Here’s Why Ghostface Uses a Shotgun in ‘Scream VI’ According to Directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett

“We don’t want it to be safe.”

It’s hard to believe that horror fans are just a couple of weeks away from the release of Scream VI. The highly anticipated slasher sequel directed once again by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett will see a much more brutal and scarier Ghostface killing their way through New York City when the film hits theaters in early March. However, the one thing most Scream fans can’t stop talking about since the film’s trailer was released last month is Ghostface wielding a shotgun. You either love or hate it, but now Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett have opened up about why they made that bloodthirsty choice.

Ghostface With a Gun Is a Game Changer

When talking with SFX Magazine via Digital Spy Bettinelli-Olpin defended the move saying, “We don’t want it to be safe. We don’t want it to be boring. We want it to be fun and to raise eyebrows.” He continued on explaining, “When we heard ‘Ghostface in New York, and he has a shotgun’ it was like: ‘What?!’ The two feelings of ‘What are we doing?’ and ‘We have to do it!’ are often intrinsically tied and that was a perfect example of that.” Gillett would add, “There are a ton of fun, wonderful, classic Ghostface moments, but it’s not the pratfalling Ghostface.” The directing duo would finish off by saying:

“We love that, but for this to be scary and to achieve a level of visceral tension, we wanted to put the character more in the real world. If Ghostface is trying to get through a door, it’s going to happen! There’s no giving up. When he’s in pursuit, the pursuit doesn’t end until he’s achieved his goal.”

Scream as a franchise has had a complicated history with guns. It was one of the many horror series that at the time of its inception, like Friday the 13th, Halloween, and Nightmare on Elm Street, was battling the dreaded MPAA over the way the film depicted its violence on screen. The tragic Columbine school shooting in 1999 also affected the gore in Scream 3 which came out a year later in 2000. However, even with all that, Scream as a franchise has been one of the more violent among its mainstream slasher peers.

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While many fans were shocked to see Ghostface kill a convenience store worker with his own shotgun, there’s actually a precedent for this iconic killer using a gun throughout the series. Almost every killer, whether it be Billy Loomis, Stu Macher, Jill Roberts, or Richie Kirsch, has used or pointed a gun at somebody in their respective films. Even the most shocking death in Scream (2022) had Amber kill Liv by shooting her in the head. The only difference in Scream VI is that this is the first time we’re seeing Ghostface use a gun in costume—we generally associate this masked killer with a knife.

Scream VI Plot & Release Date

Scream VI is releasing in theaters on March 10, 2023, and will see the return of sisters Sam (Melissa Barrera) and Tara Carpenter (Jenna Ortega) a short time after the events of Scream 2022 in NYC. Tara’s now in college with her friends Chad (Mason Gooding) and Mindy Meeks-Martin (Jasmin Savoy Brown) who also survived the dreaded blade of Ghostface in the last film. However, when the killings start again and Ghostface returns deadlier than ever, the group of Woodsboro survivors, including the return of Gale (Courtney Cox) and Kirby (Hayden Panettiere), are thrown back down a blood-soaked rabbit hole.

As Bettinelli-Olpin and Gillett teased, Scream VI is going to be the most surprising, brutal, and risky film in the franchise to date—that includes Ghostface wielding a shotgun. While horror fans anxiously wait for Scream VI’s release, you can watch the trailer down below.