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Don't expect viral marketing for Scream VII to be like Scream VI. They can't afford the 911 calls

"Make people feel like they're in the movie" is a cool marketing gimmick for, say, Spider-Man or Star Wars movies. Not so much for Ghostface

News by Grant DeArmitt, Staff Writer

Published on Thu Feb 06 2025

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As is the case every few months, everybody's talking about the Scream franchise. The fact that Matthew Lillard's and Neve Campbell's return for Scream VII, plus Melissa Barerra's and Jenna Ortega's exits, had Ghostface on everyone's minds so often that it's almost like they don't have to advertise. But this is Hollywood, remember, and movies are gonna market. Sometimes, quite unwisely.

Ahead of Scream VII kicking into full production and promotion, and alongside the fact that Scream VI is in Netflix's Top 10 English-language movies as of this writing, we'd love to remind you horror hounds of the bonkers (and arguably effective) viral marketing scheme that the last franchise entry chose to meet upon the world, one that ended with terrified bystanders, a host of headlines, and even a couple 911 calls.

The story comes from the far-off time of March, 2023, just as Scream VI was headed into theaters. With the movie's release date on the near horizon, folks weren't shocked to see Ghostface appearing in their commercials and social media pages, but there were a few folks in the cities of Sonoma, St. Louis, and New Orleans that were shocked to see him... standing outside their local theaters.

Yes, as a promotional gimmick, Paramount had hired three real people to dress as one of horror's most recognizable killers and simply stare at passersby in densely metropolitan areas. Naturally, not everyone knew that it was just a little real-world commercialling, so some of them called the cops.

"Sonoma police said multiple people called 911," wrote NBC Bay Area during the time of the sightings, "to report someone dressed in the classic 'Ghostface' costume standing at 1st Street East and East Napa Street, right next to Sonoma Plaza."

Whether or not those same people felt like seeing the movie after that is unreported.

Although the tactic probably had Paramount looking pretty funny on social media (as Variety reports, the GhostFaceTalks Twitter account had a field day), we'd wager that it won't be repeated for Scream VII. The world has quite enough to be scared of these days, after all.

Scream Vii stalks into theaters February 27, 2026.

In the immortal words of Danny Elfman, "Life's no fun without a good scare." We couldn't agree more, which is why we've cobbled together a couple pieces to send a chill up your spine. Join Popverse as we explore:

And much gore. Er, more. Much more.

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Grant DeArmitt: Grant DeArmitt (he/him) likes horror, comics, and the unholy union of the two. As Popverse's Staff Writer, he criss-crosses the pop culture landscape bringing you the news and opinions about the big things (and the next big things). In the past, and despite their better judgment, he has written for Nightmare on Film Street and Newsarama. He lives in Brooklyn with his partner, Kingsley, and corgi, Legs.