Liv McKenzie

"Are you afraid of me, Mindy? You think I did something to your brother? You think I'm gonna cut you up, huh? I thought you said I was too boring to be the killer, but maybe that's the twist. [...] What do you think, huh? You're the expert. You know what eventually happens... to the EXPERT?"

- A frustrated Liv's speech taunting Mindy about being Ghostface before hand gesturing a throat slash.

Liv McKenzie was a main character in Scream (2022 film), known informally as Scream 5. She was the girlfriend of Chad Meeks-Martin. Liv was also the ex-girlfriend to Vince Schneider, one of the original Ghostface killers, Stu Macher's nephew.

In the film, she is also referenced as a co-worker of Tara's during the previous summer. Her surname is a nod to the McKenzie family, the first family mentioned in the franchise, during the opening scene of the original Scream (1996); her exact relation is undetermined.

The freshest member of Tara's friendship group, Liv was unfamiliar with her friend Tara's troubled older sister, Sam who returned to the town after a 5-year absence. She is an artsy person, who wears vibrant clothes and dons dip-dye pink hair. Mindy, her boyfriend's twin sister still thinks she is boring, and overcompensates for this through these things.

As the 25th anniversary of the Woodsboro Murders emerged (an anniversary in which two murders occurred at her closest neighboring house before she was born), a new legacy killing spree occurred.

After finding her boyfriend stabbed and left for dead outside, a distraught Liv returns to Amber Freeman's house with bloody hands unknowingly and in shock. She was shot directly in the head mid-sentence by the true killer, Amber herself after Amber accused her of being the killer.

Liv is the sixth film Scream and final character to fall victim to the fifth Ghostface killing spree, the 25th anniversary Legacy Killings. Liv was portrayed by Sonia Ben Ammar.

Early Life
Liv was born to the McKenzie family (mentioned in the original film's opening scene) sometime in approximately Fall 2003. Given her age in proximity to the age of Mr. and Mrs. Becker who considered the McKenzies a close confidante, she is likely the youngest of her family, and has older parents.

Having grown up in Woodsboro, California, she was not close to Tara Carpenter until she worked with her the summer before their junior year at Woodsboro High. She is also unaware of Sam Carpenter, her sister prior to the murders who abandoned Woodsboro in 2016.

In summer 2020, Liv dated 21-year-old Vince Schneider, the nephew of Stu Macher, the man who murdered her close-by neighbor, Mr. and Mrs. Becker's only daughter, Casey 24 years prior. However, Liv was oblivious to this information, being unaware of Stu's existence, not having seen the original Stab film, starring Vince Vaughn as her neighbor's killer. She had only seen the recent reboot, Stab (2021), directed by "the Knives Out guy".

2021 Woodsboro Legacy Murders
In late 2021, Liv is now an 18 year old senior and joins her friends at Woodsboro High School where they are all questioned by Sheriff Judy Hicks about Tara Carpenter's attack the night before. Liv shares Chad's plan to add each other on the FindMyFam app but Wes Hicks warns her against the idea as it makes her vulnerable to being tracked by Ghostface. Liv is perturbed by the return of Vince Schneider, now 22, to Woodsboro who is now stalking her.

Liv joins her friends at the hospital and is reunited with Samantha Carpenter who returns to Woodsboro with her boyfriend Richie Kirsch to support Tara. The teenagers leave to give Sam and Tara time alone and go to a bar to play pool where they are interrupted by Vince Schneider who demands Liv go with him. A fight breaks out between Chad and Vince and they are all kicked out of the bar and Vince is murdered outside.

Liv joins her friends the next day at Chad and Mindy's house the next day to discuss the attacks and Mindy insults her by saying she is too "boring" to be Ghostface. That night at Amber Freeman's party to honor Wes's memory, Liv tells Chad she's ready to go all the way with him, but being fearful that Liv could be the Killer he declines and Liv storms off, unaware that the Killer has stolen her phone and used it to lure Chad outside by having him follow her on the FindMyFam app.

Liv returns to the party and vents her frustrations to Mindy who is now suspicious because Chad went looking for Liv. Liv gets angry at Mindy for accusing her of being a killer even though she said she was too boring, and asks whether Mindy is scared of her before leaving again. After Mindy is attacked, a fight breaks out and Liv is accused of being a killer, having blood on her hands after allegedly discovering Chad's body outside.

Liv shouts that she's not the killer and Amber tells her she knows because she is and then pulls out a gun and shoots Liv in the head in front of the others, thus ultimately killing her.

Allies

 * Samantha Carpenter
 * Sidney Prescott
 * Gale Weathers
 * Woodsboro, California
 * Dewey Riley †
 * Judy Hicks †
 * Woodsboro High School
 * Tara Carpenter - Friend
 * Wes Hicks † -Friend
 * Chad Meeks-Martin - Boyfriend
 * Mindy Meeks-Martin - Friend

Enemies

 * Amber Freeman † - Former Friend/ Killer
 * Richie Kirsch † - Killer

Quotes

 * "Are you afraid of me, Mindy? You think I did something to your brother? You think I'm gonna cut you up?"
 * "I thought you said I was too boring to be the killer."
 * "Enjoy your stupid movie"
 * "Fuck you, Amber. I'm not a fucking KILLER!"

