Stu Macher

The Ghostface Killer

Second Ghostface

My Favorite (by Quinn Bailey)

Speed

Combat

Gunmanship

### Goals

Kill Casey Becker for dumping him for Steve Orth (succeeded).Assist Billy Loomis in his plans.

Kill Sidney Prescott (both failed).

### Crimes

Serial murderBreaking and entering

Conspiracy

Torture

Psychological abuse

Harassment

Incrimination

Kidnapping

Mutilation

Stalking

Vandalism

Rape (implied)

“ Surprise, Sidney! „ ~ Stu revealing himself to Sidney as one of the killers.

“ You see, Sid, everybody dies but us, everybody dies but us. We get to carry on and plan the sequel cause let's face it, baby, these days, ya gotta have a sequel! (screams after getting stabbed by Billy) „ ~ Stu Macher explains the to-be future of the Woodsboro killings.

**Stuart "Stu" Macher** is the secondary antagonist of the 1996 horror film *Scream*, the first installment of the *Scream* movie franchise.

He was Billy Loomis's insensitive and eccentric best friend who assisted him as Ghostface during the original, 1996 Woodsboro Murders. He is also a horror movie fanatic, that being one of the reasons he went along with Billy's slasher film-like murder spree.

He was portrayed by Matthew Lillard, who also played Chet Sulloway in *Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,* David Roy Turner in *Criminal Minds and is set to play as William Afton in the upcoming Five Nights at Freddy's film*. While in-disguise, he is voiced by Roger L. Jackson. In-costume scenes as Ghostface were portrayed by Lee Waddell, Dane Farwell, Tony Cecere and Skeet Ulrich. In the Japanese dub, he was voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa, who also voiced Sephiroth.

## Personality

Stu is a deeply psychotic and maniacal yet dimwitted person. He had no distinctive motive for helping Billy murder people and taking sadistic joy in it, even though he likely saw this as a good opportunity to get revenge on his ex-girlfriend, Casey Becker and Steve Orth, the jock she dumped him for. Stu likes to put on a playful and joking demeanor to hide his true nature.

Even after his true nature is revealed, Stu keeps cracking jokes to taunt Sidney. He shows intense joy in planning to frame her father for the killings and even gets ecstatic as him and Billy prepare to stab each other to make themselves look like victims.

## Early Life

Stuart Macher was born sometime in late-1978 or 1979. He grew up in 261 Turner Lane, Woodsboro, California, a large farmhouse with his sibling(s) and parents. He has at least two elder siblings, Leslie and Curtis Macher. Leslie gave birth to a son, Vince Schneider 3 years after his death.

As a Woodsboro High senior, he is the fun-loving boyfriend of Tatum Riley. Previously, he dated Casey Becker until she dumped him for Steven Orth, a football player.

## Background

Stu helps Billy in the killings apparently for no real reason, except for "peer pressure" (Though another possible motive for Stu may be that one of their first victims, Casey Becker, was Stu's ex-girlfriend who may have dumped him for her next boyfriend, Steve Orth, so murdering them may very well have been Stu's idea in order to get revenge against them both). Stu helped Billy - under leadership of Roman Bridger - murder Sidney Prescott (the protagonist)'s mother Maureen Prescott after an affair with Billy's parents which forced Nancy Loomis to divorce Billy's dad and framed Cotton Weary.

In the fall of 1995, an LA-native, Roman Bridger made home-made films, stalking his rejecting birth mother, Maureen Prescott and documenting her affairs. including one she had with his friend, Billy Loomis' father, Hank Loomis. Billy was sent into blind rage. Roman suggested Billy have an accomplice "to sell out in case he got caught", which became his friend, Stu.

On Monday night on September 28, 1995, the pair secretly invaded 34 Elm Street, Sidney Prescott's house. After Maureen had seduced Cotton Weary, who left inebriated without his coat, they made their move. Both teenagers, around 16 or 17, stabbed the 45-year-old housewife to death.

Billy then left, wearing Cotton's coat. With matching hairstyles at the time, Sidney states that she saw Cotton leave wearing it. Then, Billy (or Stu) planted it in his car, framing him.

Within the following year, Billy and Stu had successfully gotten away with murder. During this timeframe, it inspired confidence in them to continue on and create their own killing spree, inspired by their favorite horror movies.

