Amber Freeman

Amber Freeman is the secondary antagonist of Scream 5 (2022 film), also known simply as Scream, and the eighth unveiled Ghostface killer overall in the Scream franchise. She became obsessed with the original Stab film after moving into 261 Turner Lane, and devised a plan with her boyfriend, Richie Kirsch to create a legacyquel after meeting on the Stab subreddit.

Not fond of the sequels, she loathed Stab 8, simply known as Stab, and began her next move. She and Richie used sisters Sam and Tara Carpenter, as the basis for the movie. Amber became close to Woodsboro High student, Tara, while Richie grew close to her sister, awaiting the 25th anniversary of the original killings to strike. She manages to murder "Legacy Character", Dewey Riley, which she calls "an honor".

In revenge, his ex-wife, Gale Weathers, with help from Sidney Prescott, leave her for dead by lighting her on fire with the stove in her house. She is later shot in the head by her ex-best friend, Tara once Amber manages to put the fire out.

Amber was portrayed by Mikey Madison out-of-costume. While in-disguise, she is voiced by Roger L. Jackson, and in-costume scenes were portrayed by Keith Ward and Paul Burke.

Background
Amber was born in 2003. Her parents bought the former Macher residence, 261 Turner Lane over five years before the events of Scream 5. She was not babysat by Sam Carpenter, unlike Tara's other friends (minus newbie, Liv McKenzie).

After researching the history behind it, Amber became a fan of the original Stab (1998), featuring Vince Vaughn as Stu Macher, the former resident serial killer of her home. Stu was the co-original Ghostface. She essentially becoming a fanatic. She was angry with the sequels, particularly the eighth film, which she deemed to be inferior quality. She later recalls to Sidney Prescott that the problem with the Stab franchise is "no bad guy to keep coming back".

Amber formed a close friendship with Tara Carpenter. Because of her mother's tendency to get drunk, she discovered that Tara's sister, Samantha was the illegitimate daughter of Billy Loomis, the original Woodsboro killer and mastermind. When Stab 8 (2020) was released, Amber, like many of the fans, were disappointed, not only because it was simply called Stab, but there was a poor storyline that didn't follow the path of the Stab movies' meta slasher whodunit narrative and there was no Sidney Prescott character either. The fans became so mad that they were accused of being a "toxic" fandom.

After meeting fellow fan, Richie Kirsch, on a Stab subreddit, they decided to appease the fandom by creating a "requel" to Stab 8 — essentially a reboot of Stab but also a sequel — which included new characters as well as bringing back the legacy characters.

The pair devised a plan and Richie approached Samantha in her new hometown where he grew close to her whilst Amber prepared to attack her sister to lure her back to town. The plan was to use Samantha as the Killer of their movie, given her connection to the legacy characters would bring them back, and use Tara as the basis of their movie to bring in all her friends as their new generation of victims.

Legacyquel
One night, close to the 25th Anniversary of The Woodsboro Murders, Amber called Tara while she was home alone and posed as a man named "Charlie", (using the Ghostface voice changer) who was a friend of her mother's from "a group". Tara believed this man was actually her mother's new boyfriend and struck up a conversation with him. Amber, as Charlie, told Tara that her mother stated that she liked horror movies and was surprised when she'd never seen Stab given that she lives in Woodsboro.

After 'Charlie' threatens Tara, she hangs up the phone and texts Amber who reassures her that things are fine. Amber calls the home back and then texts Tara from her phone pretending that the caller stole her phone and cloned it and that they are not actually texting with Amber, when in reality she is. Amber messages Tara a fake video of her putting makeup on to make it look like the Killer is stalking her, forcing Tara to answer the phone and play a Stab trivia game.

Tara gets the question wrong and then runs to the front door to save Amber, who is standing there under the Ghostface costume, and she slices Tara's abdomen. Tara and Amber get into a war of reactivating and deactivating the home security system and Amber is able to slip inside and catch Tara. Stabbing her seven times and breaking her leg before being interrupted by the arrival of the police.

The next day, Amber is with Wes Hicks who calls Samantha back to Woodsboro to inform her about Tara's near-death experience and Tara's friends all go to visit her in the hospital. Amber acts annoyed towards Samantha's return, appearing as a supportive friend to Tara who was abandoned by Sam years ago. She also pretends to meet Richie for the first time.

Amber goes with her friends to a bar to hang out and they are interrupted by Vince Schneider who is stalking Liv McKenzie. When Vince is kicked out of the bar, Amber follows him out in her Ghostface costume, taunts him and then kills him. It is also revealed that Vince is Stu Macher's nephew, which Amber uses to connect the new killings to the past. That night at the hospital, Samantha is attacked by Richie, as Ghostface, and Amber pins suspicion on him to keep their plan in motion.

