Something that has always bothered me about my favorite killer
TRIGGER WARNING.
I love Scream. The original might be my all time favorite movie and 2 and especially 3 are endearing enough to carry the films with so much that isn't good about the films, and 4 is just an underrated masterpiece go watch it. I also love Ghostface, and not really because of anyone behind the mask but because of the mask itself, i have it permanently inked on my skin. But who's behind the mask in dbd crosses a line. And this in a game where you can play as 2009 Freddy with one of his add ons being his "black box". Because at least that's fictional.
So it all started when i saw this video essay about Ghostface. Its a good a essay and a fun listen but operates on two fallacies.
1. BHVR choose to work with funworld instead of scream so they could make their own original killer as opposed to using amy of the existing ones when its much more likely they couldn't actually work with scream, and like in the case of Nightmare on elm street, took the next best thing. And i think this is to credit as i don't think they were just sitting on this idea and passed up Sidney Prescott just to use it
And
2. Dead by Daylight's Ghostface character is fully original. He is not. And it makes the praise the essay sheds on him a little disturbing, but he just doesn't know like most people which is why I have remained silent on this for so long, but with the prospect of Ghostface getting an archive i feel like it might be time.
So the idea for Scream came from FEAR not any man. This fear that inspired Kevin Williamson to pen Scream was created by a man names Danny Rolling. Danny was a serial killer and ######### who went on a killing spree in Gainesville florida in 1990, killing 5 university students. The reason this inspired Williams is because he did it by breaking into rooms silently, this is obviously reflected in the films where the most intense scenes are when Ghostface is in the house unbeknown to whoever. I think it's important to understand that Scream was not inspired nor did it pay tribute to the piece of ######### that was Danny Rolling himself.
Now if you're familiar with the lore of DBD this might sound a little familiar. Danny Johnson is the Ghostface we have in DBD, his killings before joining the entity took place in 1993 in Roseville. The similarities are pretty clear but just in case you don't get the point his Viper outfit describes him killing college kids. There are of course many differences between the two but with multiple on the nose references i think it's pretty clear what was on their mind. Even beyond names Ghostface's motivation is to get attention, he wants to be famous, he poses with the bodies of his victims, he got a job at a newspaper just to make sure he got the attention he wanted. This matches up with Rolling who poses and staged his victims with the intention of getting famous
WHY IT MATTERS
5 real people just like you and me went through hell. Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Holt, Tracy Paules, and Manny Taboada. Most were raped and tortured before being killed. Its the type of unimaginable horror you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy, and he did it all just because he wanted his names in the papers.
Thankfully Danny Rolling rots in hell and his name means jack ######### to most people. He's not the serial killer icon he wanted to be....so why would BHVR tribute you this man? Why try to carry on such an ugly and obscure legacy. The only people who would even understand the references are the really big scream and true crime fans and what was the reaction supposed to be? Oh look at the little easter eggs, how cute? It was more of a ######### moment for me.
Again my main reason for never talking about this because Dannys name is one that deserves to be forgotten but it disgusts and angers me that someone would make this loving of a tribute to someone so disgusting. Unlike Clown or Leatherface there isn't a gimmick being taken and this is not ancient history, imagine how the victims family and friends would feel about this? (And btw i have a little faith in this community but just to make sure, DO NOT ATTEMPT TO NOTIFY THEM) The only small footprint he had on pop culture was very very vaguely inspiring a concept of Screams screenplay. And now his biggest footprint, is the Ghostface in Dead by Daylight.
So in conclusion i don't expect the disgusting lore to be changed, but at the very least i ask that if an archive is created for Ghostface, maybe DONT keep doubling down on this vile perversion someone seems to have with serial killers/rapists. As a massive Scream and Ghostface fan who would who would be super excited for a Ghostface rift, i would literally skip out on it if you did. I honestly might just quit over it, that's how disgusted i am by this and how i hope other people would react to if they knew the truth.
Disclaimer: I realize that the mods probably won't like this post but please consider that this is officially the inspiration behind the character. Im not making light of serious tragedies, whoever wrote Danny's Lore is.
Comments
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To be honest, I would be fine with this if he was something like the Joker, being extraordinarily charismatic but also absolutely vile and sadistic, with no empathy whatsoever.
That would better describe actual psychopaths like Rolling.
The issue I have is that the DBD devs downplayed how evil he truly is, to the point that he almost seems cute.
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They did the same thing for Pig & Demo. Pig just makes you want to boop the snoot & throw pallets down to hear her squeak and Demo just makes you want to pet him like the doggo he is.
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Im sorry your problem with him being a tribute to a serial killer/######### is that they weren't true enough to the source material?
God is dead and we killed him
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Also funny how you can't say the R word when they decided to make one of Freddy's add on him doing just that....to children. What is it with them having really bad representations of Craven characters?
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Well, never knew that Ghostface was inspired by a serial killer.
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My issue is that they glorify serial killers.
Ghostface comes off as a fun, quirky guy with a good sense of humor and a penchant for violence. That's about it.
For those who want the story that inspired the first Scream movie, it was called the columbine high school massacre.
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Yeah, that's not in good taste at all. I don't think naming him Danny as a reference is inherently terrible, but because he also carries comedic aspects from the Scream series... It does move into yikes territory.
In horror serial killer inspiration is gonna happen and frankly isn't necessarily a bad thing, art (yeah I know referring to dead by daylight in a manner akin to a work of art sounds weird, but it's still correct) can and arguably should explore those ideas and what they mean. However, The Clown mostly does a better job of that.
TBH I wouldn't be entirely against just quietly retconning his first name in all DbD material to "Daniel" or something. Wouldn't be that difficult to pull off and would defuse a potential PR landmine that's kinda just waiting to go off. The Ghostface character in DbD only works in an isolation of complete fiction and really should not be directly linked to a real murderer.
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You know some bullshit i just realized. His mori is so ######### similar to how Rollings murders were. I at least hope that was a coincidence because i probably won't be able to look at it the same again. Its all so incredibly mean spirited and i really dont understand why.
Idk if its a LR landmine because apparently nobody cares. I think the news that Danny isnt from scream will be just as shocking to the masses. It aint right and it pisses me off but what can you do. I mean it though ######### them ill be a one man protest if they release am archive and it had anything to do will rolling. That shits hard to look away from
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I agree with you for the most part OP. I like ghostface as a character but i was not aware it was so inspired by IRL events, and giving him the name Danny is kind of yikes.
However you must also keep in mind many other slashers were inspired by IRL events. Texas Chainsaw Massacre from example takes inspiration from Ed Gein, and so on. So if you have a problem with DbD's ghostface you might have the same problem with many other horror media. I repeat, I agree with you on danny and i think it's kind of distasteful how they made him so similar to a real killer.
I'm not as much of a Scream fan as you are, and I don't think Stu and Billy for example would be a good fit for this game, but that's just personal taste
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