Ghostface debuted in Scream (1996) as a disguise used by teenagers Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich) and Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard), during their killing spree in the fictional town of Woodsboro.

The changing identity of the person beneath the mask means that Ghostface has no definite motivation, ranging from revenge and seeking fame to peer pressure.

The Ghostface persona remains the same throughout the Scream series, featuring a black hood and cloak with a jagged base and a white rubber mask resembling a ghost with an anguished expression.

The character has become a popular culture icon since its inception, referenced in film and television as well as spawning a series of action figures and merchandise, as well as parodies and titular spoofs.

[12][13][14] In the movies, Ghostface has appeared in all entries to date, returning most recently in Scream VI, with Jackson reprising his role, now credited as "The Voice".

The character, voiced by Roger L. Jackson, calls and taunts teenager Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) with horror clichés and trivia questions, eventually murdering her boyfriend Steve Orth (Kevin Patrick Walls) and then her.

The Ghostface disguise allows suspicion to fall on many people, including Sidney's boyfriend, Billy Loomis (Skeet Ulrich); her father, Neil Prescott (Lawrence Hecht); her friend, Randy Meeks (Jamie Kennedy); and her schoolmate, Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard).

Briefly dressing up as Ghostface, Sidney attacks and knocks out Billy with an umbrella and then engages in a fight with Stu, ultimately killing him by dropping a television on his head.

The Ghostface disguise allows suspicion to fall on several characters, including Cotton again, and Sidney's boyfriend Derek Feldman (Jerry O'Connell).

In Scream 3 (2000), a new Ghostface killer murders Cotton and his girlfriend Christine Hamilton (Kelly Rutherford) in an attempt to discover the now-hidden Sidney's location.

Ghostface is revealed as Sidney's half-brother, film director Roman Bridger (Scott Foley), born to their mother Maureen during a two-year period when she moved to Hollywood to become an actress under the name Rina Reynolds.

In the ensuing fight, Tara seriously wounds Ethan by stabbing him in the mouth and Sam kills Quinn by shooting her in the head, while Bailey is knocked unconscious.

Ghostface, under the alias the "Ghost Face", appears as a killer in the asymmetrical multiplayer survival horror game, Dead by Daylight, voiced by Filip Ivanovic.

[19] This version is Danny Johnson, also known by the pseudonym Jed Olsen, a narcissistic freelance newspaper journalist from the fictional town of Roseville, Florida, who covers the Ghostface murders by day and commits them by night.

In April 2022, Ghostface was added in an update as a free playable skin for a limited time in the online multiplayer social deduction game Among Us.

[21] In July 2024, it was announced that Ghostface will appear as a playable character in Mortal Kombat 1 via the "Khaos Reigns" downloadable content, coming with Roger L. Jackson reprising his role.

[30] The initial script labeled the main antagonist as "masked killer" with no specifications to its appearance, forcing Craven and his staff to produce the costume eventually worn by Ghostface as they were shooting.

[26] The cloak itself had to be custom-made for the film, as the "Father Death" outfit identified in Scream as that of the killers did not really exist; the Fun World mask was sold only as a stand-alone item.

Each cloak was estimated to cost $700 to hand-produce by a seamstress and was made of a heavy, thick, black material, with reflective threads woven throughout, creating a subtle glimmer.

The cloak was created to help conceal the identity of the killers by covering most of their visible bodies, as it was believed that otherwise audiences would be able to guess which character was involved by his or her clothing and body-shape.

[5] The third Ghostface, created by Roman, preferred more clean kills with precise stabbings, and used theatricality and movie props to attack his victims, using a voice changer that allowed him to sound like many other people, casting suspicion and doubt on other characters.

Billy claimed to have been driven to insanity by his mother's abandonment, an incident he blamed on Maureen, and after taking his revenge on her chose to continue his spree, leading towards her daughter Sidney,[4] while Stu lists peer pressure as his motivation.

[4] In Scream 2, Mrs. Loomis cites her motivation as simple revenge against the person she holds responsible for her son's death, while Mickey desires the fame that his involvement in the killings will garner when he is caught.

[26] Each killer is depicted as possessing effective physical abilities, such as the capabilities of nearly flawless stealth, prowling without being detected, moving silently, and efficiently vanishing from its targets' defense.

Ghostface is shown to be able to sustain and even ignore severe levels of physical damage, surviving blunt trauma, stabbing wounds and gunshots.

[4][5][6] McFarlane Toys produced a 6-inch figurine of Ghostface in 1999 for the "Movie Maniacs II" series of horror and science fiction inspired line of character models.

[28][47] In the Japanese anime FLCL episode "Marquis de Cabras" (2003), protagonist Naota's face changes to resemble that of Ghostface frequently during a scene where he and his family are eating spicy curry.

[56] In his book Going to Pieces: The Rise and Fall of the Slasher Film, Adam Rockoff opined that Ghostface's mask was a "striking, surreal and downright terrifying presence".

"[57] Tony Magistrale also discussed the similarities between Ghostface's mask and The Scream in his book Abject Terrors: Surveying the Modern and Postmodern Horror Film, stating that the painting, "an apt representation of the degree of alienation from other people, inspires the killers' murderous agenda".

[59] His inclusion has inspired numerous internet memes, with users humorously highlighting the improbability of Ghostface standing a real chance in a fight against the roster of Mortal Kombat characters and fellow guest fighters featured in the game and its predecessors.