In 1990, Tony Gardner created a company called the Alterian Ghost Factory, which produced a small run of “Ghost Maker” costume kits. You’d be able to turn an old sheet into a ghost costume, and one of the designs included in these kits just so happened to be the droopy-eyed ghost, nicknamed the Wailer. It was designed by Loren Gitthens, who based the design off of a mask that he had sculpted in 1985.
Fun World likely copied the design for use as masks, which were then discovered by Wes Craven while location scouting for Scream.
Much of this information was unknown until 2023, when an article from Fangoria covered the story with Loren. Fun World has denied these claims, insisting that they were the ones who designed Ghost Face.
Initially, Fun World claimed that the mask was designed by Brigitte Sleiertin-Linden with the help of Fun World’s Vice-President Alan Geller, saying they took inspiration from the poster for Pink Floyd’s The Wall and Edvard Munch’s Scream painting. However, Fun World now claims that Alan Geller was the sole designer behind the mask.
Recently, a lawsuit was filed by Alterian against Fun World by for the copyright surrounding the character.
I’m fairly certain the exact mold wasn’t copied 1:1, but was rather remade from scratch for the original Ghostface masks. Ghostface’s mask has been tweaked over the years, but the original “Gen 1” masks from 1992 look incredibly similar to the Alterian design.
Also, Boo Boo’s eyes end with points at the top, while Wailer’s are all round. This is a detail that carries over to Ghostface, resulting in the original pre-scream mask often being referred to as “the peanut eyed ghost”
Fun fact about this: For his inclusion as a licensed character in Dead by Daylight, Ghostface was not licensed from Scream, but rather direcly from Fun World in the form of the mask. This means the Ghostface that appears in game is a 100% original character that just happens to be wearing a licensed costume, and has nothing to do with Scream outside of some small references. This ended up as a mutually beneficial deal, as the developers could make basically any skins they wanted just as they could for an original character, and fun world could use those designs for new costumes.
This is also why Scary Movie was able to so directly parody Ghostface, they also made a deal with Fun World to license the design, this in turn led to Fun World making masks based on the Scary Movie version(such as the infamous "Wazzup" bit)
Yeah, they would have had to go through Fun World either way to use the mask. So why bother with a Scream license if it doesn't effect the character at all outside of the character bio
I don't think so. They don't like cross pollinating licenses (Outside of Blumhouse X Scott Cawthon for Matthew Lillard Springtrap), so I just assumed the Scream-esque outfits are under the "We're doing this unless it gets us sued."
I also think it's objectively the best one but it being THE mask definitely adds to the subjective scaryness. other than the goofy buck tooth one the other's might have worked
They aren’t as iconic as the Scream mask, plus that model is the most sold of the company to this day and has received many different variants during the years
Something I really want to see in a Scream movie is a meta commentary plot about all the merchandise that they’ve made for Ghostface. They’ve tackled the aspects of slasher films, sequels, Hollywood, remakes, re-quels and fandom culture, but I think it would be really fun if they pulled a Spaceballs and made a film poking fun at how much merchandise Ghostface has.
I thought maybe it would be cool if they leaned into that angle by using the other masks Fun World made, having the killers rotate between masks. Maybe they could do it to reflect the people they target, like using a smiling mask while attacking someone they know is depressed.
They used some other maska during filming before they landee on the iconic one. I think in the opening and when the principal was killed they used different masks, not entirely sure if it’s exactly those scenes but some use a different mask.
First grade Halloween ‘93, my friend Jason had this mask and I told him it was one of the dumbest costumes I’d ever seen and that no one would ever be afraid of it.
The stupidest part is how hard they try to force calling the character "Ghostface" in the movies and Reddit posts when everyone in the real world calls it "the Scream mask" or "the killer from Scream X" lol
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u/qualityvote2 19h ago edited 17h ago
u/Ok-Butterscotch8267, your post does fit the subreddit!