Ghostface is not Ghost Face. They might look alike. But they are completely different slasher entities in the world of horror. I, myself, did not realize this until I was shopping for some Fanta, and saw that iconic white mask and black hood staring up at me from the soda aisle with its aptly named Ghost Face punch.
That space between Ghost and Face makes a world of difference. A FUN WORLD of difference, to be exact. You see, like with several of our most recognizable Halloween boogeymen, the killer we associate with the Scream franchise, has long been wrapped up in its own rights issues. Which finally made me realize something very important.
I recently found myself growing agitated with a “horror influencer” who was wandering around one of these creepy cons, asking Halloween cosplayers who’d win in a fight: Ghostface or Nancy Thompson. It irritated me, mostly because Ghostface has been a cavalcade of various narcissistic sociopaths over the course of the long-running franchise. There can’t be a definitive answer to this question. Ghostface is not a singular entity, and unlike Jason or Freddy, the individual under the robe doesn’t have any supernatural powers that make them indestructible by human hands alone.
So, sure, Nancy Thompson (of Elm Street fame) could probably stomp most of the people behind that mask into a fine red mist, especially the later weirdos in parts 5 and 6 who look like they’d blow away in a light wind, and that annoying helicopter mom in Part 7.
But Ghost Face? I’m not so sure anymore. We don’t really know anything about the hooded villain with the gaping hole between his name. We know he likes bubbly soft drinks and showing up on merch at Ross Dress for Less. But who is behind that particular mask, really?
That’s a question that hasn’t been answered. In the Scream movies, there have been 15 different killers who have worn the Ghostface identity across the franchise. The dude could pretty much be anyone. Seasons 1 and 2 of the Scream TV series used the Brandon James mask, so those two doofuses don’t really count. But Season 3 brought back the official, classic look and voice, giving us two more killers. So we have 17 Ghostfaces across the entire franchise.
We don’t really know who is behind the Ghost Face cloak. It could be anyone, from anywhere, and for all we know, the damn thing could have any amount of magical powers up its nasty sleeves.
I know I’m burying the lede. Here’s the deal.
Ghostface (one word) is the killer identity used by the Scream movies, while Ghost Face (two words) is the official trademark owned by the costume company Fun World. They do not have the rights to use any of the characters that have resided under the mask. So who is hiding inside their costume when we see it on T-Shirts, merch and snack tie-ins?
That’s a mystery that’s never been solved.
Whenever you see ‘Ghostface‘ as one word, that means it’s the killer directly from the movies, used by filmmakers to create their villain for the Scream franchise. He’s the guy you see on screen. ‘Ghost Face‘, on the other hand, is the official registered trademark by Fun World, the novelty company that created the physical vinyl mask before Wes Craven decided this was the look he wanted for his teenage dirtbags Billy Loomis and Stu Macher in the original Scream, way back in 1996.
This two-word spelling of Ghost Face is what fans will usually see on any official merchandise. When grabbing that twelve-pack of Fanta Ghost Face Punch, you have to realize that this version of Father Death is not the same entity from Scream, even though they look exactly the same. Check that soda box closely. You won’t see any other Scream branding on it at all.
This is where it tends to get completely confusing. Every killer in every Scream sequel IS wearing a Ghost Face mask. It is a genuine Fun World mask like you can buy at any Spirit Halloween store. Of course, Paramount (or is it Skydance now) is using the best quality mask they can get their hands on.
What this essentially means is that two different corporate entities are sharing the rights to the same physical product design. But, and this is the important part, if you pulled the mask off the Ghost Face on the Fanta box, or any of that other merchandise, you would not find any of the seventeen people who have previously donned the Ghost Face mask in the movies and TV series, to become what the studio refers to on screen as Ghostface.
Sure hope I’m not losing you. This is all to say, the Ghost Face on any bit of merchandise, has never revealed its true identity.
