Richie Kirsch

"Because nobody takes the true fans seriously, not really. They just laugh at us, and why? Because we love something? We're just a fucking joke to them! How can Fandom be toxic? It's about love! You don't fucking understand, these movies are important to people."

- Richie Kirsch's Ghostface

Richie Kirsch was one of two main antagonists in Scream (2022). He was the ninth revealed Ghostface killer in the Scream film franchise. He also the first boyfriend-killer of the films since original Scream character, Billy Loomis, whose daughter he targeted to date, Sam Carpenter.

He groomed his accomplice girlfriend, 17-year-old Amber Freeman, on a subreddit for Stab in 2021. The pair devised a plan to make their own Stab movie to serve as both a reboot and sequel, following the disappointment of Stab 8 (2021) simply known as Stab, using Sam as a scapegoat for their killer. He and Amber are the second and third known Stab fanatic Ghostface killers, following Charlie Walker.

When Sam's sister, Tara Carpenter, is attacked by Ghostface, Richie returns to Woodsboro with Sam to 'support' her. After luring Sam to 261 Turner Lane, he attempts to trick her into believing Tara is the killer. She later violently murders him on Wednesday 29, September, almost 25 years to the day after the conclusion of the original massacre.

Richie was portrayed by Jack Quaid.

Reddit and Stab's Social Influence
Richie was a millennial Redditor born in the early-mid 1990s. He was a fan of the 1997 True Crime slasher, Stab starring Tori Spelling, Luke Wilson, David Schwimmer and Jennifer Jolie. He was a casual viewer of the sequels, but did not enjoy them much, feeling none of them had been as good as the original.

Similar to his predecessor Charlie Walker, he was another Stab fanatic. However, he was a purist to the original film, and felt he needed to "save the franchise". Just like so many other fans, he was disappointed with the direction of the intended franchise revival, the reboot film Stab 8 (2020), simply known as Stab, directed by Rian Johnson.

Johnson aimed to "reinvent" Stab, and had removed its core, meta-slasher whodunit element. He was, however, inspired by core characters from the Second Woodsboro Murders (2011), such as Judy Hicks whose massacre prevented Stab sequels following Stab 7 (2010) starring Kristen Bell. Richie, however, was infuriated by this, as no legacy characters made an appearance, including original Stab series heroine, Sidney Prescott, as well as Dewey Riley or Gale Weathers, did not appear.

Requel Plans and Meeting Samanatha Carpenter
As a Redditor, he groomed 17-year-old Amber Freeman on the Stab subreddit, the two came up with a plan to create a "requel" to the movie. Using Sam Carpenter, Amber's friend's sister, as the basis. Samantha's connection to the legacy characters, being the daughter of Billy Loomis, would be used to tie them in.

Richie tracked down and approached Sam in March 2021, six months before the events of the fifth film, likely obtaining employment as her job where he got close to her and eventually struck up a romantic relationship with her, gaining her trust along the way.

2021 Woodsboro Legacy Murders
Six months after meeting Samantha, her sister Tara is attacked by Ghostface on 23/09. After her surgery and recovery on the weekend, Sam is called by Wes Hicks on Monday, and she asks her to makes the decision to return to Woodsboro, with Richie offering to go with her to support her. During the drive, Richie claims that he's never seen the Stab movies. When they arrive in Woodsboro, they immediately visit Tara in the hospital.Samantha agrees to stay with Tara in the hospital and Richie agrees to stay with them. Richie "catches up" on the Stab movies on Netflix. The next day, it is a Tuesday and Sam is attacked. He is accused of being a killer by Amber, this all being a ruse to get the attention off each other.

Sam and Richie approach Dewey Riley for help and he immediately picks Richie as a suspect before joining them at the home of Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin where Mindy picks that the killers are attempting to make a "requel" to Stab 8, and that the current attacks so far, Tara, Vince and Samantha, were all connected to the original killers, Billy Loomis and Stu Macher. When the group accuses Sam of being the Killer, she flees in anger.

After Judy Hicks is murdered, Sam spots the police officer who was supposed to be watching Tara in the hospital at the scene and she races to the hospital to save her.

When Tara hides in the hospital, Richie arrives and acts like he was called by Sam, and he is attacked by Amber to get the attention off him. Richie, Tara and Sam flee and Ghostface kills Dewey.

Sam, Richie and Tara decide to leave Woodsboro the following day, leaving Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers to fight the Killer themselves. Along the way, Tara loses her inhaler, unaware that Richie stole it, and she asks them to stop at Amber's house to get it. They arrive at Amber's house, which was formerly Stu Macher's house, and they stop the party.