During this timeframe or possibly one year earlier, Stu's girlfriend, Casey Becker dumps him. She then initiates a relationship with Steven Orth. In the embarrassment and shame, he pursues Tatum Riley. He lies to Tatum, telling her he dumped his ex-girlfriend, Casey, rather than the other way around. After all, it is speculated that Stu never loved Tatum. Billy, as Sidney's boyfriend, knew that Tatum was Sidney's best friend and had Stu start a relationship with Tatum so the two of them could be closer to Sidney. Despite this, they would have been in each other's circles regardless, for at least two years by the beginning of *Scream* (1996), as their best friends have been dating for two years (since 1994).

## Scream (1996)

A year later, they attack Casey Becker and Steve Orth in the middle of the Wednesday night (September 25, 1996). While Billy threatens Casey, Billy and Stu attacks Steve and straps him in a chair and is stabbed and gutted viciously by Stu. After Casey knocks Stu down through a window, Billy tackles her, chases her down and stabs her to death before (with Stu’s help) gutting her and hanging her from a tree.

After killing Casey and Steve, they both went to Sidney's house. Stu abducts Neil Prescott off-screen shortly after Billy Loomis enters his daughter, Sidney Prescott's room, having snuck in to distract her. Neil intended to leave for a business trip. It appears he drove off and abandoned his car, before keeping him held captive at 261 Turner Lane. After (or before) this, Stu joined Tatum Riley at the Riley Residence, to have an alibi.

The next day at school, it is a Thursday morning (September 26, 1996). Sheriff Burke's police are interrogating the entire school about Stu's crime. The gang sit together around a fountain, pondering the culprits. Sidney vaguely recalls Stu dating Casey, which Stu states was only for "like two seconds". Randy Meeks, Sidney's geek friend, side-talks to Tatum, stating Casey dumped him for Steve. Tatum is shocked and frowns at this, telling Stu, "I thought you dumped her for me". Stu replies: "I did, he's full of shit". Stu makes a mockery of the murders, including a pun-joke, "Liver alone". On a serious note, after being questioned, he states, "I didn't kill anybody." This is seen as if he has something to defend. Billy glares at him, reminding him that Randy has only questioned Stu, not accused, saying "Nobody says you did". Stu returns to making it lighthearted, saying "Thanks, buddy".

Later that day, Sidney Prescott is called by Billy and threatens her. After Sidney, under the belief, that the threatened was on her front porch, locks the door to the inside. However, little did she know that the killer was inside her house and hiding in a closet, in which Stu attacks her, but fails to after he is locked out of Sid's room. Billy comes in and pretends to comfort her, but runs away when she finds that his cell dropped on the floor, believing that he called and pursued her. Billy is arrested but is released when Stu calls Sidney again.

The next day (Friday, September 27, 1996), while in the hall at Tatum's locker, Sidney, Tatum and Stu are talking. Stu is seen checking his face in the mirror, from the head injury sustained from assaulting Sidney, and her self-defense attack. Tatum attempts to hush Stu over some tactless things he says when Sidney asks him where Billy is. She asks if Billy is okay, and Stu replies sarcastically, "What, you mean after you branded him the Candyman? No. His heart's broken." Tatum pushes him in the chest as he says it. As the Ghostface costumed prank occurs in the hallway, scaring teens at the school, Tatum shakes her head when Stu is noticeably entertained stating, "Look at this place, it's like Christmas." She is increasingly frustrated at his insensitivity and says, "Stupidity leak!", tapping his head with her lollipop from her locker. Because of that, Sidney walks away and in the hallway runs into Billy, who has been released from jail. The conversation doesn't go either way, though, and Sidney heads to the bathroom, where she is later attacked by a prankster Ghostface.

Later that day because of the murders and attacks, school is closed. Stu meets Sidney and Tatum outside of school as school is suspended. Stu acts oblivious and juvenile about school being canceled, thus being a bit insensitive to Sidney's attacks making Tatum tell him to "drop it, Stu". Stu then scoops Tatum over his shoulder and says he is going to throw a party knowing she will want to go (according to Billy's plan) Tatum pleads Sidney to go with them to the party promising that Billy won't be there. Sidney agrees. Stu tells them to grab food before he goes in his own direction toward home to set up for it. Stu is happy that his plan worked.

