Monday, October 18, 2010

Death Studios Monster Mask Collection

My last post featuring the 1986 & 1991 Death Studios catalogs inspired me to take some high resolution photos of my Death Studios collection for today's post.


The first frightening freak in the line-up was produced under the name "The Millennian" was sculpted by Bill Nelson in 1979. These other four fiendish fellows are from the 1986 catalog and were produced under the following names: "Invader", "Legion",  "Wolf!"  and "Mangler". I've only had the Invader and the Wolf! since last May, as I was lucky enough to find a collector who was willing to part with them. The Legion mask was the 2nd Death Studios mask I ever purchased back in 1992.



Here is the rest of the bunch. Top row: "Klownzilla", "Death II", "Cutter", "Bad Moon", "Nosferatu", "Mr. Hyde", "Mangler". Bottom Row: "Rawbone", "Goblin", "Legion", "Millennian", "Invader", "Corpus Delicti", "Healer" and "Wolf!".



A few memorable masks are featured here. The Klownzilla is the only Killer Clown mask from Death Studios that have in the collection. It's a massive mask that has made many an appearance in our Haunted Barn and home haunts. Bad Moon, the over sized werewolf mask sculpted by Henry Alvarez, and the accompanying hands were given to me as a Christmas gift by a particularly cool girlfriend back in 1993. I remember nearly passing out when I opened the box that Christmas morning! The Nosferatu mask, which is still in production, is a damn creepy mask! The Mr. Hyde is my first ever Death Studios mask.

Above is the Henry Alvarez sculpted Howling werewolf, produced under the name Bad Moon from Death Studios.

Pictured above is the relatively rare Death Studios mask "Rawbone".  This is absolutely one of my all time favorite creature designs! Sculpted by Brett Anderson and produced for a short time in 1995, only a few copies of Rawbone actually made it out to the public as production problems with the mold made it difficult to pull good copies. I've always felt it embodied everything a good monster design needs. I feel lucky to have gotten this before it was discontinued.

The Goblin mask above is the last mask that I sculpted for Death Studios. While five of my own sculptures have produced by Jeff Death over the years, this is the only one that I actually own a copy of. It was originally produced by Jeff under the name "Wild Thang" with a different paint scheme and featured and orange-ish brown hair.

Last up is Healer, the first Jordu Schell sculpted mask I added to my mask collection. Healer is another amazing example of creature & mask design by Jordu. It is completely out of the box of traditional mask design and is quite large as the eye holes are in the nostrils! This mask remains one of my favorites out of my entire collection!

That about does it for my Death Studio pieces for now, with a little luck I'm hoping to add some more from the old 1986 catalog. And, as always, there are several masks still in production that I'd love to add to the family.  From time to time I'll throw up a post with some pieces from my collection.

8 comments:

  1. I have a huge collection of death Studios Masks! Nearing 40 pieces now. I had a mask when i was a kid named "INVADER". If you know where there is another one I would pay quite a bit to get it! Great collection by the way, many rare pieces.

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  2. Wow, 40 pieces must necessitate almost a whole room! Man that's sweet. I've got an Invader. I would be much more interested in trading it than selling it. Let me know if you're willing to talk trade and maybe we can work something out.

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  3. Are you people still here? I am also looking for invader

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  4. Hi Anonymous-

    Of course I'm still here, I post everyday. Click on my profile on the side of the page and shoot me an email about the Invader.

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  5. I love your collection. I too have a infinity for the Bad Moon Mask & Claws set as well. At one tine I had three of the masks & two sets of the claws. My favorite was a set done by Jeff that was a white wolf version that he originally made for our friend Paul w/ Darkside Studois. I personally got into custom Prop building. Check out my custom electric chair on youtube by searching for w/ premierhauntprops included if your interested. Also, if your interested in some new mask making talent check out my friend's work at Midnight Studios / SplatterFX. Happy Haunting, Sean.

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  6. Thanks for the kind words Sean! I LOVE the Midnight Studios line-up. I first saw their work last Spring at Monsterpalooza and was completely blown away!

    BTW- Kick ass electric chair prop. Thanks suggesting the search.

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  7. Still want to trade for invader yellow phantom?

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  8. Hi Matriculat -

    I'm always open to trades :) Head over to the Devils-Workshop.com there is a contact page that you can use to get a hold of me and we can see if we can work something out!

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