Amber joins her friends at the house of Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin where they meet Dewey Riley, who is helping Sam and Richie solve the new murders.

The next day, Amber taunts Judy Hicks about killing Wes, but is at the hospital to attack Tara. Richie Kirsch kills the Hicks family, while Amber kills Deputy Clay and attacks Tara yet again. When Tara hides, Richie finds her and tells her that Sam called him there. Amber jumps out as Ghostface and slices his arm and then calls Sam to make her choose between Richie and Tara's life. Sam stalls her on the phone long enough, causing Dewey to shoot Amber twice in the chest which knocks her into a bookcase, appearing to fall unconscious. As the others flee, Dewey goes back to shoot her in the head and finish her off, but Amber is able to catch him off guard as Dewey receives a text notification and use two knifes to slice Dewey open, revealing she had a bulletproof vest. That night, Amber hosts a memorial party in Wes's honor at her house, and scolds Chad for doing shots. Richie is able to lure Sam and Tara there by hiding Tara's inhaler causing them to go to Amber's to get a spare. After a couple of attacks, an argument breaks out and Amber finally reveals herself as a killer by shooting Liv and killing her. Amber runs outside pretending that she has been stabbed and begs for Sidney Prescott and Gale Weathers's help, but they catch the trap instantly. Amber drops the act, shooting Gale and runs inside, getting back into the Ghostface costume.

Sidney comes in and finds Richie hiding in a closet before Amber jumps out and they both fly over the staircase. Richie stabs Sam and takes Sidney’s gun, revealing himself as the second killer. They bring Gale inside and reveal their motives to Sidney, Samantha and Gale. They also reveal that they are in a romantic relationship with each other and call each other "baby" and "hon" multiple times. Amber goes upstairs to get Tara, but Sam had already untied her. Sam attacks Richie whilst Gale and Sidney finish off Amber. Sidney smashes a bottle of hand sanitizer on her head as Gale holds her back. Both of them toss Amber into a corner. Amber begins to beg both of them to show her mercy as she begins to blame the Stab SubReddit for her psychotic behavior, claiming that she was “radicalized”. However, Gale recalled how Amber murdered Dewey which made her smile with glee and began to taunt Gale about it.

Amber pins Gale down to the floor by strangling her, taunting her more about how she killed Dewey and was happy that she will get the pleasure of killing her too. Gale fights back and Amber is kicked against the stove as her hand lands on one of the switches. She begins to beg for her life once more when Gale has her at gunpoint, but without hesitation Gale shoots Amber causing her to fall face first onto the lit stove, setting her on fire. Sidney and Gale watch in horror before she collapses.

After Sam kills Richie in the main hall, Amber is able to get one last fight as she charges for Gale, Sidney, and Sam before Tara shoots her in the head. Killing her instantly.

Committed Murders

 * Vince Schneider
 * Sheriff Judy Hicks
 * Deputy Clay
 * Dewey Riley
 * Liv McKenzie

Quotes

 * "One of you is a fucking killer"
 * "I know"
 * "It's an honor."
 * "Yes, today."
 * "Fucking hand sanitizer, really?"
 * ”NO! STOP, STOP, STOP! I’m sorry about Dewey!”
 * ” Yeah, and he died like a pussy!”
 * ”Welcome to act three.”
 * ”Help me! He stabbed me! (...) Fuck it."

Trivia

 * Named after Scream (2022) co-writer James Vanderbilt's wife, Amber Freeman (a possible in-joke). This was confirmed by Chad Villella, one third of Radio Silence.
 * Amber's smiles towards Samantha upon meeting her at the hospital were fake in regards to Tara's behalf, but more animosity regarding her with Richie, whom they are actual secret lovers
 * Mikey Madison portrays a similar role to Amber in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019) as one of the Manson cult members, Sadie Atkins. In the film, Sadie is also beaten and burnt alive after trying to murder the main protagonists of the movie.
 * Amber's half-burnt face makeup is an homage to Freddy Krueger, the horror icon of A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) created by Wes Craven.
 * Both Amber and Richie are the only major characters in this film to not have any known relations to past characters of the franchise. (Liv's parents are mentioned in the original film).
 * Behind the scenes, Ghostface wore a pair of Dr. Martens 1460 Mono black boots. Costume designer Emily Gunshor ensured that all characters at one point or another wore Dr. Martens boots so that they would be suspected of being the killer. Amber specifically is seen to be wearing a similar pair of black Dr. Martens during the third act of the movie.
 * Early casting calls and scripts portrayed Amber as formerly in a relationship with Tara Carpenter. These elements were cut from the theatrical release for unknown reasons.
 * If kept, Amber being shot in the head by her ex-girlfriend Tara Carpenter after "one last scare" would mirror Sidney shooting Billy Loomis down after he wakes up in the original Scream.