Ghostface (Scream)
Ghostface | |
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Scream character | |
First appearance | Scream (1996) |
Created by | Kevin Williamson |
Portrayed by |
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Voiced by |
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Stunt actors |
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In-universe information | |
Alias |
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Nationality | American |
Pathology | Serial killer |
Signature weapon | Buck 120 knife |
M.O. | Taunting victims with phone calls, stabbing, throat slitting, disemboweling (gutting), clearing knife of blood |
Location | Woodsboro, California[4] Windsor College, Ohio[5] Hollywood, California[6] Atlanta, Georgia[7] New York, New York[8] |
Part of a series on |
Costume |
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Ghostface (alternatively stylized as Ghost Face or GhostFace) is a
Ghostface debuted in
In the Scream universe, the costume is not unique and is easily obtainable, allowing others to wear a similar outfit. Ghostface often calls their targets to taunt or threaten them while using a
The Ghostface persona remains the same throughout the Scream series, featuring a black hood and cloak with a jagged base and a white rubber mask resembling a ghost with an anguish expression. Though each iteration of Ghostface is human, they often exhibit extreme durability against physical harm, high levels of physical strength, and an almost supernatural stealth ability, able to appear and disappear in seemingly impossible situations. The character has become a popular culture icon since its inception, referenced in film and television as well as spawning a series of action figures and merchandise, as well as parodies and titular spoofs.
In the 2015–2016 television series
Appearances
Films
Ghostface first appears in the opening scene of
In the original Scream, the identity is used by a killer stalking the fictional town of Woodsboro, California. After the murder spree begins,
Ghostface's second appearance was in
In
In the
In Scream 4 (2011), another Ghostface killer emerges in Woodsboro on the 15th anniversary of the massacre conducted by Billy and Stu; the new killer recreates events from the incident but also films the murders to create a snuff film. Ghostface kills several teenagers and police officers before being unmasked as Sidney's cousin Jill Roberts (Emma Roberts) and her friend Charlie Walker (Rory Culkin), who intend to kill Sidney, frame Jill's ex-boyfriend Trevor Sheldon (Nico Tortorella), and become the current generation's "Sidney Prescott" and "Randy Meeks" with the accompanying fame of being the "survivors" of the massacre, as Jill was jealous of Sidney's experiences with Ghostface. Jill betrays Charlie and stabs him through the heart, wishing to become the sole survivor, and after admitting to Sidney that she really is a sick, evil woman who was willing to kill her own mother Kate (Mary McDonnell) to get what she wants, declaring that "sick is the new sane", she then seemingly kills Sidney before purposely injuring and stabbing herself to make herself appear a victim of Ghostface. After being taken to the hospital, Jill's plans end up backfiring when Dewey informs her that Sidney has survived. An enraged Jill makes a desperate attempt to kill Sidney, but is stalled by Dewey, Gale, and Judy Hicks (Marley Shelton) long enough for Sidney to electrocute her on the head with a defibrillator, saying that Jill forgot the first rule of remakes, "Don't fuck with the original". An injured Jill attempts to stab Sidney with a piece of broken glass in a last-ditch attempt to finish her off, but Sidney anticipates this and shoots Jill through the heart, finally killing her, while Jill's status as the "sole surviving hero" ultimately becomes short-lived.[16]
In
In
Television series
Despite being absent in the first and second seasons, Ghostface made an appearance in the third season of the anthology television slasher series Scream.[11] The season, titled Scream: Resurrection, premiered on VH1 on July 8, 2019.[12] In this season, the killers are revealed in the episode "Endgame": Beth (Giorgia Whigham) and Jamal "Jay" Elliot (Tyga), who is the older half-brother of main character Marcus Elliot (RJ Cyler).