Trivia

 * Her character name was confirmed by HelloSidney.com.
 * She is the (likely youngest) child and daughter of the McKenzie's referenced in the opening scene of the original Scream (1996).
 * Each new teen character has a connection to the original Scream film. In Liv's case, she is an Easter egg homage to her late neighbor, Casey Becker (portrayed by Drew Barrymore), having a very similar life story to the character in their respective films:
 * Similar to Casey who dated then dumped Stu Macher, Liv dated then dumped Vince (Stu's nephew), Leslie Macher's son.
 * After dumping a Macher family member, they both dated a jock/football player (Steven Orth/Chad Meeks-Martin).
 * Prior to their murders, they were distraught after finding their football player boyfriends attacked and (seemingly) killed by Ghostface.
 * As a result of their deaths, both a teenage daughter of the neighboring McKenzie and Becker families were murdered 25 years apart, by the same Ghostface persona (possibly the exact same day, as Act 3 is not the exact day of Billy Loomis' death anniversary, as a reporter notes).
 * Liv's fate is a plot inverse to Casey: she is the final on-screen target/victim of a Ghostface in her respective killing spree, while Casey is the very first target on-screen in her respective killing spree (and the overall franchise). (Casey is the second murder victim overall, however after Steve).
 * In the original draft script, Liv's surname was "Tate".
 * The original script explained Liv's dip dye pink hair color more thoroughly. According to Mindy in the original script, Liv dyed her hair pink to overcompensate for the fact that underneath her artsy exterior, she is drab. In the final cut, Mindy simply calls her personality boring.
 * While Chad and Liv homage Steve and Casey as people, the friendship group and their relationship scene at Woodsboro High resembles that of the Stu-Tatum relationship.
 * Liv being a red herring trope, as well as her relationship with Chad, is also paralleled to that of Sidney-Billy’s relationship.
 * Inversely, Liv was shown to be trying to get Chad to commit with her and have sex with her. This is exactly what Billy had done with Sidney 25 years prior to the date of the Woodsboro Murders while at the same house, 261 Turner Lane. However, this was just a decoy as Liv wasn’t the killer and after stumbling in calling for help from Amber, Tara, Richie, and Samantha after finding Chad outside with his blood, similar to how Randy had asked Sidney and Billy for help before being shot by Billy, revealing himself just like how Amber did (although Randy is only shot non-fatal while Liv’s was a head shot, fatal).
 * Liv’s personality is artsy and while seeming innocuous, is shown to be on edge and who’s sassy and demeanor traits resembles that of various characters such as
 * Gale Weathers, Tatum Riley, Angelina Tyler, Jennifer Jolie, Kirby Reed, Jill Roberts, and Olivia Morris from the films
 * Brooke Maddox, Audrey Jensen, Kym, and Liv Reynolds from the TV series
 * Liv's snarky remarks and clothing resemble Tatum Riley. Tatum's vibrant, artsy clothing colors were custom picked by actress Rose McGowan herself to give Tatum personality that she felt the costume department did not give the character.
 * Likewise, Liv’s death also taking place at 261 Turner Lane (despite the difference of how each died; Liv was shot while Tatum was crushed by the garage door) is an exact homage to Tatum’s death almost 25 years later to almost the exact week apart to the original Woodsboro Murders, seeing as they are the only victims to have died after being confronted in the same house albeit different locations (Liv in the living room, Tatum in the basement).
 * Inversely though, Liv is killed much more quickly than Tatum seeing as she was confronted for being Ghostface in by Amber (who was), which Liv denied before she was then shot in the head by Amber who then revealed herself, unmasked. Tatum, however was confronted by Ghostface (Billy) in costume, while alone in the basement and who had to fight him off after he sliced her arm with his knife, which lasted a while before she then tried to escape out of the cat hatch on the garage door which rendered her stuck; she was then killed easily as he pressed the button for the garage door to be lifted, which then crushed her and killed her slowly, as she twitched her foot just before dying as the garage door broke down and shut off after being turned on.
 * Liv also shares the same first name as Liv Reynolds from Season 3 of the TV series.
 * Her death via gunshot to the head is similar to how various characters in the Scream franchise have died and/or been include which includes: Billy Loomis, both Mickey Altieri and Nancy Loomis (Scream 2), Roman Bridger (Scream 3), and Trevor Sheldon (Scream 4).
 * Additionally, her getting shot by the killer mirrors how Billy shot Randy to unmask himself.
 * The directors revealed that initially, Liv was supposed to be a minor character simply known as "Chad's girlfriend", however they decided to expand her character.

Appearances

 * Scream (2022 film)