Before the party. Stu was in the video store with Randy. Both were talking about, who could be the killer. Randy (rightly) suspected, that this is Billy and asks Stu "if you were the only suspect in a senseless bloodbath, would you be standing in the horror section?". Stu responds that was just a missunderstating, because he thinks that Billy is innocent. Randy calls Stu a "little lap-dog", since he is sure that Billy is Ghostface. When Stu asks Randy, why Billy would want to kill Sidney, Randy says that "maybe Sidney wouldn't have sex with him". Stu is amused by these words, since he is making fun of Randy's unrequited love for Sidney. Stu tells Randy that he "suspects" Neil Prescott, because police can't find him. However, Randy disproves Stu's theory, saying "because he's probably dead. His body will come poppin' up in the last reel somewhere! Eyes gouged out, fingers cut off, teeth knocked out!". Stu is uncomfortable with Randy's loud tone of speech and tries to shut him up, but he continues by saying "See, the police are always off track with this shit! If they'd watch "Prom Night," they'd save time. There's a formula to it. A VERY SIMPLE FORMULA! **EVERYBODY'S A SUSPECT!"**. After Randy's screams, there is an awkward silence in the video store, after which Randy says that "the dad's a red herring. It's Billy." Unfortunately for him, Billy overheard his suspicions and along with Stu, he confronted Randy. When Stu asks Randy what his motive would be if he was the killer, he said that motives are incidental because of the millennium. After that, Billy teased Randy for a while and soon left the video store. This made Randy even more convinced that Billy was the killer.

In the evening, Stu has a party with his friends to celebrate. During the party, Stu sends Tatum to the garage to grab some beer. In the garage, Tatum was confronted by Billy in the Ghostface costume, who killed her by incapacitating her with a garage door. When Randy Meeks finds out that Principal Himbry was found dead (Billy previously killed him), a majority of the guests leave the house, with only Randy Meeks still attending. While Billy and Sidney have sex in the upper level, Billy is supposedly killed by Stu and he chases Sidney. After Sidney ran away, Stu went to the living room, where he found Randy still watching *Halloween*. Stu nearly killed him, but Sidney's scream from outside distracted him. Stu went outside and killed Gale's cameraman, Kenny Brown, while Sidney was watching in horror.

After Billy turned out to be alive, he shoots Randy in the chest area, revealing himself. Stu reveals himself shortly after that. Billy and Stu confront Sidney and tell their plan to her and reveal that they killed her mother and framed Cotton. The two stab each other to make it look like they were victims of an attack and plan to survive and make a "sequel" murder.

When Gale Weathers threatens the duo, Sidney escapes and hides in a closet, turning the tables and threatening them with their voice changer. As Stu is seemingly bleeding out, she calls them over the phone and taunts them. While Billy flies into rage, Stu cries in despair over how his parents will feel towards him once they found out about his crimes.

Billy heads to the closet and is attacked by Sidney with an umbrella. With Billy unconscious, Stu chases Sidney down and attempts to kill her, claiming that he "always had a thing for [her]." She bites his hand, hits him with a vase, and drops a TV on his head saying "In your dreams!", electrocuting him to death.

## Scream 2 (1997)

During the Windsor College Murders, Stu is mentioned. Just before Randy Meeks is killed on Windsor College Campus, he questions the copycat killer's motive. Speaking to the Ghostface entity through Gale's phone, he makes some critical commentary. Randy questions why the killer is copying "two loser, high school dick-heads". He refers to Stu as a "pussy ass wet-rag" before insulting Billy. He calls Billy a "homo-repressed momma's boy". This drives the killer, later revealed to be Billy's own mother, Nancy Loomis to grab Randy into cameraman, Joel Martin's news van and stab him repeatedly to death.

## Scream 3 (2000)

Stu and Billy are mentioned again briefly in *Scream 3*. After Cotton Weary, who Stu originally framed for his first murder, is brutally murdered himself in February 2000*,* approximately 4 years after Stu's killing of Maureen Prescott in October 1995. It sparks a new chain of events, redirecting Sidney to her past, as well as that of her mother's.

Later, actors for the original, cancelled *Stab 3*, Sarah Darling, Tom Prinze, Tyson Fox and Angelina Tyler are seen discussing Cotton's murder outside a Sunrise Studios set-version of Stu's house, 261 Turner Lane.

After Tom Prinze dies at Jennifer Jolie's exploded mansion, the killer credits himself as Maureen's killer, with a photo left behind at the scene of the crime. This is in deliberate contradiction to the known events of the original film's ending, sparking a chain of events leading to the conclusion of the real-life trilogy.

Gale mentions Stu to an LAPD Detective Mark Kincaid, identifying him (as well as Billy) as Maureen's killer. She states they "even told Sidney how they did it". Later, when Sidney goes into the movie set version of her house, 34 Elm Street, both of their voices play as she reminisces. Stu's words, "We put her out of her misery, because let's face it Sidney, your mother was no Sharon Stone."