Video games
Ghostface is featured as a killer in the asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror game, Dead by Daylight, voiced by Filip Ivanovic. He was added in the Ghost Face DLC released on June 18, 2019, under the alias "The Ghost Face."[17] In the game, Ghostface's real identity is Danny Johnson, known by the pseudonym Jed Olsen, a narcissistic freelancer newspaper journalist in the fictional town of Roseville, Florida, who covers the Ghostface murders by day and commits them by night. This version of Ghostface is an original character who was created exclusively for the game and has no relation to the Scream franchise. This is because the developers were only able to acquire the license for the Scream mask, which is separate from the one for the character, as the films used a pre-existing mask. Players can access different styles of the mask for Ghostface in Dead by Daylight.[citation needed]
Ghostface appears as a playable operator in Season Six of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone.[18] Roger L. Jackson reprises his role as the voice of Ghostface.
In April 2022, Ghostface was added in an update as a free playable skin for a limited time in the
Concept and creation
The Ghostface costume is the outfit worn by the main antagonists of the Scream franchise, consisting of a rubber white mask with black eyes, nose, and mouth and black, cloth-like material; a hooded robe, with faux-tatters draping from the arms; and a spiked trim to the base of the outfit. In the movie, the costume is considered common and easily purchasable, making identifying the buyers difficult and creating the possibility for anyone to be the killer.
The Ghostface mask was first developed for novelty stores during the
The design of the mask bears reference to
The initial script labeled the main antagonist as "masked killer" with no specifications to its appearance, forcing Craven and his staff to produce the costume eventually worn by Ghostface as they were shooting.[26] Craven asked Greg Nicotero and Howard Berger of design company KNB Effects to produce a mask specifically for the film based on the Fun World design, but did not like the final result. After Fun World and Dimension Films were able to complete an agreement for the use of the Ghostface mask, Craven was able to use the original design as he wanted. The custom mask made by KNB Effects still appears in the scenes involving the murders of Casey Becker and Principal Himbry, as filming of these scenes completed prior to the finalization of the deal between Fun World and Dimension Films.[27]
We came with an assortment of masks that had the Ghostface look. Of the entire assortment, that face was the strongest one. The design definitely had something that made it outstanding from the others.
— Brigitte Sleiertin on choosing the final design for what became Ghostface[20]
The 1991–92 "Fantastic Faces" edition of the mask used in Scream is made of thin, white rubber with blackened eyes, nose, and mouth. Despite being fictionally a character in the movie cast, in the first, second, and fourth films, the costume was most often worn by stunt performer Dane Farwell, who gave the character specific characteristics such as cleaning the knife after killing, also giving the stature and a unique movement to the character.
Following the description in Williamson's script of a "ghost mask", Craven and designers had originally intended to use a white motif, creating a white cloak and hood for the killer's costume. It was the intervention of Maddalena, who felt that the cloak would be scarier if it was black, that resulted in the dark costume shown on screen.[22] The cloak itself had to be custom-made for the film, as the "Father Death" outfit identified in Scream as that of the killers did not really exist; the Fun World mask was sold only as a stand-alone item. The cloak entered into retail markets only following the release of Scream. Each cloak was estimated to cost $700 to hand-produce by a seamstress and was made of a heavy, thick, black material, with reflective threads woven throughout, creating a subtle glimmer. The cloak was created to help conceal the identity of the killers by covering most of their visible bodies, as it was believed that otherwise audiences would be able to guess which character was involved by his or her clothing and body-shape.[28]
The knife used by Ghostface in the films is a custom
Characterization
Ghostface is rarely depicted as speaking while physically on screen in order to aid in concealing the identity of the character behind the mask. Exceptions to this are grunts and groans when injured, which are
Ghostface is first referred to by that name in the first movie, when character Tatum Riley, played by Rose McGowan, calls the masked killer "Mr. Ghostface", prior to her death.
I can't imagine Scream without Ghostface... Roger Jackson's voice is very remarkable, it's got an evil sophistication.
