Slasher · Film

Ghostface

A costume anyone can wear, which is exactly the point

Threat index 71 Scream 1996

Attribute scores

Power52

Intellect72

Menace74

Fear factor85

Cultural impact82

Charisma60

Editorial estimates on a 0–100 scale, calibrated against every other character in the index. Not official canon.

Who they are

Ghostface is a mask and a voice changer, not a person, and the franchise rotates who is underneath. That structure turns each film into a whodunit where the killer is always someone in the friend group. The opening phone call remains the template for horror cold opens, and the character single-handedly revived the slasher genre after a decade of decline.

Defining traits

Rotating identityVoice modulationGenre literacyClumsy but persistentPsychological phone games

What makes them dangerous

The killer already knows your name, your schedule, and where the spare key is, because they are your friend.

And what undoes them

There is a human under the mask, and humans bleed, panic and get unmasked.

Things you might not know

The mask was an existing Halloween costume the production found in a house they were scouting.
The voice actor was kept physically separate from the cast so their reactions to the phone calls would be genuine.
Unlike his peers, Ghostface trips, falls and gets hurt, which was a deliberate corrective to invincible killers.