Publicity stunt for 'Scream VI' floods Bay Area sheriff's office with calls [View all]

San Francisco Chronicle

“Scream VI,” the latest entry in the iconic horror movie franchise originally directed by Wes Craven, won’t be released in theaters until next Friday. But earlier this week, residents of Sonoma got an unexpected sneak preview.

An individual wearing the same costume as the film’s villain, Ghostface, appeared on the southeast corner of Sonoma Plaza around 7:30 a.m. on Monday, causing the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office to become flooded with phone calls. The individual was there for at least an hour, according to the sheriff’s office and representatives from Visit Sonoma, whose webcams captured footage of them standing eerily still in the rain before they slowly stalked toward a lamppost and prowled through a crosswalk, their black cloak fluttering behind them.

“The phone lines blew up, and there were tons and tons of calls from concerned citizens,” Robert Dillion, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, told SFGATE on Thursday. “It took a number of resources to field all of the phone calls that came in.”

Dillion said that once deputies arrived on the scene and made contact with the individual, they learned it was part of a publicity stunt from Paramount Pictures for the upcoming movie. The individual, whose identity was not revealed by the sheriff’s office, left shortly after and was not charged with any crimes.

Read more: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/scream-vi-publicity-stunt-sonoma-plaza-17816741.php