## Scream 4 (2011)

Stu is referenced when Jill betrays Charlie, "like Billy and Stu". The final act of the remake being set at a friend's house, in this case Kirby Reed's residence, 329 Whispering Lane, is a reference to his house in the original. In the Remake format, Charlie Walker became the millennial generation's Stu Macher.

## Scream (2022)

Vince Schneider' Stu's nephew, is the first victim of a new Ghostface killing spree. Amber Freeman (the other secret killer) tells the group at Martha Meeks's house that he was the nephew of Stu. Meanwhile, Tara's friend, Liv McKenzie is unfamiliar with Stu (as are some of the others). When asked, Dewey explains he was Billy's accomplice, also calling him a "real looney-tune". Having processed this information, Sam suggests the killer is targeting people related to the original killers.

Later, Richie Kirsch (the other killer) watches a YouTube video that makes a criticism of the eighth *Stab* film, where a recommended video can be seen uploaded by a True Crime channel titled "Did the Real Stu Macher Survive?"

A brief reference to Stu is made by Richie. When Tara is targeted at the hospital, she hits Richie with a phone. Later, Richie asks "Did you hit me with a phone?" as Ghostface (Amber) appears behind him to fake his attack.

Stu's old house 261 Turner Lane is revealed to be resided in by Amber, as Sidney warns Sam after tracking her. Just like Stu, she holds a party to set up Act 3. Sidney also states it is the house where her dad "and Stu killed everyone", though Tatum Riley was the only victim inside the house. It is possible this is a reference to *Stab*, if not a writing goof.

## Scream VI (2023)

During the New York City Killings, Kirby Reed, now working for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, worked with Detective Wayne Bailey to uncover the latest Ghostface killers. During the investigation, Kirby and Wayne went over the previous nine Ghostface killers and had photographs of Stu and the others on an investigation board. With the help of Gale Weathers, the investigation led to the Ghostface Shrine, a collection of various items and clothing that were related to the Ghostface killers, their victims and the survivors of previous killings.

Stu's robe and other items that were related to him were included in the collection. Kirby and Mindy later had a brief discussion about Stu as they looked at the television set that Sidney had knocked onto him years earlier. Kirby says to Mindy that's the "TV that killed Stu Macher. Mindy replies: "if you believe he is dead", meaning that there are people who believe that he is still alive.

Stu's old Ghostface mask was used by Quinn Bailey in the movie because "he was her favorite." Quinn, along with his brother, Ethan Landry, and father, Wayne, plotted revenge on the Carpenter sisters for killing Richie, but failed. After the deaths of Quinn and Wayne, Ethan was killed the same way Stu was killed, after Kirby dropped a TV on his head.

## Trivia

* One of his most famous lines, "You f-cking hit me with the phone, dick" was never scripted and Matthew Lillard improvised it because Skeet Ulrich accidentally threw the phone at Matthew due to the corn syrup on his hands being too slippery. This was also the case for his equally famous line of "My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me...", as Craven kept the line in for its humour.
* Stu Macher is often considered to be the most comedic killer of the franchise.
* Stu, along with Billy Loomis, are mentioned in all six films.
* Lillard dated Neve Campbell (Sidney Prescott's actress) in real life from 1996 to 1998.
* Lillard made cameo appearances in the four *Scream* sequels.
* He is the first Ghostface killer who was not killed by a gun, followed by Charlie Walker, Kieran Wilcox, Jamal Elliot and Richie Kirsch, Wayne Bailey and Ethan Landry (who actually died in the same way Stu did).
* Kirby Reed's parents were originally supposed to be the ones who bought the house off the Macher family, and renovated the property 15 years later. This idea was scrapped for unknown reasons. It was later re-used as a plot idea in the fifth film, with Amber Freeman's parents.
* There was an idea to bring him back in *Scream 3*, in which it was revealed he somehow survived the events of the first movie and masterminded the events of the third from within prison, inciting high schoolers to become serial killers as him. However, this was scrapped due to a combination of the events of the Columbine Massacre, being too unrealistic and wishing to have a better and deeper plot, leading to Roman Bridger's creation.
	+ Despite this, many *Scream* fans have theorized over the years that Stu may have survived the events of the original film, with even his own actor Matthew Lillard insisting that his character is still alive due to his desire to reunite with his co-stars in another *Scream* movie. Meanwhile, Kevin Williamson has said that he would be open to bring Lillard back as Stu's never-before-seen twin.