A Bloody Good Time: Another 10 Great Horror Movie Masks

Opening Logo courtesy of Benjamin J. Colón (Soul Exodus)

About four years ago (man how time flies), I looked at the best horror movie masks. It really should have been a top twenty, because there’s so many cool-looking masks out there. Last time had some of the more iconic ones but I still left some out.

Partially that was due to a caveat I had that the mask had to be prominently featured, which left out some films that probably should have been included. I’m eliminating that this time around.

So if you don’t see a particular mask here, click the link above before you mention it in the comments. This is a sequel, after all.

#10: The Purge

These movies seem to get better and better as the series continues, and they’ve introduced us to a lot of nifty masks over the years. I’m particularly fond of the twisted founding fathers in Election Year, even though they’re only cameos at best. I think the best use of masks have to be in the original film, when these creepy rich kids swarm the family’s house wanting to kill a guy. They’re not only a part of the purge, but they’re super into it, getting in character and everything.

The masks are creepy in a basic way, but I think the most off-putting part is the teeth. Just big smiles with the darkened eyes crosses a bit into the uncanny valley. I think a killer who is smiling about what they’re going to do, even if it’s through a mask, is scarier than some generic angry person. That means they’re taking pleasure in ending your life, which these kids clearly did. And they had no problem going after anyone who got in their way either.

#9: You’re Next

If human masks aren’t your thing, how about animal masks? That’s what you get in You’re Next, a fun throwback slasher with some interesting twists and a lot of gratuitous violence. The killers, until they unmask themselves later on, wear animal faces as they fire crossbows into their targets and try to get inside and slaughter a group of jerks that are surprisingly related to one another.

The masks only last half a movie, right up to the twist when we find out who is responsible for the killing. But before that, they do a good job of concealing the villains and making it seem like they could be anybody. I realize that’s the general idea of masks, but you know who guys like Jason and Michael Myers are. All the mask does is accentuate their appearance, albeit making them a lot more iconic. In this case, it adds to the suspense.

#8: Curtains

Curtains is one of those movies I never saw when I was watching everything I could in my youth. As it turns out, my video stores didn’t have a little-heard-of Canadian slasher film from the 80s. But seeing photos of that mask, I was very interested in seeing it. Look at that thing. It’s some weird old woman mask, but the facial features are exaggerated. She looks more like a witch, and the addition of a hand scythe as a weapon just makes the image more creepy.

As it turns out, the movie isn’t that bad either. The script is a little jumbled but the mask is memorable, particularly as the killer skates on the ice towards the latest victim. This is an example of how a good mask can be a selling point for the movie, as it certainly drew me in. I didn’t even know what Curtains was about. I just saw that picture and knew I had to see it. Doesn’t really work with the invention of Google today, but you get what I mean.

#7: The Strangers

So here’s the whole reason I did this. A sequel to The Strangers arrives on Friday, and I wanted a tie-in. In this case we get three masks, but the one that sticks out to me is the sack on the middle guy. It’s like a cross between The Town that Dreaded Sundown and the Scarecrow from Batman comics. The stitched-on smile only makes it creepier, for reasons I explained earlier.

It’s also an interesting choice to have his eyes visible, particularly when the other two don’t do that. I think he’s the creepier of the three, which obviously marketing did too since he was all over it. My opinion of the film aside (I’m not a fan), I think the mask was certainly memorable and used in the film’s best scene, which is the same one spoiled in the trailers and posters.

#6: Motel Hell

It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent’s fritters. Did you ever have one of those movies you just unconditionally love no matter how weird it is? That’s me and Motel Hell. There’s a lot of strange stuff going on and parts of it that don’t make sense, but it’s absolutely one of the most underrated 80s slashers in my opinion. I saw a dude cosplaying as Farmer Vincent at a con and immediately had to get a photo with him, even though he was obviously just a dude cosplaying. It’s just a movie that I really enjoy for reasons even I’m not sure about.

One of the undeniable reasons is how cool Vincent looks wearing a pig’s head when he does his thing. That pig mask and the chainsaw is the most iconic image of the movie, for those who this film landed on the radar of. After all, Vincent doesn’t seem to be the wasteful type, so why wouldn’t he mold the head of an animal into a death mask when he cuts up innocent people? It makes perfect sense to me!

