The 'Scream' TV Series Has A Scary New Mask

What's your favorite television horror franchise? Don't answer just yet! Entertainment Weekly just revealed the new Ghost Face mask for MTV's Scream — the upcoming TV series based on the classic movies of the same name — and it's terrifying. It seems the Powers That Be have decided to forgo the original long-faced ghost mask from the movies in favor of a sleeker, sexier, scarier update, and it's making the show look better every second.

The original Scream mask is so well known at this point that it's easy to forget its origin. Part of what made its usage in the first movie so scary was that it wasn't some new creation made by a fictional psycho (a la Michael Myers in Halloween or Leather Face in Texas Chainsaw Massacre), but an extremely common and innocuous Halloween costume that kids had been wearing in reality for a few years. In fact, only after the movie's release was it marketed as "Ghost Face, the Scream Killer;" before, it was a Fun World brand novelty mask called "The Peanut-Eyed Ghost."

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Jaime Paglia described the reason for the change. “The [original] mask is so iconic. If you were to have that mask in a television series, but you weren’t following any of the characters [from the original], I believe that would be misleading the audience."

When it was first announced that Scream would be adapted for the small screen, I had two reactions. First, as a crazy obsessed fan of the series, I was disheartened that it meant we probably wouldn't get a Scream 5 (granted, Scream 4 wasn't exactly a masterpiece, but I'm a fanboy who doesn't factor in things like "quality" when hoping for more sequels). More importantly, I was highly doubtful that an MTV-produced television version of a tired franchise could deliver scares even close to those in the movies (or, at least, the legitimately scary first one).

This mask alleviates my concern about the potential for true horror in the series. I mean, look at that thing! It's somber, threatening, and jarring all at the same time. If this doesn't haunt the nightmares of teenagers for years to come, then something is seriously wrong with our youth. Why is its mouth open? What does it want? WHOSE FACE IS BEHIND IT?!

Scream purists will be happy to know that Wes Craven, director of all four Scream movies and legendary horror aficionado, also approves of the change. “The new mask is cool and scary and takes the series into a new direction. It also ties into the story, which I won’t give away.” Billy Loomis would surely be proud.

Image: Dimension Films