‘Scream 6’ marketing campaign sees Ghostface appear in US cities
Unsuspecting fans of the Scream franchise have been surprised this week with numerous sightings of the antagonist, fictional serial killer Ghostface, appearing in various US cities.
However, as reported by Variety, these have been part of the marketing campaign to promote the upcoming instalment, Scream VI, which arrives on March 10th. The cities Ghostface has been spotted in include Sonoma, New Orleans and St. Louis. Some of the public were so shocked that it has also been reported that Ghostface prompted numerous 911 calls to the police. According to Variety, Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the film, has declined to comment.
However, the official Twitter account of Ghostface has commented on the stunt, writing captions such as “I was just minding my business” and “I’m watching you” to screenshots of webcam footage that has captured his appearances across the US.
This is not the first time Paramount has pulled such a stunt. For the 2022 psychological horror Smile, the studio created an immersive viral marketing campaign for promotional purposes. Prior to the film’s theatrical release, the studio hired actors to sit behind the home plates and produce frightening grins at televised MLB games. Smile was a commercial success at the box office, earning more than $200million worldwide.
Scream VI was directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett from the script written by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. It’s the first chapter in the long-running slasher series not to feature Neve Campbell’s protagonist Sidney Prescott as the actor departed the movie due to a pay dispute. The film stars Melissa Barrera, Jenna Ortega, Hayden Panettiere and Courteney Cox and follows the lives of the Woodsboro residents as the new Ghostface hunts them.
The late Wes Craven created the Scream franchise and he directed its first four instalments. These were 1996’s Scream, 1997’s Scream 2, 2000’s Scream 3, and 2011’s Scream 4. He passed away in 2015.
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