A new Scream movie has arrived, and that means it’s time to play every horror fan’s favorite game: Who’s! That! Ghostface!?
Scream 6 is out now and features so many twists and turns that you probably won’t see its final reveal coming. Even if you do, you may have trouble understanding exactly what went down and why. So if you’re confused about the ending of Scream 6, or just want to know more about what it means for Scream 7 and the future of the franchise, we’ve got you covered.
Grab some popcorn and your favorite kitchen knife, and let’s dive in. Warning! Major Scream 6 spoilers ahead.
Also read: One Scream 6 star has a wild idea for the next Scream sequel.
Scream 6 ending explained: Who is Ghostface?
The ending of Scream 6 is actually pretty complicated, so let’s back up all the way to Scream 5. In the 2022 “requel,” Ghostface returned and terrorized a new generation of teenagers, including the niece and nephew of Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy) and the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich).
Ultimately, it turned out that the killers were Amber (a member of the core friend group) and Richie Kirsch (who was pretending to date Billy’s daughter Sam Carpenter). Amber and Richie (Jack Quaid) met online and bonded over their obsession with the Stab movies (the in-universe film franchise inspired by the Ghostface killings). As it usually goes with these things, Richie and Amber were both dead by the end of Scream 5. But as it turns out, Scream wasn’t done with Richie yet.
Moving on to Scream 6, the movie follows the survivors as they migrate to New York City for college. Everyone’s doing okay except for Sam, who’s traumatized from killing her fake boyfriend Richie in self-defense, and terrified by the fact that she kind of enjoyed it. Worse, the internet has become convinced that Sam set Richie up and was actually the killer all along.
Then Ghostface shows up, and everything goes to hell.
After about an hour of stabbing, running, and listening to scary phone calls, Scream 6 ends in a creepy abandoned movie theater that Richie converted into a shrine to Ghostface. The killers then reveal themselves to be Richie’s father, brother, and sister, who’ve all been driven crazy by grief. They started the rumors that Sam was the real killer, and even assumed secret identities to become roommates with our heroes. Richie’s father (Dermot Mulroney) also happens to be a cop, which made it easy for him to get close to his victims.
The final act happens quickly and doesn’t totally make sense. It appears the villains planned to frame Sam for killing her own half-sister, then kill her too. It also seems like Richie’s family is in complete denial about the fact that he was a psychopathic serial killer, despite his dad admitting that he helped build Richie’s Ghostface shrine in the first place.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter, because all three villains wind up dead while the heroes miraculously survive. The Kirsch family is no more — or so we think — but will Richie’s influence live on in Scream 7?
How the ending of Scream 6 sets up Scream 7
Intriguingly, Scream 6 retroactively makes Richie’s character much more complicated. Before, he was an evil movie nerd, and basically a lesser imitation of the original Ghostface. Now, he’s arguably something much scarier: a Ghostface scholar turned martyr, with a dash of cult leader from beyond the grave thrown in for good measure.
Based on how Scream 6 elevates Richie above most of the franchise’s Ghostfaces, we have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of Jack Quaid’s killer dweeb. Sure, he might be dead, but when has that stopped a character from showing up in a horror sequel? Whether he appears in a flashback or somehow miraculously survived the events of Scream 5, it’s clear the story of Richie isn’t finished yet.
