Do we like them?

Do we like Ghostface?

A character from Scream (1996)

Our score: 0 out of 10. No. Ghostface kills for thrills and fame, and phones people just to scare them first. Nobody sensible would back this one, and the mask is the only cool thing about it.

Ghostface isn't one person. It's a costume: a black robe, a white mask, and a voice-changer that turns every wearer into the same gravelly voice. In the first Scream, the killer stalks the small California town of Woodsboro. They call their targets, taunt them with horror-movie trivia, then come after them with a knife.

Most of the franchise's fun comes from the question of who is under the mask. The killers are always new, and the films are knowing and meta, so their rules and clichés become part of the game. Every wearer is obsessed with movies or fame to a warped degree. Roger L. Jackson has voiced Ghostface in every film, so the character always sounds the same.

As a character, Ghostface gets a 0 because nothing redeems the mask. The wearers change, but the cruelty doesn't, and the phone calls are designed to terrorise before the violence starts. It is a great horror icon and a great villain, but nobody would want it on their side.