Ghostface (TV series)

"Aren't you curious about who I am going to kill?"

- Ghostface to Deion Elliot

Ghostface is the main antagonist of the television series Scream: Resurrection, the third season and reboot of the Scream television series. The killer uses a slightly updated version of the mask that was used by the previous killers in the Scream movies.

It is completely different to the Brandon James Mask that was worn by the killers in the first and second seasons.

Identities

 * Jay Elliot (Season 3)
 * Beth (Season 3)

Motives

 * Jamal Elliot: Jamal was the firstborn son of Earl Elliot and his unnamed mother, as well as illegitimate, due to having been conceived and born from an affair during Earl’s job as a trucker. He was the only stepson of Sherry Elliot as well as the eldest half brother to both twin brothers Marcus and Deion Elliot. Growing up from the projects, Jamal was tough but easygoing. He would grow up to have contempt for both his biological father and Marcus, whom he despised the most. This was in part due to the fact that, prior to Deion’s death by Hook Man in Halloween 2010, Earl had sent Deion out to football camp in the summer to Kentucky where he wanted to introduce Jamal to, so they could get to know about their brotherhood which was unbeknownst to Marcus, whose father never told him. Following Deion’s death, Jamal was relocated to Atlanta, due to the fact that after his unknown mother learned of Earl’s side family which he chose over her and Jamal, drove her to suicide by locking herself in a garage and leaving the car engine running. Upon arrival, Jamal immediately recognized that Marcus had assumed Deion’s identity and who had treated him like a stranger, thus turning Jamal against him and brewing a growing anger pent up against Marcus. He hid his anger well, and who was revengeful towards Marcus, for stealing and having to keep up with his stupid lie, claiming how he had abandoned Deion before stealing his whole life and identity, all the late-twin had tried to do was watch out for Marcus, and how he’s the reason it all went bad. He also states how exposing Marcus wouldn’t work and killing him would be quick, rather he wanted to take everything away from Marcus after he had taken everything from him, which he claims he didn’t know how until the right opportunity came along, referring to his accomplice, Beth, prior to her betrayal due to her ulterior motives. Jamal claims that once he proved to himself he could kill and that he could go through with it, it wasn’t nearly as hard for him to keep going, making him for the most part and the first of a part vigilante and part Ghostface killer, who’s motive was due to resentment due to deception, wrongdoing, and neglect as well as overall jealousy which indicted Jamal with hatred towards his father and half-brother, who perhaps never intended to listen to the reasons as to why Marcus or their father both did what they did.
 * Beth: Beth was a sociopathic horror movie fanatic and despite her cliché of being the goth girl stereotype, followed accordingly to how she dressed as well as being the expert of all things horror. This was overlooked by many as just another stereotypical gag, but more so due to the fact that Beth managed to hide her violent tendencies well enough. She claims that she knows that her evil, bad being in her since being born and already acknowledging her sociopathy as a reflection of herself and how despite hiding behind the mask, doesn’t change for her and neither does she lie to herself about who she actually is, calling out and citing the hypocrisy of the Deadfast Club as a motive. She claims to have watched every horror movie she could get in order to disprove them, stating how watching them was better enough and how she could be a better monster then the killers onscreen, who she states as being actors behind masks, to which she’s not and states that’s who she really was on the inside. This can be interpreted as exposition on Beth’s background growing up, whose family home is also a funeral home with a morgue within the funeral home, thus explaining the reason with Beth’s fascination with horror and the macabre, perhaps back when she was younger. Beth states how she wanted to always be a killer in search of her origin story, until one night it walked through the door of her job at the tattoo parlor in the form of Jay, which she claims how the moment Jay sat inside she could tell they were kindred spirits. Beth points out how Jay asked her to do his demons justice as she tattooed him and how each time he came in, her needle would go in deeper and so would Jamal’s darkness. Jamal would then reveal one night to Beth about Marcus and how much he hated him for abandoning Deion and stealing his life and identity and the lie Marcus had lived with ever since. Jay wanted revenge and Beth realized that it was fate, claiming how it was perfect from the plot to the Ghostface mask (costume) and how all she had to do was give Jay the tiniest push and to commit murder and how it was on, claiming how getting detention with the Deadfast Club was purely coincidental and how she got to exorcise her demons as well. Beth points out anytime she’d have to cover herself around the club, Jay would be Ghostface, and how she got to be what she was born to be. Beth also states how killing Amir was everything, claiming he had broken the rules and how she warned him and states how if she knew she could kill him, she could kill anybody. Beth also reveals how betraying and killing Jay was always part of her plan, due to him having the cops, and regardless, claims how she had to pin the murders on him and how she believed she’d get away with it due to their different backgrounds. Beth then finally claims how horror isn’t about victims and how, despite the body count changing, but how the killer always comes back for more and is the real hero at the end.

Appearances
Season 3 (6/6)
 * The Deadfast Club
 * Devil's Night
 * The Man Behind the Mask
 * Ports in the Storm
 * Blindspots
 * Endgame

