Thursday, January 30, 2014

Trick or Treat Studios H3 Pre-Order

If you haven't heard the news yet, Trick or Treat Studios is producing licensed versions of the H3 masks in 2014. They are now accepting pre-orders for those that would like to guarantee that they get their claws on these this year. Click on the images below to be taken to the pre-order pages...





Tuesday, January 28, 2014

1998 Hollywood Halloween Catalog

There is a fun showcase thread that the Maskahuna started on the HMA a few days ago featuring a Hollywood Halloween mask "The Spectre". Yesterday afternoon, the Maskahuna sent over these Hollywood Halloween catalog scans to be added to the Monster Mask Catalog Archives. There are some very cool masks in the HH lineup. I'm particularly fond of the Mega Monster Masques on page five.








Thursday, January 23, 2014

Howard the Duck Mask Weirdness


 Lacking a proper photo to accompany this Howard the Duck mask ad, I did the standard Google search and was quite surprised at what I found. Apparently a photo from a Craigslist seller has made this mask is quite popular in blogs and internet article sharing the theme of "Creepiest", "Funniest" or "Weirdest" Craiglists posts. And for good reason...

Here's the original Craiglist ad, and if you're really into some wacky shit, you can check out just a few of the many places online to find such articles commemorating this strange appearance of the Howard the Duck mask and other Craigslist ballyhoo here, here, or here, ...

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

1985 Be Something Studios Catalog


Although only four pages in length, the 1985 Be Something Studios catalog contains a few interesting nuggets. The "Royal Line" was introduced in '85, and arguably with it ushered in the beginning of the more "modern" wave of BSS masks and a break from many of the simpler masks which had been in the line-up since the late 70's. These newer style masks were the BSS that I personally remember more from my youth and typically featured more complex sculptures...
Be Something Studios - "Royal Skull"
 The Royal line featured a deluxe two-colored collar, and a hefty price tag in the high $50 range.  In addition to the Royal Line the more simplistic collared "Be" series was introduced with the "Be-Fiend", "Be-Ghoul", and "Be-Devil" masks. These would be phased out in just a year or two, and remain quite hard to find. I have only ever seen one for sale over the last several years. I have it in my collection...
Be Something Studios - "Be Fiend"





Thursday, January 16, 2014

R.I.P. Joe Lester

It’s been a month now since artist & sculptor Joesph Lester passed away. While I met and hung out with Joe on a handful of occasions, I didn’t know him particularly well. But I did know that he was a shy and modest man, and an unbelievably talented artist. I first met Joe at a sculpting supply house in the Chicago suburbs in 1996 and when I first saw his work a few months later I was absolutely floored. At this time I had only been sculpting for a year or so, and I couldn’t even begin to fathom how Joe was able to capture so much life and expression into his characters.

While Joe left us far too soon, he did leave mask collectors with a small legacy of masks. Some of his very best are still available from Darkside Studios, including "Smilin’ Jack", "Harvester" and "Crackle"...

Joe Lester - "Smilin' Jack" Sculpture

Joe Lester - "Jangle" Sculpture

Joe Lester - "Harvester" Sculpture

Joe also created some crazy cool pumpkin caricatures, including his "Pumpkin Patch" series...





Monday, January 13, 2014

Fear FestEvil

Fear FestEvil is less than a month away. Having learned about the fest only a few weeks ago, and being so close to Monsterpalooza, I won't be making the FestEvil this year. But I truly hope it's a big success, I'd love to make it out next year if there is a sequel. The Fear FestEvil website has some nice videos and photos, here are just a few of the masks and monsters...








Image Source: Fear FestEvil

Sunday, January 12, 2014

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic: Ben Cooper Mummy


This happy little haunter has found himself a Ben Cooper Vacuform Mummy mask. Below is one pictured in color. The Toyranch Flickr photo stream has a nice clear photo of the mask and costume box here.


Friday, January 10, 2014

Decayed Glow-in-the-Dark Edition


Greetings and salutations creeps, it's time for some shameless self-promotion... the first release of the year from the Devil's Workshop - the Glow-in-the-Dark Decayed Corpse. I'll be making (2) runs of (4) copies of this mask in 2014. The first run is available now... click here for details.

Pictured below are actual photos of the GITD Decayed Zombie shot with, and without, a black light...




Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Tarman Mask

Fright-Rags is offering this killer Tarman Mask, Shirt, and Ben Cooper style Collector's Box. This is easily the coolest thing I've seen this year...



Friday, January 3, 2014

Early 1960's Don Post Studios Catalog

Greetings creeps, and welcome to the first catalog post of 2014. We'll have to go back over a half century for this rare relic from Don Post Studios. While I don't have an exact year to place on this catalog, the text on the back gives us a clue... the newest motion picture mentioned is from 1963. Here's hoping you'll enjoy this piece of monster mask history...