As Scream VI continues to prove, all Scream killers motives are different from one another, some more unique than others. The Scream franchise sets itself apart from other slashers for having a different killer (or killers) beneath the Ghostface mask in every film (unlike franchises like Halloween and Friday the 13th, where audiences can usually be assured that the killer is Michael Meyers or Jason Voorhees). What this has allowed for is a variety of unique killers to take on the Ghostface mantle, each with their own motives.

The Scream VI killer reveal follows the formula of the franchise with the killers unmasked in the third act and delivering their dramatic motivation for donning the Ghostface mask and going on a killing spree. Just as each character playing Ghostface is different, these motivations are not connected and can range from deeply personal reasons to some outlandish and misplaced master plan. All Scream killers motives try to shock audiences, but some are more impactful than others.

11 Detective Bailey, Ethan, And Quinn - Scream VI (2023)

For the first time in the Scream franchise, Scream 6 delivered three main Ghostfaces. Unfortunately, along with giving the three killers the same motivation, these also happen to be the weakest motivations in the franchise. It is revealed that Detective Bailey who is helping Sam, Tara and the others stop the new Ghostface is actually the father of Ritchie, Ghostface from Scream (2022). Along with his two surviving children, Ethan and Quinn, Bailey is seeking revenge on Sam for killing Ritchie.

There are some clear similarities with Ghostface in Scream 2 and while the filmmakers discussed the Ghostface motivations in Scream 6 to be about family vs family, the simple revenge plot is disappointing. It also makes the motivations behind certain killings questionable as they didn't really fit into simply wanting Sam to suffer.

10 Mrs. Loomis - Scream 2 (1997)

Mrs. Loomis didn't have a very interesting motive, which she admits when she reveals herself. As she says, her motive is far less "90s" than the others — it's classic revenge. Because Sidney killed her son, she wants to kill Sidney. While that is fairly refreshing from the standpoint of the Scream franchise, it is the farthest thing from a unique motive out there. Revenge kills are classic, especially with horror, so Mrs. Loomis' has to be the least unique motive in the franchise. However, as an homage to the original Friday the 13th killer being Jason Vorhees' mother, it adds a nice touch.

9 Charlie Walker - Scream 4 (2011)

Charlie's motive is the opposite of Mrs. Loomis's: fairly unique for the horror genre at large, but overdone within the Scream franchise. Charlie is a movie buff, and he wants to make a movie. More than that, he wants a movie where he's the hero. His secondary motive is even more classic: he wants a love interest. He agrees to work with Jill to get back at Kirby for ignoring him and to get intimate with Jill (both of which are easily predictable motives). Rejection led him to warp his reality until everything was just a movie he was making for himself, one where he was powerful and important. The motive might be scary, but it isn't unique.

8 Roman Bridger - Scream 3 (2000)

Roman, along with being the Ghostface with the highest kill count, lives the stereotype of a would-be killer: he comes from a broken family, is unwanted by his mother, and is jealous of the life that Sidney gets to lead. Seeing someone else with everything he wants, Roman is driven to take it all away from her, specifically by killing her and all those close to her.

Admittedly, there aren't that many movies out there where the killer is doing what they're doing because their mom left them, but it is essentially Billy's motive with a little long-lost-sibling drama thrown in. Roman is jealous and angry, but his backstory comes off as a poorly-done plot twist more than a believable, unique motive. In fact, it is straight out of a soap opera.

7 Billy Loomis - Scream (1996)

Billy Loomis is the scariest Ghostface killer in the Scream franchise, partially because he is so realistic. Significant others are statistically the most likely ones to kill a person, so they might be expected. Thankfully, Billy's motive was not as simple as getting tired of his girlfriend or getting with Sidney simply because he was looking for someone to kill. It's a little more complicated than that. Billy targets Sidney because his family was broken apart by hers. His father was having a relationship with Sidney's mother, which prompted his mother to leave him. It's a form of revenge kill, which makes it unoriginal, but the specifics of the family drama made it unique - at least when the movie first came out.

6 Jason Carvey - Scream VI (2023)

Jason Carvey is revealed to be the first Ghostface in the surprising opening scene of Scream 6. Changing up the formula, the movie begins with the usual first kill only to then reveal Jason as the killer who is then killed off by one of the main Ghostfaces before the title card. In his short time as Ghostface, Jason reveals his hopes of killing Sam and Tara to complete the movie Ritchie attempted to make in Scream 2022. However, his reasons behind killing his film studies professor are disturbingly simple as he was mad at receiving a bad grade. It maintains that pathetic manchild mentality many Ghostface killers have while also showing Jason didn't have what it takes to be a true Ghostface.

5 Richie Kirsch - Scream (2022)

Pretty much everyone in the Scream movies is motivated by horror movies, at least a little bit. But Richie takes it to the extreme, wanting to inspire better horror movies by setting up some real-world inspiration for them. The Stab movies are in-world horror movies mirroring the events of the first three Scream movies. After those real-world events, however, they had to start making up the horror on their own, which fans agree was not overly successful. Richie is convinced that providing some real-world inspiration would solve that problem, which is, admittedly, fairly unique as far as motives are concerned.

4 Amber Freeman - Scream (2022)

Amber had relatively similar motives to Richie, but with variation and depth that made her more unique. She lived in the Macher house, which inspired her obsession with the Stab movies and her desire to re-enact them. This circumstantial information makes her more interesting and makes her motive make more sense.

Furthermore, she adds another element to her motive: she was radicalized by chat rooms. While this was likely just part of her attempts to keep Sidney and Gale from killing her long enough to take them out, it was likely to be true (to some extent). Scream movies tend to put current controversies into the motives of the killers, and it is no wonder that Amber has this radicalization narrative in the world of Q-Anon.

3 Stu Macher - Scream (1996)

Stu Macher is responsible for some of the most brutal Ghostface kills in the Scream franchise and is relatively unique because he doesn't really seem to have a motive. He says it's scarier when the killer doesn't have a motive, and that's true, but it also makes fans want to understand him more. He later claims peer pressure as his motive, which is pretty weak, but fans speculate there were deeper motivations.

One fan theory is that Stu was in love with Billy and would do anything to make him happy. Others propose that Stu was woman-hating since he killed both his current and ex-girlfriends over the course of the movie. But it's entirely possible that he really was just a teenager who was a little too into his horror movies.

2 Jill Roberts - Scream 4 (2011)

Scream 4 provided both one of the weakest killers in Charlie and the most interesting in Jill. Jill decided that she wanted to become the final girl and to do so, she set up a killing spree of everyone she knew and perfectly framed her ex-boyfriend along the way. Her killer strategy shows off the kind of cunning that would help Jill survive almost anything, and she would have won if she had simply had a little better luck and kept her mouth shut after the fact.

With all of that said, her motive of wanting to be famous as a victim was really unique and made fans want to see a version of the movie where she succeeded and had to go up against the next killer in an alternate version of Scream 5. Jill was a really fascinating character, and her motive is a massive part of that.

1 Mickey Altieri - Scream 2 (1997)

Mickey had a desire to kill regardless of his situation. What made him take part in this particular set of killings, however, is what makes him interesting. Unlike all the others, Mickey wants to be caught and put on trial for his crimes, and he wants to use the motive of having been inspired by the movies. Keep in mind, his motive is not actually that the movies made him do it. His motive is wanting to be famous and stir up public controversy. This desire to be publicly acknowledged as a killer and get away with it was quite a weird but unique take that made him stand out in comparison to the other killers.