Michael Myers' mask

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"I met this...six-year-old child with this blank, pale, emotionless face and...the blackest eyes–the Devil's eyes"

―Samuel Loomis

The Shape mask that has become the face of Michael Myers

Michael Myers' mask or "The Shape" is a white mask worn by Michael Myers in the Halloween series. The mask differs in each film, but usually features the same blank and expressionless white face with brown hair.

History

In 1978, during the making of the original Halloween, the prop department was faced with the daunting task of finding a frightening mask that the villain could wear. Tommy Lee Wallace chose FOUR masks to complete Michael Myers. The first option was a Don Post Emmett Kelly clown mask to which they added frizzy red hair. This would be a callback to how Michael killed his sister, Judith, in a clown costume. They tested it out and it appeared featureless and creepy. The other mask was a 1975 William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk mask that was purchased for around two dollars, a 1975 Mr. Spock mask and a former U.S. president Richard Nixon mask. The Capt. Kirk mask was chosen due to its appearance of having no real facial features that could be easily made out.

The production crew removed the eyebrows and sideburns, the face was painted flat white, the hair was teased out, and the eyes were opened up and reshaped with scissors. This info can be found in the Halloween: The Inside Story. They tested out the Capt. Kirk mask and the crew decided that it was much more creepy because it was emotionless, much like Michael himself. This became the Michael Myers mask. Since then, every mask used in the films have been modeled after this design. William Shatner admitted that for years he had no idea his likeness was used for this film. It was only during an interview that someone mentioned his mask was being used. He has since stated that he is honored by this gesture.

Halloween and Halloween II

Original Michael Myers mask

Main article: The Shape mask

Michael obtains the mask as just one of many items stolen from Nichol's Hardware Store the night of his escape from Smith's Grove Sanitarium. The mask was later destroyed in the fire at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital.

Halloween (1978) and Halloween II (1981) use the exact same mask, but it looks different in the latter because the paint had faded for various reasons. Nick Castle, the original Michael, had kept the mask in his back pocket during shoots. Debra Hill also stored it under her bed for several years until the filming of Halloween II, causing it to collect dust and begin to yellow since Hill was a heavy smoker. The mask appears to have red hair, having apparently been spray-painted again, and also seems wider because Dick Warlock is shorter and stockier than Nick Castle, so the mask fit him differently. Warlock claims that because the producers expected Halloween II to be the last film in the series, they let him keep the costume.

By the time of Halloween 4's production, they realized that they made a mistake and never again let cast and crew take props from the set, therefore subsequent sequels used different masks that looked rather different. Warlock sold the deteriorating mask, knife, scalpel, boots and coveralls he wore in Halloween II to a haunted house owner in Ohio in 2003.

Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers

H4 mask

Main article: H4 mask

Michael awakens from a ten-year coma covered in gauze bandages from Ridgemont Federal Sanitarium. As soon as he reaches Haddonfield, Illinois, he goes to Vincent Drug Store where he steals another "Shape" mask.

Since Dick Warlock kept the original mask, a new one was created for the fourth film, again from a Captain Kirk mold. Although retaining the same general blank and emotionless look, the mask had substantial differences from the original design, including pursed lips, prominent eyebrows and sideburns, and a slicker hairstyle. It received a largely negative response from audiences for being too bright white and lacking detail, with descriptions of its expression ranging from "shocked" to "quizzical".

During the school scene when Michael throws Loomis through the glass door, the mask is pink with blond hair. Director Dwight H. Little later speculated that an exhausted crew member accidentally grabbed a non-altered mask for the scene, and there was not enough time or money for a reshoot.

Variants

• Hero
• Pink and Blonde type
• Kelly Meeker Mask

Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers

H5 mask

Main article: H5 mask

In Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, Michael awakens from a coma one year after the events of Halloween 4 in the shack of a local hermit, and his mask is hanging on the wall (apparently the same one as the previous film, though the masks are clearly different). He acquires his mask and murders the hermit.

Halloween 5 features an elongated mask with longer and silkier hair, thick rubber, and teardrop-shaped eyeholes. It is held together by Velcro, making it appear unkempt and shoddy, and has a more distinct expression than the previous masks, as if Michael is constantly scowling. Like the previous film's, this mask received heavy criticism for looking nothing like the original. There was also negative reception to the fact the mask is always untucked from Michael's collar, with the neck hanging over.

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers

H6 mask

Main article: H6 mask

Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers features a mask that once again appears different from the previous two films, but it is allegedly the same one that was still intact at the end of Halloween 5.

The Curse mask received a much better reaction, with praise for how similar it looked to the original one.

During production, improper storage destroyed most of the Curse masks, leaving only two remaining.

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later

H20 mask (Stan Winston version)

Main article: H20 masks

Halloween H20 is a direct sequel to Halloween II (1981) in which the original mask was destroyed in the fire at Haddonfield Memorial Hospital. The film does not explain how Michael obtained a new mask, but it is assumed that he stole it from another store.

