The characters in the original 1996 Scream movie are better developed than most in the horror genre. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) is a sweet but traumuatized teenage girl dealing with the awful murder of her mother Maureen. Sidney hangs out with her best friend Tatum Riley (Rose McGowan) and is getting serious with her boyfriend Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich). When a killer wearing a black costume and black and white mask called Ghostface starts terrorizing her town of Woodsboro, California, Sidney knows that she might be next and that she has to act, fast, to save her life.
When Sidney learns that Billy and his best friend Stu Macher (Matthew Lillward) are the killers behind the attacks, she is shocked and so are audiences.
Stu is the greatest Ghostface in the Scream franchise because his reveal is such a big surprise. Since Scream sees Billy as a suspect from the beginning, as Dewey Riley (David Arquette) brings him into the police station since it seems like he might have called Sidney that night, fans always wonder if something is up with Billy. It's still interesting when Billy says that he's the one who has been killing and stalking everyone, but when it turns out that Stu is behind it, too, it's impossible not to feel shocked. Stu never seems like he's capable of murder, whether he's complaining about not seeing Jamie Lee Curtis naked in Halloween or hanging around school with his friends. While there are many other slasher horror movie franchises, Scream is always a favorite because of its iconic and unique characters.
Stu is also a hilarious character who doesn't take himself too seriously and fans can praise his character development. When looking at the deaths in Scream (2022) and the two Ghostface killers, it's clear that Billy has what just might be the most logical motive for going after Sidney and some others in Woodsboro. Stu says that he's been helping Billy because of "peer pressure" and that adds to the overall campy and funny tone of the movie since he really doesn't know why he's been doing this. Stu is responsible for some of the funniest quotes in the movie, like when Sidney says that she's called the police and he says, "My mom and dad are gonna be so mad at me!"
The first Scream movie is a unique case because it feels like anyone could be Ghostface and that makes the threat seem even more dangerous. When Sidney continues on her journey in subsequent films and realizes that each killer is connected to her tragic past, it's still surprising and interesting to learn who each killer is. But with Stu, the reveal truly comes out of nowhere and that moment can't ever be replicated.
When comparing Stu to the other Ghostface killers in Scream, it seems like he wants to be there for his friend and be part of the action. While there have been other killers pairing up, like Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) and Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin) in the underrated Scream 4 movie, there's something special about the bond between Billy and Stu. The fact that Stu is ditzy and doesn't seem to really understand how dangerous what he's doing is and how he could go to jail or be killed himself speaks to how unintelligent some horror movie characters can be.
In an interview with Vulture, Matthew Lillard spoke about playing Stu and he said that it was really cool and special making the movie. Lillard explained, "Nobody was out trying to make an iconic movie. We were just trying to make the best movie possible, and quite frankly, it was a horror movie at a time when Wes Craven hadn’t made a good horror movie in a long time. So it wasn’t like there were great expectations, but there was the sense that we were all in. Nobody was jaded. Nobody’s protecting themselves or being like, This is lame. Everyone was all in, and I think the power of that is sort of unappreciated and undeniable."
In the same interview, Lillard said that Stu didn't die at the end of Scream like he appeared to because he agreed to star in Scream 3. Lillard explained that if he did star in the third movie, Stu was going to be in jail and setting up murders from there. Lillard has also said on Twitter that Stu was hit by a TV and he doesn't think that would kill him.
Scream fans definitely hope that Stu is still alive and that he could show up in the future, especially now that Dewey has been tragically killed and there aren't as many original characters left to continue on with the beloved horror franchise.