Ghostface (Scream)

Ghostface
Scream character
The Killer
First appearance	Scream
Last appearance	Scream 3
Created by	Kevin Williamson
Portrayed by	Skeet Ulrich Matthew Lillard (Scream) Laurie Metcalf Timothy Olyphant (Scream 2) Scott Foley (Scream 3) Roger L. Jackson (voice)
In-universe information
Species	Human

Ghostface is the name of a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Scream trilogy. There have been five people to assume his mantle (from Scream, Scream 2, and Scream 3). A serial killer, he often dresses up as a variation of a ghost, or the Grim Reaper (The name given to his costume in the film is 'Father Death'). He also uses a device to disguise his voice. He is voiced by Roger L. Jackson (when the killer uses the voice disguiser; when the killer's mask is off, the character who is the killer talks regularly).

Ghostface is named after the rubber mask under which he hides his face, a mask inspired by the Edvard Munch painting The Scream. He is also known as the Woodsboro Killer, after the town where he commits his murders.

Ghostface often calls his victims on the phone, taunting or threatening them before killing them with a 10.5 inch hunting knife. Even though he is usually known for asking his victims horror film trivia while stalking them, he only does this six times in the Scream Series. (Casey in Scream, Call to Sidney in Scream, Randy's call in Scream 2, Cici's call in Scream 2, Sarah's call in Scream 3, and Cotton's call in Scream 3).

Overall, Ghostface successfully kills 22 people throughout the entire trilogy.

Identity

In the first film, the killer is in fact two people; Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard). Billy murders Sidney Prescott's mother prior to the events of the movie because she had slept with his father, Hank Loomis (C.W. Morgan) prompting Billy's parents to divorce. Stu never gives a motive except for "peer pressure" but showed symptoms of psychopathy. On one brief moment in Scream, Sidney puts on the Ghostface costume, taunts Billy and Stu with the voice changer over the phone, and then attacks them.

Minutes before Sidney's mother is murdered, she has sex with Cotton Weary, which in turn makes the scene appear to be a rape/murder crime, framing Cotton. Billy and Stu then proceed to try to murder Sidney and most of her friends as revenge.

In the second film, the person behind the killing once again turns out to be two people. The killers were Mickey (Timothy Olyphant), best friend of Sidney's boyfriend, Derek, and the other is Billy's mother, Mrs. Loomis (Laurie Metcalf), who wants revenge for the death of her son. She recruits Mickey Altieri, a psychopath to do the actual killings while she poses as a local reporter. Randy Meeks is the only victim in the film to be killed by Mrs. Loomis.

In the third film the killer is Sidney's half brother, Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), who says their mother didn't want him and was furious seeing the life she created with Sidney. So he tricked Billy into killing by telling him of the affair between their mother and his father and to also bring along Stu so he could have someone else to blame for the murders. This is the only scream movie (so far; with Scream 4 greenlit for production) that only had one killer.

Parodies in Other Media

File:Scarymovieghostface.jpg

Ghostface from Scary Movie.

The parody films Scary Movie and Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, depict killers based on the Ghostface character.

Scary Movie

In the climax of Scary Movie, the killer was revealed to be both Bobby Prinze and Ray Wilkins. However, it turns out they wanted to be copycat killers of a killer that already existed. The real killer was Doofy Gilmore, a policeman who had been faking mental retardation.

Shriek

In Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the Thirteenth, the killer's mask is not originally that of Ghostface, but begins as a hockey mask which resembles the one worn by Jason Voorhees in the Friday the 13th series. After being set on fire (when the killer tried to smoke a cigarette), it melted to resemble Ghostface.

In this film, unlike the Scream version of Ghostface, he constantly fails to kill anyone with a speaking part; the various kills are accidental, or people in the background with almost no part in the plot. In the climax of the film, the killer turns out to be Doughy's long lost twin cousin. He is accidentally shot by Hagatha, who was using a gun as a mirror to touch up her make-up.

He later attempts to escape, after waking up in a mockery of the usual horror shock endings, only to be shot many times by Doughy and beaten up by a mob of cops who mistake him for being black. He still survives, and is revealed in a where-are-they-now segment, he apparently settled down.

At the end of the film, it turns out that another has taken up the guise of Ghostface (and is apparently more improved, attacking his victims with ninja-like tactics).