The H20 mask was ultimately disliked by audiences, due in no small part to the fact that four masks were used in production: the Buechler mask, the KNB mask, the Stan Winston mask, and the CGI mask.

The Buechler mask, which closely resembles the mask from Curse, is seen at the beginning of the film when Michael attacks Marion Chambers.

The KNB mask was the primary one when filming began, later replaced by the Stan Winston mask, though the original footage is still retained in many of the long shots. It was highly criticized by test audiences for looking nothing like the original, being described as "bloated" or looking like an alien, leading to the filmmakers changing masks even though production was already halfway done.

The Stan Winston mask is the one seen for the majority of the film, replacing the KNB mask. Though praised for looking more similar to the original, it was still mostly panned since Michael's eyes are plainly visible, and for the hair appearing frizzy.

The CGI Mask appears in the scene where Charlie encounters Michael, which could not be reshot with the Stan Winston mask. It is widely regarded as the worst mask of the entire series.

Variants

• KNB Mask
• Buechler Mask
• Stan Winston Mask
• CGI Mask

Halloween: Resurrection

Main article: Resurrection mask

Resurrection mask

Halloween: Resurrection establishes that Michael put his clothes and mask on a paramedic who was mistakenly beheaded by Laurie at the end of H20. Since Michael left said mask behind, it is again assumed that he stole a new one from another store.

The Resurrection mask is often regarded as one of the best sequel masks along with Curse, save for some criticism that its sharply defined features resemble makeup.

At the end of the film, after Michael is burned, he is shown still wearing the charred remains of the mask.

Variants

• Hero Mask
• Burned Mask

Rob Zombie's Halloween and Halloween II

Halloween remake mask

Main article: Remake masks

Michael obtains his mask from Judith's boyfriend, Steve, after he brings it with him to their house. Michael dons the mask just before he murders Judith. Before his mother comes home, Michael hides both the mask and the knife he used to kill Judith with under the floorboards in his basement. Fifteen years later, he escapes from Smith's Grove and travels to his old house, getting the mask and knife. While the mask is still wearable, the years of neglect have dried out the latex and made it worn and cracked.

In Halloween II, the mask is the same one he wore in the previous film, but it has larger cracks, tears and blood. Michael's beard is now visible through the latex. A portion of it is missing; half of it is later ripped off by Misty Dawn.

Halloween 2018

2018 sequel mask

Halloween (2018) is a direct sequel to the original Halloween (1978) thus the mask in this film is meant to be the very same one from the first. In this timeline, Michael was recaptured shortly following the events of the original.

For 40 years, his mask was kept as archival evidence, eventually making its way to an attorney general's office until the day it came into the hands of journalist Aaron Korey, who, along with his colleague, Dana Haines, was making a podcast about Michael Myers. Upon Michael's escape from custody while en route to a new facility, he managed to meet up with Korey at a gas station, where he retrieved the mask he had not worn in four decades, and went on his second murder spree.

This mask has nearly the same mold of the original, but withered and cracked to represent the 40 years of decay it went through.

Halloween Kills

2018 mask, heavily damaged

Halloween Kills, which takes place immediately after the events of 2018's Halloween, features the same mask worn by Michael in 1978 and the 2018 film. During the climax of the previous film, Michael was trapped in Laurie Strode's booby-trapped basement, but it is revealed at the beginning of Halloween Kills that Michael escaped from the trap-laden home, but before he could make his escape, his mask was damaged heavily with its left half being scorched black, along with a hole in the right cheek of the mask caused by a bullet shot by Karen in the previous film.

Halloween Ends

Halloween Ends, which takes place four years after Halloween (2018) and Halloween Kills, features the same mask from the preceding films, but it is now covered in mold and mildew.

Notes and trivia

• In the opening sequence of the 1998 film Bride of Chucky, Michael's mask, Jason's hockey mask, Leatherface's chainsaw, and Freddy's glove can be found in an evidence locker.
• The stuntman who played Michael in 1981's Halloween II, Dick Warlock, when filming wrapped, was given the mask, coveralls, Elrod knife, scalpel and boots. Rick Rosenthal did this because he believed that they would never make another Michael Myers movie.
• Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers was the first time the classic Shatner mask was not used, because Dick Warlock had it. Story-wise, going with a new mask was the logical choice, because the original mask was supposed to be burned, so Myers would have needed a new one.
• In 2003, Warlock sold the mask and its accessories to Mark Roberts, who still owns the mask and coveralls. There are photos of what it looks like now.
• It is unknown why in Halloween 5, they used a different mask instead of using the H4 one, though it is often said that the H4 mask did not fit properly on H5 Michael Don Shanks.
• Though it is his most iconic look, many of the Halloween films lack a mask with a white-eyebrowed Michael, instead having brown eyebrows in 4, 5, H20, and Resurrection. It is unknown why this change was made in the first place.