#5: Saw

The Saw series has a pig mask too, and I could have selected it, but I thought I’d go in a different direction. The reverse bear trap functions as a mask, and one of the deadliest you could ever put on. It’s still one of my favorite traps in the entire franchise (since CGi effects ruined the nifty laser trap in Jigsaw) and the fact that they teased a person wearing it while it went off but didn’t deliver was part of that. They finally did deliver, of course, but I think it was more clever just to imply what happens instead of actual show it. Let the imagination do the work for you.

Now while this may not be a typical mask, I think it works just as well for our purposes. It’s prominently featured in the movie, it’s an iconic image (one that made the first poster) and I’d argue more people are more likely to recognize it as Saw than the pig mask. It just really defines what the series is: gritty, gory and a little cartoonish. But that’s what Saw fans love about it.

#4: Halloween III: Season of the Witch

I’m not sure why this didn’t make my list the last time. Maybe it was because I went with one per franchise or maybe it just slipped my mind. But how can you not include a mask that, while fairly generic looking, has the ability to kill you? And unlike the Saw trap, this was intended to be a simple Halloween mask. Kids buy them, wear them and then when the special broadcast comes on after the movie, die. Victims of these masks don’t just die, either, they die bad. Insect and snakes and god knows what else come bursting out of their heads. I don’t think this movie would fly today.

Halloween III is an underrated holiday classic, and it’s nice to see it get more appreciation as the years go on. The masks were a big part of that, mostly because they’re central to the plot. Well, the masks and that damn Silver Shamrock jingle. It’s a horrifying concept, to be sure, a group of witches want to murder children through Halloween masks, something that no one would blink twice at as dangerous. This was before Halloween was considered dangerous by parents, and kids could stay out until night begging for candy without worry.

#3: Eyes Without A Face

After causing his daughter’s disfigurement in a car crash, a doctor begins to kidnap young woman and take their faces to transplant to her. In other words, this is a 1940s/50s mad scientist movie, only French and arthouse. It honestly plays like it could have been a Universal movie if they thought of it during that boom. It’s moody and atmospheric, with several images that stick with you. Those images included that featureless mask that his daughter wears, hiding her grotesque disfigurement underneath.

The most shocking scene is we actually get to see the doctor remove a woman’s face. In 1960. This sort of thing just didn’t happen in movies back then. Extensive gore was years away. Psycho was shocking because it gave the illusion of stabbing and blood going down a drain. This features a man slicing someone’s face and peeling it off, which was far more shocking. I’m amazed they got away with it back then.

https://youtu.be/w5rnhZLiqrI

#2: Silence of the Lambs

This is another one that got excluded last time due to my caveat, which was really stupid. While this mask only shows up briefly in the movie it was created for, it’s one of the most memorable images in that movie. This mask isn’t to hide Dr. Hannibal Lecter’s face and it’s not meant to cause any kind of visceral reaction. He doesn’t even wear it by choice. The mask is meant to protect you from him, in case he tries to eat you.

That gives the mask its own unique place in horror history, as it completes the image of a completely bound Hannibal still managing to get under people’s skin without being able to physically do anything. You can see his mouth just hidden away, so he can speak to you and that’s it. We may be curious as to what other masks are hiding, but this is one you’d probably rather stay on.

#1: The Invisible Man

It’s hard to get more iconic than this. Perhaps The Invisible Man isn’t as popular as a Jason or Leatherface, but he laid the groundwork in the horror genre that made an audience for those two. Invisible Man isn’t even as popular as Frankenstein or Dracula, but he is still part of the Universal canon. The 1933 film is great, particularly for its tremendous effects (which surprisingly still look decent today) and the performance of Claude Rains.

In this case he’s not wearing a mask to hide, but to be seen. He’s completely invisible, so if he wants to interact with people and not have them flip out, he has to don a wig and completely wrap up his head. It also builds up to a great scene later on, when he’s finally discovered and begins to slowly undress himself, revealing the horror of what he is while cackling.

Ending Notes:

That’s it for me. Leave some comments here, on my Twitter or my Facebook.

Closing Logo courtesy of Kyle Morton (get your own custom artwork and commissions at his Etsy account)

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