New Scream Featurette Explores the Origins of Ghostface's Mask

10/19/2021 08:32 pm EDT

The trend in horror throughout the '80s was to slap a mask on a murderer and a slasher villain could be born, though once the genre entered the '90s, these figures grew fewer and farther between, with Scream's Ghostface arguably being the most famous horror villain of the decade. As with most well-known masks, the design of the disguise wasn't necessarily crafted over an extended period of time, with the mask merely being discovered in a random box while scouting locations. Director Wes Craven immediately connected with the image, ultimately using it for the film, and giving birth to a horror icon. You can learn more about the design of the mask in the below featurette, courtesy of IGN, in honor of the film's 25th anniversary.

"No one could agree on a mask and I remember we were in a location scout, and we found Ghostface ... in a box of stuff in a garage," writer Kevin Williamson details in the video. "Wes immediately looked at it and said, 'This is like the famous Scream painting.' And so we took that to our production and we said, 'Riff on this... make something like this.' They must've done 20 different designs."

He added, "Every one of them was rejected by the studio, and finally we were like, why don't we just get the rights to this mask?"

While the success of Scream would go on to inspire a number of imitators, none of them came close to matching the effectiveness of the Craven film, either in regards to their overall merits or to the iconography of their killers. 

Proving just how much life is left in the concept, an all-new Scream is on the way, which brings back a number of key figures from the franchise. Star David Arquette, who has appeared in all of the series' films, recently detailed the impact Ghostface still has and what it's like ushering in a new generation of talent for the upcoming film.

"Anytime you see Ghostface, it's always something ... just as a horror film lover myself, there's something just incredible about the whole being part of that. Seeing the mask on Halloween, I just love that," Arquette shared during the press event in which ComicBook.com attended. "That he's become such an iconic figure within the whole horror genre. It's been an emotional experience for me. I've thought about [original director] Wes [Craven] quite a bit, really talk to him in my head, said personal little prayers, just feeling his energy around, really. It's a new movie, it's a new movie that honors the past films, but a lot has happened since even the last one. I think they incorporate all of that. I think they incorporate aspects of our world now and what we've all experienced and the evolution of the internet and the evolution of horror films in general. I think it's gonna be really exciting. I think they just ramped up all ... They learned from what came before and expanded it in a really brilliant way." 

The new Scream lands in theaters on January 14, 2022. 

What do you think of the Ghostface mask? Let us know in the comments below or contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter to talk all things Star Wars and horror!

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