After an argument breaks out amongst the group, Amber reveals herself as the killer and Sam and Richie flee to the Basement where Richie attempts to pit Sam against Tara by planting a seed of doubt.

Sam abandons Richie deeming she has known her sister longer than him and goes upstairs to find Tara. When Sidney is attacked by Ghostface, Richie finally unmasks himself as Amber's accomplice and boyfriend. They fight and Richie overpowers Sam, while holding a gun to her head. Before he pulls the trigger, Sam angrily tells Richie never to mess with a serial killer's daughter and stabs him in the jaw with Amber's abandoned knife; the shock prevents him from pulling the trigger.

Sam proceeded to stab Richie many more times, leaving him bloodied and dying. With his last words, Richie asks about his ending, to which Sam grants him by slitting his throat. When Gale and Sidney come to see if she is alright, they warn her that they always come back. Sam shoots him three more times ensuring that he will never come back.

Allies

 * Amber Freeman † - Accomplice and Lover

Enemies

 * Samantha Carpenter - Former Girlfriend/Murderer
 * Sidney Prescott
 * Gale Weathers
 * Woodsboro, California
 * Dewey Riley †
 * Judy Hicks †
 * Woodsboro High School
 * Tara Carpenter
 * Wes Hicks † - Victim
 * Chad Meeks-Martin
 * Mindy Meeks-Martin
 * Liv McKenzie † - Victim

Quotes



 * "Sit the fuck down, Prescott!"
 * "Oh, thank god, you're still alive. Because I really wanted to be the one to kill you".
 * "I've never seen Gone with the Wind either, but I don't consider it like a major hole in my cinematic education.
 * "123 No-Fucking-Way Lane!"
 * "Alright, Let's get the fuck outta town, hm?!"
 * "Nice to meet- We met- S-Sam get in the car so we never have to see these people again."
 * "I'm saving your life; I'm saving your life."
 * "Okay, I'll be right back- Ah, hahahah!"
 * "There is always two killers."
 * "You mean like Halloween?' '...Sounds a lot like Halloween."
 * "And I gotta 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."
 * "What about my ending?" - Richie's last words.
 * "You are my boner pills. No, No?"
 * "I mean yeah, a great deal yeah."
 * "Okay, do I have to take this from shitty Sam Elliott over here or what?"
 * "Right, like why kill that random Vince guy?"
 * "Yeah... he's way more fun in the movies."

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.
 * He shares vague similarities to Billy Loomis as well as Mickey Altieri, Charlie Walker, and Kieran Wilcox from the franchise, seeing as he could blend and gain the trust of the main characters while hiding his identity.
 * He has many references Billy Loomis.
 * He was able to gain her trust while hiding his true identity and motives.
 * Dates Sam for a ultimate purpose to kill her.
 * Like Billy with Sidney, Richie is being unfaithful to her with Amber.
 * Like Billy, Richie falls down the stairs "injured" in the fight with Samantha.
 * Richie, like Billy, slut shamed to get under her skin. Like Billy referred to Sidney's mother as slut to get under her skin, Richie says, "It wasn't hard to f*ck her either." to get under her skin.
 * Richie and Amber are officially the third male-female killer pairing in the Scream film franchise after: Mickey Altieri and Nancy Loomis in Scream 2 and Charlie Walker and Jill Roberts in Scream 4. In the television series, Piper Shaw and Kieran Wilcox in Seasons 1-2, and Beth and Jamal Elliot in Season 3 were also two male-female killer pairings working together.
 * They would be the fourth, if you believe the theory that Angelina Tyler was Roman Bridger's accomplice in Scream 3.
 * Co-writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick have not commented on which killer killed which victim, however, co-director for the fifth film, Tyler Gillette was asked in a Collider interview who killed who. He gave his own idea that Amber is possibly both the mastermind and the muscle to the operation in their pitched backstory for the actors to play out. "We (speaking for Matt) think you could say it's both of them", he said for the opening as an exception.
 * He further suggested Richie falsely believed he concocted the overall masterplan and Amber secretly led "from behind" as he imagined Richie was "pathetic" and didn't "want to get his hands dirty".
 * However, this description is inconsistent with events on-screen.
 * Richie, out-of-costume, stabs Sam explicitly and appears violent and maniacal, not cowardly and afraid to get his hands dirty.
 * On top of this, Amber and Richie's age dynamics are an intentional, unsettling aspect of the reveal, as the meta commentary mocks Redditors who groom underage girls.