— Wes Craven on returning to Scream 4[29]
Ghostface is often shown to taunt his targets, initially representing himself as charming and even flirtatious when speaking.[30] His conversations turn confrontational and intimidating, using his knowledge of other characters or graphically describing his intentions before appearing to the target physically. Craven considers Jackson's voice performance as Ghostface to have "evil sophistication".[29] When confronting his intended victim, Ghostface is portrayed in varying ways, sometimes quick and efficient and other times clumsy, falling, or colliding with objects that hinder his pursuit, a characteristic that varies based upon who is wearing the costume. Whoever inhabits the costume, Ghostface taunts its victims and prolongs a kill when it appears to have an advantage. The Billy/Stu Ghostface would gut its victims after killing them; this was not performed on Tatum Riley who was killed in a mechanical garage door.[4] This Ghostface, in particular, would ask its victim questions about horror films and employ the tropes of the genre in its attacks, displaying a detachment from reality and aligned with the same self-awareness of the film itself which toys with the expectations of the horror genre.[31][32] The second Ghostface, created by Mickey and Mrs. Loomis, would repeatedly stab its victim to death but often in a public place or with witnesses.[5] The third Ghostface, created by Roman, preferred more clean kills with precise stabbings, and used theatricality and movie props to attack his victims, using a voice changer that allowed him to sound like many other people, casting suspicion and doubt on other characters. In addition, he would use images and the synthesized voice of Maureen to specifically taunt Sidney, even shrouding himself in a bloodied, crime scene cover, alluding to the murder of Maureen, to fool Sidney into believing that she was losing her sanity.[6] The fourth Ghostface, created by Jill and Charlie, filmed each murder on web cameras hidden around the environment and spy cameras in its mask. Charlie mostly repeatedly stabbed his victims to death in a more vicious and brutal fashion and would go further and gut them if he wanted, while Jill mostly stabbed only once. The two killers also made some of the murders public to gain the attention of the world press.[16] The fifth Ghostface, created by Richie and Amber, mainly focused on brutally attacking and injuring victims, while killing most of them in a swift manner. The sixth Ghostface, created by Richie's family, committed violent murders and attacks on either the ones close to Sam Carpenter or anyone standing in the way, while leaving the masks of previous Ghostface killers at the scene of the crime afterwards.
The motivations for Ghostface's killing vary in each film and are respective to each killer wearing the costume. Billy claimed to have been driven to insanity by his mother's abandonment, an incident he blamed on Maureen, and after taking his revenge on her chose to continue his spree, leading towards her daughter Sidney,[4] while Stu lists peer pressure as his motivation.[4] In Scream 2, Mrs. Loomis cites her motivation as simple revenge against the person she holds responsible for her son's death, while Mickey desires the fame that his involvement in the killings will garner when he is caught.[5] In Scream 3, Roman seeks revenge for what he sees as his mother's rejection and abandonment by engineering Maureen's death and trying to kill Sidney, seeing her as having the family-life he was denied.[6] In Scream 4, Jill, jealous of Sidney, wished to obtain similar fame as the sole survivor of a new massacre, while Charlie aided her both for those reasons and his love for Jill.[16] In Scream (2022), Richie and Amber, who are shown to be extremely toxic fans of the Stab franchise, start a huge killing spree in an effort to inspire a ninth Stab film that goes back to the franchise's old formula, having hated the eighth film (which was written and directed by Rian Johnson) for its new storytelling elements that stepped away from the old formula. In Scream VI, Detective Wayne Bailey and his son and daughter, Ethan and Quinn, who are revealed to be Richie's family, desire to get revenge on the one who killed Richie by assassinating her character and framing her for a new killing spree.
