A dazzling new poster for the upcoming horror sequel Scream (AKA Scream 5) wonderfully harkens back to the iconic horror movie promos of old, expertly giving Ghostface a serious 70s/80s vibe. While the Scream franchise did not actually begin until 1996, a major element of the franchise has always been its reliance and references to horror flicks of the 1980s, with the retro new poster paying homage to the classic tropes that have always littered the movies themselves.

Unveiled by the official Scream Twitter account, and designed by poster designer Creepy Duck Design, the poster continues another trope, that of the mystery of the Ghostface killer, with the caption “It’s always someone you know.” Wielding his trusty blade and wearing his terrifying mask, Ghostface gradually melts into drips of blood...which can’t be good news for our cast of characters.

Scream Retro Poster

Directed by Ready or Not duo Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, with a screenplay by James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick, Scream picks up twenty-five years after a streak of brutal murders first shocked the quiet town of Woodsboro and introduces a new killer, who has donned the Ghostface mask and begins targeting a group of teenagers to resurrect secrets from the town's deadly past. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell), Gale Weathers (Courteney Cox) and Dewey Riley (David Arquette) return to their iconic roles in Scream alongside Melissa Barrera, Kyle Gallner, Mason Gooding, Mikey Madison, Dylan Minnette, Jenna Ortega, Jack Quaid, Marley Shelton, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Sonia Ammar.

The project has since been described by legacy star Courteney Cox as a "new franchise" rather than a straight-up reboot or sequel. "This is the fifth one... it's not Scream 5, though," Cox explained. "This is Scream. The directors are incredible, they're making it absolutely...it's a new franchise... It's hip. It's scary. It's just a new Scream. It's not a reboot, it's not a remake, it's just a brand-new launch. I think it's gonna be fantastic."

Director Tyler Gillet has echoed many of these sentiments, teasing a lot more to come for the Scream franchise beyond this upcoming fifth installment. "This new cast of characters is so wonderful. The legacy cast, they're so wonderful,” the filmmaker said. “I think what we discovered, and what [screenwriters] Guy [Busick] and James [Vanderbilt] did, is they found a real reason for the next story to exist. We know that there is more gas in the tank. There are more stories to be told in Woodsboro, and about these characters, for sure."

Gillet has also explained why he believes that now is the perfect time to bring back Ghostface‘s particular brand of terror saying, "In 2020, and for the better part of the last decade, horror films have really been on the rise. And so there's certainly a bit of that conversation in this story...It's about what's happening right now. There is a large conversation within this film that addresses the conversations that we're all having in our lives about entertainment and media and the genre specifically."

Scream is scheduled to be released on January 14, 2022, by Paramount Pictures.