Gail Weathers cameraman, Kenny Brown. After aiding Gail throughout the Woodsboro murders, Kenny succumbs to the knife of Stu while on the job in his work van, having his throat slit open.
However, it was the final scenes that featured Stu and ultimately his demise that make him the best Ghostface. After completing their killings, Billy and Stu reveal all to Sidney about their actions as well as wanting to pin the blame on Sidney’s dad.
As both killers start to stab each other to make them look like victims, Billy ends up stabbing Stu too deeply and this is where Stu mutters his famous line “feeling a little woozy”, before starting to fade out.
This then leads to the death of Stu Macher, which happens to be the first death of a killer in the Scream franchise. After chasing Sidney through the house she gets the better of Stu and ends up knocking him to the ground and dropping a TV on his head, electrocuting him to death.
If you are a watcher of horror movies and even more so slasher films, then you’ll know all about these killers and may or not agree with my rankings. However, if you are new to the franchise then give the movies a watch come back and rank all the killers yourself and with a new movie coming out soon maybe your list will have to change.