In costume, the Ghostfaces share a ritualistic mannerism of gripping the blade of its knife between thumb and forefinger and wiping it clean of any blood following a murder by drawing its hand from handle to the tip of the knife. This characteristic was given to the character by stuntman Dane Farwell who wore the costume for many of its scenes in Scream.[22] Each killer is depicted as possessing effective physical abilities, such as the capabilities of nearly flawless stealth, prowling without being detected, moving silently, and efficiently vanishing from its targets' defense. Additionally, the killer tends to display sufficient strength that allows them to overpower victims, such as in Scream 2, in regards to defeating two trained detectives single-handedly. Ghostface is shown to be able to sustain and even ignore severe levels of physical damage, surviving blunt trauma, stabbing wounds and gunshots. While Stu, Mrs. Loomis, Charlie, Richie, Quinn, and Wayne were all killed instantly in one blow, Billy, Mickey, Roman, Jill, Amber, and Ethan, despite having sustained severe injuries prior, all survived to make one final, desperate attack before finally being killed by the heroes.[4][5][6]
Cultural impact
Ghostface has been parodied and referenced numerous times in media following his appearance in the Scream franchise, most prominently in the parody film Scary Movie (2000) where a killer dressed as Ghostface commits a series of murders. However, unlike the original film, the killer is revealed to be a single person;[35] this parodic version of Ghostface later appears in the June 1, 2016 Erma comic strip, named "Prank Call", wherein the character is making prank calls whilst quoting Scream, alongside the series' titular character.[36] In the parody film Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th (2000), a killer wearing a Jason Voorhees-style hockey mask is set on fire, his mask melting to resemble that of Ghostface.[37] The film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) features Ghostface, as Shannen Doherty and Craven provide cameos as themselves making the then non-existent Scream 4, but Doherty objects when Ghostface turns out to be played by the orangutan, Suzann.[38]
As in film, Ghostface has been referenced repeatedly in various television programs and commercials. In the same year as the release of Scream 3, the mask made an appearance on Beverly Hills, 90210 and the Nickelodeon series Cousin Skeeter. It was also used as an ornament in the bedroom of Dawson Leery in Dawson's Creek,[39] a show created by Scream writer, Williamson.[26] The character appears in a 1999 episode of Celebrity Deathmatch entitled "The Unknown Murderer", where he threatens to kill a scream queen every round, murdering Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jennifer Love Hewitt before planting his cell phone on a platypus to frame him, causing Campbell and Sarah Michelle Gellar to fight it.[40] The mask was later used in The Sopranos episode "Fortunate Son" (2001) where it is worn by the character Christopher Moltisanti to commit a robbery.[41]
The costume is referenced in an episode of the television series
The character appears briefly in
In his book Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, Adam Rockoff opined that Ghostface's mask was a "striking, surreal and downright terrifying presence". Calling the mask a "hyperbolic rendering" of Edvard Munch's The Scream, Rockoff wrote that the face is "twisted in an exaggerated, almost mocking grin, as if reflecting the look of terror and surprise on his victims' faces."[52] Tony Magistrale also discussed the similarities between Ghostface's mask and The Scream in his book Abject Terrors: Surveying the Modern and Postmodern Horror Film, stating that the painting, "an apt representation of the degree of alienation from other people, inspires the killers' murderous agenda".[53]
Notes
References
- ^ a b "Voice Of Ghostface - Scream franchise | Behind The Voice Actors". Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on August 8, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018. Check marks indicates role has been confirmed using screenshots of closing credits and other reliable sources
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- ^ "New York City's no match for Ghostface in Scream VI's new trailer". The Verge. January 19, 2023. Archived from the original on February 26, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
- ^ Roth, Rachel (October 20, 2020). "Who Is Behind Each Ghostface Attack in Scream". CBR.
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- ^ Craven, Wes (Director), Marianne Maddalena (Producer) and Patrick Lussier (Editor) (February 2, 2000). Scream 3: Commentary (DVD). United States: Dimension Films. Archived from the original on May 31, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2011.
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- ^ Hills, Ryan. "Loren's Ghost: The Haunted History Of The SCREAM Mask". FANGORIA. Retrieved September 5, 2023.
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- ^ Sidney Prescott: But this is NOT a movie. Billy: Yes it is, Sidney. It's all one big movie. Wes Craven (Director) (1996). Scream (DVD). United States: Dimension Films.
- ^ "Movie Maniacs 2 Ghostface". Spawn.com. 1999. Archived from the original on July 16, 2011. Retrieved March 6, 2011.
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- ISBN 0-7864-1227-5.
- ISBN 0-8204-7056-2.