Here’s the other caveat. Fun World designed this mask way back in 1991, selling them under the names Fantastic Faces and The Peanut-Eyed Ghost. There’s a whole controversy there about who actually created the design that we won’t get into here. You can go watch DrScreams’ short on YouTube to find out more about that.
Back in the day, Dimension Films and Fun World struck up a deal allowing the studio to license the physical mask in the movie. But the in-universe version of the mask Billy and Stu buy off the shelf is known as Father Death. That’s the fictional name associated with the costume.
Why is this a thing? The trademark distinction allows Fun World to continue making money selling merchandise globally while the movie studios have their own rights to the Scream characters and story. That makes all the sense in the world, right?
The name ‘Ghostface‘ is only used one single time in the first three movies. It happens in the original, right before Tatum endures her gruesome garage door fate. She looks at Stu in costume (or is it Billy, there is still plenty of debate about that), and says, “No, please don’t kill me, Mr. Ghostface, I wanna be in the sequel!”
The name Ghostface is not spoken aloud in Scream 2 or Scream 3. It wasn’t until Scream 4 that characters consistently started saying the proper noun “Ghostface” in casual dialogue to describe the entity. And it wasn’t until the more recent “requels” that everyone and their mom started repeatedly using the name “Ghostface” when discussing the killer’s motives, the online subculture surrounding him, and how to stop him.
The name Father Death has mostly gone to the wayside. So in all the movies, Ghostface is wearing an officially licensed Ghost Face mask. That still leaves the identity behind the Ghost Face we see on merchandise a big mystery.
Fun World has not revealed that identity yet. And they probably won’t. Fun World owns the Ghost Face trademark and continues to sell the character as an intentionally anonymous Halloween icon. So far, there is no identity or “real name” attached to that version of the killer. They want to keep it ambiguous so that people buying the mask can feel like they are the slasher. But that doesn’t mean it’s beyond the realm of possibility to have Fun World’s version of Ghost Face unmasked with a personality all its own sometime in the near future.
They sort of did that with Dead by Daylight, crawling through the ultimate legal loophole to give Ghost Face an identity beneath the real-world version of the mask. The video game wanted to use the iconic horror disguise, but licensed it from Fun World rather than using the Scream character. So they only licensed the mask. The game’s version of Ghost Face is a completely original character named Danny Johnson, who also goes by the alias Jed Olsen. Danny/Jed has zero connection to the Scream franchise itself. He’s never stepped foot in Woodsboro. And that’s because the creators behind Dead by Daylight did not want to pay Dimension Films the much more expensive price to utilize their killer.
Technically speaking, for all intents and purposes, Danny could very well be who is lurking under the mask on all that Ghost Face merchandise. For the time being, Fun World wants you to use your imagination. So who knows? Ghost Face might not be human. He could probably obliterate Nancy Thompson. And if the mask makers ever decide to pit him against one of the heavyweights like Pinhead or Chucky, the entity currently hiding their true self from us could have all the super powers needed to conquer any given beastie up for the fight.
There is one person we’ve left out of all of this conversation, and that’s Ghostface Killah. This famous American rapper, who is one of the founding members of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, chose his stage name from the 1979 kung fu classic Mystery of Chessboxing, and he did it loooong before Scream was even a glimmer in Wes Craven’s eye. So please don’t walk around thinking Ghostface Killah stole his name from a horror franchise. That’s not the lore.
I hope this helps with any of the confusion surrounding Ghostface and Ghost Face. If you do plan to don the mask this Halloween, know that Fun World’s version is the same as seen in the movies. But you’re not Billy or Stu, or Nancy or Mickey, or Roman, or Jill or Charlie, or Amber and Richie, or Wayne, Quinn or Ethan. No, YOU ARE Ghost Face. And I guess that’s the point Fun World is trying to make by not giving their version of the slasher any kind of identifiable character lurking beneath the cloak.
Ghost Face can be whoever you want it to be. That’s kind of rare in the world of horror.
