Ghost Face has been slaying on screen since 1996. The platform boots, fishnets and shredded black gown are new.
Jakks Pacific is giving horror the fashion-doll treatment with Doll Haus of Dread, a new collector line making its debut this fall with Ghost Face from “Scream,” Jason from “Friday the 13th,” Pinhead from “Hellraiser” and Billy the Puppet from “Saw” dressed considerably differently than audiences first met them.
The 11-inch dolls, revealed exclusively to WWD, take recognizable details from their respective franchises and work them into looks designed as much for display as they are for horror fandom. Each features nine points of articulation and character-specific accessories, with the collection retailing for $39.97 exclusively at Walmart and Walmart.com. A second, limited-edition Ghost Face doll with a crystal-covered mask will be available exclusively online.
Images courtesy of Jakks Pacific
Ghost Face may have undergone the most conspicuous glow-up.
The familiar black hood remains, but underneath is a shredded black gown worn more than fishnets and towering, buckled platform boots. The doll also comes with a miniature red phone. Its limited-edition counterpart trades the character’s familiar white mask for one covered in crystals.
Jamie Kennedy, who played horror obsessive Randy Meeks in “Scream” and “Scream 2” before returning via video in “Scream 3,” did not necessarily see this particular evolution coming.
“Never ever did I think that would happen,” Kennedy told WWD of Ghost Face becoming a fashion icon. “I thought we were making a smart little horror movie and Ghost Face would become a horror icon, but never a fashion icon!”
There is, however, one thing working in Ghost Face’s favor.
“But he does wear black, and black goes with everything,” Kennedy said.
The makeover may feel unexpected, but Kennedy started seeing fans put their own fashion spin on Ghost Face long before Jakks put the character in platform boots.
“I started seeing that from conventions about 10 years ago, where women would wear the outfit and meet us at signings,” he said. “That’s where I first saw a woman with a pink Ghost Face mask and thought hmmm…this is getting interesting.”
That kind of reinterpretation runs throughout Doll Haus of Dread. Rather than simply shrinking the characters’ costumes down to doll size, Jakks plays with the visual signatures that made each one recognizable in the first place.
Courtesy of Jakks Pacific
“We’re reimagining some of horror’s most legendary figures as collectible works of art, blending authentic franchise storytelling with elevated fashion, sculptural detail and artistic interpretation,” Dominick Lisi, senior vice president of marketing at Jakks Pacific, said in a statement.
For the company, that means keeping enough of each character’s DNA intact to make them immediately recognizable, then giving their wardrobes considerably more room to play.
Pinhead gets perhaps the most editorial transformation of the group, dressed in a floor-length black Cenobite-inspired gown with chains draped across the waist and skirt. The doll carries a small structured gold bag, while Pinhead’s signature pins remain intact above long red-and-white hair and blue lipstick.
Jason gets a more literal summer-camp treatment. The “Friday the 13th” villain’s signature hockey mask is removable, revealing long hair underneath, while a cropped green camp jacket is teamed with a distressed top, brown pants and heeled boots. Naturally, there is also a machete.
Billy the Puppet, used by John “Jigsaw” Kramer in the “Saw” franchise, keeps the formalwear, stepping out in a dark pinstripe suit with his familiar red bow tie. Red heels and a miniature tricycle-shaped bag finish the look.
For Kennedy, horror makes particularly fertile ground for that kind of remixing.
“People like to discover things and then make them their own,” he said. “I was surprised at first — I thought it was neat, but now I’m genuinely blown away by people’s creativity. People love horror and the genre more than ever. And the genre really lends to creative reimagining.”
Many of its biggest characters also come with silhouettes recognizable before the face — or mask — even enters the equation. Ghost Face has the robe and elongated mask. Jason has his hockey mask. Pinhead’s head requires little introduction.
Kennedy sees fashion potential there, although some transformations still take getting used to.
“It’s easy to see Harley Quinn being a fashion icon — but I never expected to see Ghost Face in high heels,” he said. “Which I have!”
Doll Haus of Dread arrives during a particularly fashion-conscious stretch for the collector-doll business.
In September, Bratz teamed with Luar on special-edition versions of Yasmin and Carlos wearing Raul Lopez designs, down to miniature versions of the label’s Ana bag and Adrian Oxford loafers. Fashion’s relationship with collector dolls, of course, stretches much further back. Bob Mackie created more than 50 Barbies during his career after releasing his first official design for Mattel, Gold Barbie, in 1990, helping cement the doll as a fashion collectible in the process.
The collector part of the Doll Haus equation also hits a little differently for Kennedy. Randy was obsessing more than the rules, minutiae and memorabilia of horror movies well before doing so became quite so marketable.
Courtesy of Jakks Pacific
“Randy for sure is a collector, but playing Randy and being in the franchise has actually kind of turned me into a little bit of a collector as well,” Kennedy said. “So you know as soon as I’m done this interview I’m gonna put that doll right up on my shelf.”
Watching another generation pick up “Scream,” then turn its imagery into something of their own, has been stranger still.
“We wanted to make a great little movie,” Kennedy said. “We went up to wine country and did that. It was our lil art project that Wes [Craven] then shared with the world.”
“To see so many people identify with it, embrace it and are so affected by it, is very humbling,” he continued. “I’m honored, grateful and blown away by how much it’s embraced. Scream isn’t just ours anymore, it’s everyone’s. It’s become a community.”
Jakks is treating Doll Haus of Dread as the opening chapter of something larger. Doll Haus is planned as a broader collector platform that will eventually encompass additional fandom-driven properties, entertainment collections and collaborations, along with direct-to-consumer exclusives and a greater presence at conventions and events.
So if Randy ever joins Ghost Face on the Doll Haus shelf, Kennedy already knows what he should be wearing.
“Hopefully his fresh jive shirt,” he said. “I miss that shirt. I used to wear it offset in between shoot days.”