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How many masks were on set? Where did they come from? At what point do those masks show up in the film?
Those are questions all H4 fans have asked themselves at one point and those are what we'll attempt to answer today! Running theories on how the masks got to set: 1. Backup Mask from H2 was on set (School House Mask), Ken Horn made 6 copies recast from it. "Don Post of Don Post Studios has stated numerous times that the studio did not make any masks for Halloween 4. Period, end of story. Also, I might add, by 1988...the Kirk master and mold were LONG gone."- Billy Kirkus Most use the following Gorezone magazine quote taken on the set of H4 as evidence supporting Ken making the masks, not DPS: "We did not have time to go into the lab and make one...Fortunately, the company had one of the masks from Halloween II. I was able to make some adjustments on it and a handful of rubber backups to fit the actor playing Michael."- Ken Horn Why would Ken state that he didn’t have time to make extras, then immediately after state that he made 6 extras? In my opinion, he wouldn’t, which leads me to believe that the next theory is the truth and that Ken did NOT create the masks by recasting the on set back-up H2. 2. Backup Mask from H2 was on set (School House/Kelly Meeker Mask), Don Post Studios sent 6 extras to set. This theory is another popular one, and personally, this is how I believe the masks got to set. A testimony given by Ken later on in several interviews is that Don Post Studios sent him a box of 6 masks that were all painted “pink with white hair”, and he then modified them (and the backup H2) to be white with brown hair. Ken Horn stated: "I asked Don Post when they redid it for us to use the Shatner mold and actually use William Shatner cause we wanted the actual true face. I didn't get a chance to see those masks until we actually got on set. I opened the box and there were 6 of them, and they were pink with white hair. I was going, this is not right, they're supposed to be white with brown hair, and I told the producer that it should be changed." However, when asked about this Don Post denied it: "Don Post of Don Post Studios has stated numerous times that the studio did not make any masks for Halloween 4."- Billy Kirkus When looking at all the evidence combined, it becomes clear to me that the H4 masks were made outside of set either in pre-production or early filming stages.
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For my first real post of the blog I've decided to write about a discovery I made a while ago that we actually have crystal clear photos of all three masks made for Halloween (1978), which contradicts a long standing misconception in the Halloween fan community. Here is a photo of all three masks at the '78 wrap party, although a bit grainy we can at least make out some details!  Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker The three masks that we know were made for Halloween are the Hero, Stunt mask A (schoolyard and hallway reveal mask), and Stunt mask B (unused in H1, used as Stunt Blood Tears in H2). The hero (right) is very distinct and with it being the most recognizable of the three it can easily be identified- the other two are where the misconceptions were held. Below is a photo of what we now know are two separate masks, Stunt A and Stunt B. For a long time, these were misidentified as the same mask.  Stunt mask A (left) and stunt mask B (right). Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker, Marie Donaldson If you really study the masks, you can clearly tell that they are different. The easiest place to tell these masks apart are in the eye cuts. Not only are they entirely different shapes, but there are small differences as well. We'll first look at the proper left eye cut. Stunt mask A seems to have a much more jagged cut, whereas the Stunt B/Stunt Blood Tears mask is very clean cut. In the B&W hallway shot if you look at the top inner corner of the eye cut, you notice a jagged notch that is not present on the Stunt B mask. It is circled in red below.  Stunt mask A (left) and stunt mask B (right). Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker, Marie Donaldson The most common defense of this is that "it's probably just stretched over to the side, altering the shape", but the photo from H1 shows the wearer giving it the "castle stretch" NOT stretching it sideways like Warlock. If they were the same mask then the wearer in the H1 behind the scenes photo would make the eye cut appear longer than the photo to the right, which they are not. Onto the differences in the proper left eye cut. They already look very different but the top inner corner gives it away again. On Stunt mask A you can see it goes high in the corner and dips in the middle of the eye cut.  Stunt mask A (left and right) and stunt mask B (middle). Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker, Marie Donaldson
 Comparison between the BTS Hallway shot and the H1 reveal scene. Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker And now to match this mask to the left wrap party/SNL mask! If we compare these two with various photos we can clearly match them. Check out the photo below and see for yourself!  Comparison between the BTS Hallway shot and the Jamie Lee Curtis SNL Photoshoot. Photo Credit: Kim Gottlieb Walker, Jamie Lee Curtis. Knowing these masks are the same goes even further to prove that it is not the Stunt Blood Tears mask because if we compare the sideburn glue lines leftover from the Kirk conversion, we can see they are placed differently in distance from the eye cut and ear. This is a feature that would not change on a mask.  Stunt Blood Tears (left) and Hallway reveal mask (right) differences. Photo Credit: Trancas International, Kim Gottlieb Walker Hello! Welcome to The Horror Costume Index Blog and to the new website in general! My name is Nathan and I will be running the site and updating this blog as new information becomes available. Soon there will be a gallery including photo archives of screen used masks and props, replicas, and behind the scenes photos. In addition to that a forum will be coming as well! Stay tuned for more updates.
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Nathan StaffordWelcome to the blog! Here we will post new discoveries and updates in relation to the costumes used throughout various horror films. Archives
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