Scream‘s Ghostface is among the most iconic images in modern horror cinema. The design originated with an early 90s ‘Fun World’ Halloween mask which producer Marianne Maddalena came across inside a house during location shooting for the first movie. She brought it to the attention of director Wes Craven: it was love at first sight and a slasher legend was born.
In 2022, after more than a decade away, Scream will be back with a vengeance. The upcoming entry is billed as both a follow-up and a relaunch, with franchise stars Neve Campbell, David Arquette, and Courtney Cox all returning. One person who sadly isn’t involved is Craven, who died aged 76 in 2015. The director’s chairs are being by Ready Or Not’s Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, with the movie intended to honor his memory.
Now, courtesy of sound designer Greg Russell, we have our first look at Ghostface. Check it out:
Now I’ll admit that this isn’t exactly a bombshell image. One of the unique aspects of Ghostface is that in-universe it’s just an off-the-shelf costume, allowing anyone to be under the mask. This means that the character doesn’t change in appearance between movies like other movie monsters can. Even so, it’s nice to see that unnerving visage back after so long.
But it remains to be seen exactly what this new movie will be about. The new cast of fresh-faced young actors looks like perfect slasher movie fodder, but I’m especially interested in how the legacy characters will be used. Scream 4 delved deeply into the long-term effects of the franchise on Neve Campbell’s Sidney, so my thinking is that we may see more of Courtney Cox’s Gale Riley.
Scream (2022) will hit theaters on January 14, 2022, so we should see a teaser trailer fairly soon. Watch this space.