Trivia

 * In the Season 3 episode Endgame, Jamal is revealed to be an accomplice of Ghostface, confirming that he killed Tommy Jenkins, Avery Collins and Hook Man while also attacking Officer Reynolds. His motivation was Marcus stealing Deion's life and his father abandoning his mother for Marcus' family.
 * Within the same episode, Beth is revealed to be Ghostface. Her motivation is to prove herself she's the ultimate serial killer and to get revenge on all of the hypocrites that encompass Marcus' friend group.
 * Ghostface was named after a rubber Halloween mask inspired by the Edvard Munch painting The Scream.
 * Both Jamal Elliot and Beth as Ghostface killers pay homage to various other male to female killers in the Scream franchise, among other references.
 * Beth and Jamal Elliot remain thus far, the first and only Ghostface duo, to have appeared throughout the entire TV series.
 * Officially, they are the first biracial Ghostface couple and duo of the franchise and TV series, with both Beth and Jamal Elliot (first African American killer of the franchise) succeeded by Richie Kirsch and Amber Freeman (first Asian American killer) in the fifth film, the latter being the first in the film series, respectively.
 * Jamal and Beth are overall, the fourth out of fifth overall Ghostface duos, the third male to female duo, and the second out of three couples in the franchise.
 * They are also the first pair of Ghostface killers to be in an inappropriate relationship as a couple, due to Beth and Jamal’s age difference, seeing as Jamal is an adult while Beth is a teenager, who are then suceeded by Amber and Richie’s relationship, with each adult (male) dating a teenager (female).
 * Beth and Jay are technically the eighth and ninth Ghostface killers (including Billy and Stu, despite them being the only same sex duo) in the franchise. However due to the fact that their murders are not correlated or associated to any of the events of the film series (due to neither of them targeting Sidney Prescott or any film characters), and are separate in connection to only the events of the TV series, and are thus excluded, respectfully.
 * Technically, if one were to believe the theory of Angelina Tyler being Roman’s accomplice, both Jay and Beth would be (in chronological order): the ninth and tenth Ghostface killers, the fifth out of six Ghostface duos, the fourth of fifth male to female killer duos, as well as the third out of four couples.
 * Jay’s role as the revengeful half brother and illegitimate son pays homage to Roman Bridger in Scream 3.
 * Furthermore, his role in general as a relative avenging a former relative is a reference to both Billy and Nancy Loomis in Scream and Scream 2, albeit more so the latter due to the fact that each are seeking revenge on the death of their relative (Debbie, due to Billy’s death) and motivated to kill and murder because of it (Jamal, due to Deion’s death).
 * Beth’s role as the horror movie fanatic, albeit sociopathic, pays homage to that of male killers Stu Macher and Mickey Altieri, as well as female killers Jill Roberts and Amber Freeman.
 * However, Beth’s references are more strongly directed towards and who, despite preceding her character, shares many similarities and aspects to Amber, seeing as both females avert suspicion and are revealed unmasked before shortly redonning the Ghostface costume (Beth dies in hers while Amber didn’t);
 * Beth, like Amber also directly reference horror movie icons/killers (both Michael Meyers and Jason Voorhees, to be specific) and how each specify how each killer returns; moreso Beth than Amber, who wants to outdo them and makes a point out of it by trying to become one.
 * Jay’s laid back persona prior to being revealed as a killer pays homage to both Charlie Walker from Scream 4 and Richie Kirsch from Scream (2022).
 * All 3 male killers are supposedly attacked prior to each of their reveals (unlike Richie or Charlie who were feigning their attacks, Jamal’s was real)
 * All 3 killers are revealed out of costume
 * Beth and Jamal’s killing spree taking place in Atlanta, Georgia is the only and second instance in the franchise in where a Ghostface killing spree actually took place in a real world location, the first being Roman Bridger’s killing spree in Hollywood, California.
 * Due to the fact the Windsor College Murders, despite taking place in a fictional town is set in a real life state, Ohio, which is a callback to Woodsboro, California, where the original Ghostface and the subsequent killing sprees (whether or not related) took off from.
 * Jay and Beth’s killing spree is officially the only non Ghostface related murder spree in the franchise to take place due to having no crossover or correlation to the events of the film series, factually rendering it unknown in the film franchise, thus far.
 * It only establishes the existence of the Ghostface identity and cements it outside of the film series, in which that the Father Death costume is still used as Halloween costume, respectively.
 * Beth and Jamal are the only Ghostface duo and couple in the franchise to not be seen neither working together on screen or reveal themselves before their targets or one another, breaking the tradition of each Ghostface in each of the Scream films.
 * Both Jamal and Beth’s Ghostface killing spree is, overall, the fifth Ghostface killing spree out of six to take place in the franchise, with each similarly using and donning the Ghostface costume (identity and MO).
 * It is also the second other killing spree to have taken place in the last decade, preceded by the Second Woodsboro Murders taking place 7 years before them and only 3 years before being succeeded by the Third Woodsboro Murders.
 * Among the new Ghostface killers and couples, Beth and Jamal Elliot were the second among the most violent, preceded by Jill and Charlie and Amber and Richie.
 * The Ghostface mask itself was originally created by Fun World Div. Easter Unlimited, Inc. employee Brigitte Sleiertin for a series of masks titled "Fantastic Faces" released as Halloween masks in the early 1990's by Fun World. The mask was given the trademarked name of "GhostFace" by Fun World licensing director R.J. Torbert in 1999-2000. The Ghostface mask also returned in The Face of Fear, a novel written by Torbert himself. Ghostface was also given the trademarked name "The Icon of Halloween" in 2010-2011 by Torbert as well for the Scream 4 marketing campaign.
 * The third season is the first time Ghostface appears in the television series. Furthermore, it marks the first time, he made an appearance again, since Scream 4, back in 2011.
 * The name, mask and the father death costume were abandoned during the first two seasons. This was originally thought to be due to licensing rights. However, that is considered to be false.
 * In an article from Hollywood Reporter, it was highlighted that there were preliminary discussions about incorporating the mask in the series. However, the show later discarded the idea of using the mask for "creative reasons". R.J. Torbert later corroborated that fact in a public tweet in July 2019.
 * Sometime after the announcement of the reboot, MTV made a deal with Fun World, in order to license the rights for the mask in the third season of Scream.