Make-Up Artist Magazine: It’s been four decades since writer/director John Carpenter told the story of Halloween, about a masked, mental hospital escapee named Michael Myers, who terrorizes the small town of Haddonfield and resourceful babysitter named Laurie Strode (played by Jamie Lee Curtis). The low-budget horror film was a sleeper hit, prompting a string of sequels and even a pair of remakes.
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On a similar vein, to some of these articles about the 30th anniversary Phantom masks, there's a similar idea of reimagining a highly recognizable Halloween mask, while still keeping it relatively the same. The Michael Myers mask is absolutely classic, stabbing fear into the hearts of those who look upon it, and at least 12 of them will be seen on the heads of pre-pubescent kids in any given Halloween season. For me, as someone who only knows the mask because of what other people have told me (I've always been too afraid to see the movie itself) some of the aspects that truly spooked me, are the dark, soulless eyes and plain face. The lack of color in the fact really points your attention to those eyes, and when you can't see any eyes, this gut wrenching feeling of "wrong" occurs. The mask for the new Halloween movie, still retains that pale material face and those dark eyes, but it's aged. I think this is a very interesting detail to include, because they could have just gotten any old Michael Myers mask, but in order to keep with the storyline, they show it had aged, as had the murderer, and the town. Although I can't say that I'm thrilled to see the new mask, I'm sure fans of the movies will appreciate the work these mask-makers went in to preserving the spirit of the mask.
It's typically very challenging to the any sort of spin-off or sequel of a classic movie. Often times the audiences get upset when the producers try to recreate what they’ve already made because it ruins the life of the first movie and it always prone to terrible reviews. With recreating or continuing a episodic series, there are specifics that needs to be addressed and perfected. In this article, masks are of the focus. The staple piece of this movie are the masks. Nelson, the mask master, stated that he was concerned particularly about meeting the fans’ expectations because the mask is so well known and loved. And due to the fact that this movie is an older legend, Nelson said that recreating the special effect as they were then to now is going to be difficult. It's hard to capture the essence and aesthetic of another era while still making it cohesive with the essence and aesthetics now. Another factor that plays into that is the evolution of the art itself. Special effects is much more different now than it was while the movie was being filmed.
I do not like slasher movies, but Halloween was the original and I appreciate it because of that. There was a certain genius to the original mask in its simplicity, but now I can see the absolute intricacy of re-designing such an iconic piece of cinematic history. More impressive to me than the mask is the physical building of the victim makeup effects, which I figured by now were all CGI. I also appreciate that the designer is not a fan of gratuitous gore, as am I, I find torture porn disgusting and not at all artistic. Gore is utilized best when done only for specific storytelling reasons and to make a point. This is shown by just how much thought goes into the expressions and the point one wants to tell with each kill, it is amazing how in depth one can go with the reasons why something is the way it is, even in horror.
Horror movies were a genre my mom did not show me as a child simply because she just didn’t like scary movies. It wasn’t until I got into my teenage years that my oldest brother showed me classic movies like “Halloween”, “Nightmare on Elm Street”, “Psycho”, etc. I completely see why viewers get so captivated with the grit and gore that comes with slasher films. Suspense fills and fills until the murder scene comes and you’re peeking through your hands to watch and you’re frightened to your core. The effect classic horror movies had on their audience is unlike any other. With the new Halloween movie, it can be very difficult to try to capture an audience in the same way as the original did. With a very dedicated team and wonderful makeup/sfx team, I am very excited to see the film and see if it rises to its potential.
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