Proving that it's hard to keep a good slasher down, Ghostface will return in the Scream reboot. The movie's first trailer reintroduces the iconic slasher and the three mainstay characters that have survived every Scream movie to date: Sidney Prescott, Gale Weathers and Dewey Riley.
What differentiates Scream from most slasher franchises is the fact that its survivors are the only consistent characters. A different killer (or pair of killers) takes up the Ghostface identity in every new entry. As fans prepare to meet the next Ghostface, here's a list of everyone who's ever dawned the mask across the four Scream movies and its TV series spin-off.
Billy Loomis and Stu Macher Were Scream's Killer Duo
The first Scream established that multiple people could be behind Ghostface's mask. In this case, it was two people close to Sidney: her friend Stu and her boyfriend Billy. They used teamwork to throw police off Billy's scent and play mind games with Sidney, including faking Billy's death during a climactic party at Stu's house.
After amassing a body count that included Sidney's mother, Maureen, and best friend (and Stu's girlfriend) Tatum, the duo had Sidney cornered. After claiming not to have a motive, Billy admitted that he was trying to destroy Sidney's family to avenge the dissolution of his after Maureen slept with his father. Not having a compelling reason, Stu later blamed peer pressure for his part in the murders.
Sidney Prescott Also Wore the Mask In Scream
In spite of the potential for shock value, Sidney has never become the Ghostface killer in a Scream movie. She has, however, worn the Ghostface mask. After Gale caused a distraction that allowed her to escape from Billy and Stu, Sidney turned the tables on her would-be murderers. Sidney taunted Billy and Stu with a phone call like they had done to Casey Becker in the film's iconic opening scene. She enraged Billy by informing them that she'd called the police. While Stu was busy bleeding to death on his kitchen floor after Billy stabbed him too deeply to simulate wounds from the killer, Billy searched for Sidney. A distraction from the original Halloween on television allowed Sidney to leap out of a closet and stab Billy with an umbrella.
Debbie Loomis Seeks Revenge In Scream 2
Sidney's troubles with the Loomis family didn't end with Billy's death at the end of Scream. Looking for revenge for Billy's death and transferring her hatred for Maureen to her daughter, Debbie Loomis orchestrated a copycat murder spree based on her son's. To divert suspicion, they broke that pattern, which led to the death of Sidney's friend Randy Meeks.
Using the false identity of journalist Debbie Salt, she was able to be on Sidney's college campus while the murders happened without drawing suspicion to herself. Like her son, she even had an accomplice to help her do her dirty work. Her best-laid plans eventually came undone when Cotton Weary came to Sidney and Gale's aid.
Mickey Altieri Masks Up In Scream 2
Like Stu, Debbie Loomis' accomplice Mickey lacked a personal grudge against Sidney to motivate him. Unlike Stu, he did have a motive, albeit a twisted one. Homicidal film buff Mickey wanted to be caught so that he could be at the center of the "trial of the century" media circus, similar to the one the wrongly accused Cotton was caught in after Maureen's murder.
Mickey had a defense planned out, blaming media violence for his psychopathy. He even planned to enlist O. J. Simpson's lawyers to aid in his defense. Unfortunately for Mickey, Debbie only groomed him to be her accomplice so that he could take the fall for her. She shot him after their villainous reveal.
Roman Bridger Becomes Ghostface In Scream 3
While Billy didn't have any other relatives that wanted revenge, a figure from Sidney's past would once again be behind the mask in Scream 3. Like the Loomis family, it was someone who wanted to take out their hatred for her mother on her.
The difference between Stab (the movie within a movie based on Sidney's life) director Roman Bridger and his predecessors was that he was related to Sidney. He was Sidney's half-brother, shunned by Maureen because he was conceived by rape. Roman's vendetta against the Prescott family wasn't confined to Scream 3. He was revealed as the man who set the murders in motion by convincing Billy to kill Maureen.
Jill Roberts and Charlie Walker Are Scream 4's Twisted Killers
Arriving over a decade after Scream 3, Scream 4 updated its trope savvy characters for a generation weaned on social media. Sidney's cousin Jill was the mastermind behind a new wave of Ghostface killings. She attempted to earn fame by following in Sidney's footsteps as the survivor of a serial killer in their hometown of Woodsboro. As a duo, they were able to shift suspicion away from themselves.
Following in Mickey's footsteps as a film buff/murderer, her accomplice Charlie wanted to recreate the murders from the Stab movies. He was also hoping his murderous bond with Jill would lead to romance. Unfortunately for him, Jill's narrative only left room for one survivor. Like the rest of their friends, she was more than willing to sacrifice Charlie for her 15 minutes of fame, pinning the murders on him and her unfaithful boyfriend Trevor. It almost worked, but Sidney survived Jill's attempt to silence her after she revealed her duplicity.
Beth Is the Ghost face In Scream Resurrection
Masked killers were involved in all three seasons of Scream's cable spin-off TV series. The Ghostface mask didn't appear until its final rebooted season, dubbed Scream Resurrection. Beth, a self-identified sociopath, was the latest in a long line of psychopathic movie buffs. A steady diet of horror movies convinced her that she could be a great slasher, but she lacked an adequate origin story.
She found it when she met Jay Elliot. Exploiting Jay's tragic backstory, Beth made her his accomplice in a murder spree on the "hypocrites" at their high school. She wore the Ghostface mask and costume because it was what Jay's brother Deion was wearing when he died. Beth ingratiated herself among her victims, dubbed the Deadfast Club, using her encyclopedic knowledge of horror movie tropes to manipulate them into harm's way. Like her predecessors, Beth betrayed her accomplice but was killed by the last of her intended victims.