Thirty years after Drew Barrymore answered one of the most famous phone calls in horror history, Chase is putting her back on the line. The brand’s new Halloween campaign for Chase Freedom, created by Droga5, spoofs the opening of Scream by reuniting Barrymore with the setup that helped define the 1996 film. This time, however, the caller is not delivering a threat.
He is delivering cash back.
Kevin Hart steps into the Ghostface role, turning the familiar horror setup into a comedy built around Chase Freedom rewards and the new Freedom Flex card. The campaign arrives as Scream approaches its 30th anniversary and consumers move into fall shopping and holiday travel planning.
The spot recreates the basic rhythm of the original Scream opening, with Barrymore answering a mysterious call before the masked figure eventually appears. But instead of tormenting her with horror trivia, Hart’s Ghostface calls with good financial news.
That inversion is the entire joke. Watch below:
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The campaign also taps into a particularly strong piece of 1990s nostalgia. Barrymore’s Casey Becker became instantly iconic in the first Scream, despite appearing for only the opening sequence, and bringing her back gives the spoof a built-in recognition factor that most branded horror parodies could never match.
Hart adds a different kind of familiarity. He has appeared in Chase Freedom advertising for years, including previous campaigns built around the brand’s cash-back positioning. Pairing him with Barrymore bridges Chase’s existing spokesperson universe with a pop-culture moment almost everyone recognizes.
The work also gives Droga5 a clean way to make a financial product feel seasonal without forcing the brand into a generic Halloween setting. Instead of pumpkins, cobwebs and haunted houses, the agency borrows a specific cinematic language and then flips the expected outcome.
Chase is using the campaign to support Freedom Flex during a period when cash-back rewards can become especially relevant as consumers start shopping, traveling and spending more heavily heading into the holidays. The brand says the campaign will continue across television and social throughout the Halloween season.
The timing is also smart beyond the immediate sales message. Scream turns 30 in 2026, giving Barrymore’s return an anniversary layer that makes the ad feel more like a cultural callback than a random celebrity cameo.
And unlike Casey Becker, she finally gets a better ending.