Interview with a Campfire

A parody of Ghostface appeared in the two-part special Interview with a Campfire on the television series All Grown Up!. This killer (whose name is never revealed on-screen) appears in an unnamed film within a film directed by Tommy Pickles. The killer wears an Easter Bunny mask and taunts his victim (Lil DeVille) over the phone whilst posing as a sales rep, before breaking in via the doggie door.

Whilst making this fictional film, the bunny mask falls off, revealing the actor playing him to be Dil Pickles, thus halting the events of the fictional film, and preventing the killer's motives from being revealed.

Other Media

In an episode of Celebrity Deathmatch, Ghostface calls fighters saying that he will kill a scream queen every round, he ends up murdering Drew Barrymore, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Later a cell phone that belongs to him is planted on a platypus and Neve Campbell and Sarah Michelle Gellar manage to defeat it, believing it to be the killer. At the end of the show he makes a phone call to Nick Diamond.

Roger L. Jackson reprises his role of Ghostface in the Robot Chicken episode "That Hurts Me." as one of the movie killer contestants in a show that parodies Big Brother. He portrays the token black character so often seen in reality shows. He launches a prank war on Pinhead, purposefully shrinks Freddy Krueger's sweater in the wash, and when given a free cell phone call, he calls Drew Barrymore to threaten her and complain that the Charlie's Angels sequel sucked. When both he and Michael Myers were set to be eliminated, Ghostface gave a heartfelt speech about how he'd cherished his time on the show and wouldn't hold any grudges over being eliminated, which saved him from elimination, as opposed to Michael, who simply stabbed Freddy repeatedly as a response (which didn't even make Freddy bleed, but instead merely annoyed him).

Ghostface has also made a cameo in Tripping the Rift as the judge in the episode when Chode sells his soul to the devil and finds a way to sue him.

In the film Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back, Shannen Doherty and Wes Craven provide cameos as themselves making the non-existent Scream 4, but Doherty objects when Ghostface turns out to be played by the orangutan, Suzann.

In the anime Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei, Mr. Despair attempts to dream of his own death scene. The screen switches to a familiar shower scene from Psycho as Mr. Despair is taking a shower. Suddenly he is attacked by Bruce Lee, Darth Vader, Ghostface, and other familiar faces before dying the exact same way in Psycho.

In Marquis du Cabras, an episode of the anime FLCL, Naota's face changes into Ghostface's face frequently during the scene where he and his family are eating the spicy curry.

The 22 Deaths

SPOILER ALERT

The Ghostface Killer is responsible for the following deaths:

• (1) Casey Becker Scream- Gutted and hanged from a tree
• (2) Steven "Steve" Orth Scream-Gutted
• (3) Kenneth "Kenny" Chaney Scream- Throat slashed
• (4) Principal Himbry Scream- Stabbed to death and hanged on a tree by his intestines
• (5) Tatum Riley Scream-Head crushed by garage door
• (6) Casey "Cici" Cooper Scream 2 - Stabbed and thrown from balcony
• (7) Derek Scream 2- Shot in chest
• (8) Hallie Scream 2- Stabbed to death
• (9) Maureen Evans Scream 2- Stabbed to death
• (10) Officer Andrews Scream 2-Throat slashed
• (11) Officer Richards Scream 2-Head crushed by metal pole
• (12) Phil Stevens Scream 2- Impaled through the ear with a knife through a bathroom stall
• (13) Randy Meeks Scream 2- Stabbed several times and throat slashed
• (14) Angelina Taylor Scream 3- Stabbed in the back
• (15) Christine Scream 3- Stabbed
• (16) Cotton Weary Scream 3- Stabbed in stomach
• (17) Jennifer Jolie Scream 3-Stabbed in stomach
• (18) John Milton Scream 3- Throat slashed
• (19) Sara Darling Scream 3-Stabbed
• (20) Tom Prinze Scream 3- Gas explosion
• (21) Tyson Fox Scream 3- Neck broken, stabbed and thrown from balcony
• (22) Steven Stone Scream 3 Stabbed in back

Impact

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."

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". The mask of Ghostface is widely renowned for its major appearance on halloween night. It has been the most common costume on halloween since the launch of it. There are many variations such as a mask where it can produce fake blood.