R.I.P. Verne Langdon

We lost one of the last true pioneers of the industry yesterday as Verne Langdon passed away.

 While Verne was with Don Post studios for a relatively short period in the Studio's overall history (1963-68), his contributions to direction of the Studio and the world of monster masks can not be understated. Our hobby and industry would not be the same without Verne's vision. Thank you for all the magic Verne, you will be missed.

Verne Langdon and Don Post Sr.

Forry and Verne

Korla and Verne

Verne's Wiki Page
Box of Monsters Interview with Verne
Verne's Rubber Room Page
Verne's Zombie Mask Ad

Don Post Studios Article - Modern Monster April 1966

Happy New Years creeps! The first post of the year appropriately belongs to Don Post. This article appeared in the April issue of Modern Monster Magazine in 1966 and features some excellent photos as well as a brief early history of the studio.  Modern Monster Magazine was published by Jim Matthews' Prestige Publications. Prestige also published the famous 1966 Monster Calendar featuring Don Post monster masks. Enjoy!

Original Don Post Fly mask!

 In addition to the article, several ads for Don Post products appeared in the issue which are included here.

Have a Cool Yule with a Ghoul!

Merry Christmas and a cool yule to all! I'll be taking a few days off from posting until the first of the year.  It's been a ton of fun sharing all the monster mask goodness the past few months. I look forward to doing it again in '11.

In the meantime, enjoy this super high resolution scan of the Monster World #6 cover featuring the Don Post Strange Frank.

Mad Monsters Presents Monsters Cover

The Don Post Wolfman Mask as seen in the classic calendar photo makes an appearance via the cover of the MAD MONSTERS #1  British Special Edition. More info on the magazine and some great MAD MONSTERS cover scans over at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD

Be Something Studios - All Hallows Eve Companion Article

I find it very strange that I've been running this blog for the better part of four months and I have yet to have a single post on Be Something Studios, maker of my favorite mass-produced masks. So tonight it's time to rectify the situation. Here is a brief write up of the history of (IMO) the best mass-produced mask maker from the best mask publication ever... 

I'm not sure when, but at some point in time I found the color photos from the article. If these belong to you, or someone you know, please let me know so I can give proper credit.

Delgado Gorilla Article - Famous Monsters #46

A great article written by Verne Langdon on Carlos Delgado's White Ape created at Don Post studios.  The article documents the saga of the white ape that would never made for the Perils of Pauline.

Don Post Mask Ads - Famous Monsters #46

It just wouldn't be right to post the excellent article above from Famous Monsters of Filmland #46 and leave out these great vintage Don Post Ads from pages 70 & 82.

Black and White Don Post Calendar Mask Ad

Don Post 800 line masks and Creepy & Eerie masks

Henry Alvarez Article - Chiller Theatre #3

Friday's post on the Alvarez sculpted Predator was the inspiration behind today's post. While not a mask maker, Henry Alvarez is a master sculptor and several of his sculpts have been immortalized as latex monster masks. Chiller Theater #3 featured a great article on Henry and his work...

Distortions Ad - Predator & Leatherface

The full page color ad Distortions featured the licensed Predator and Leatherface series... now this is an ad that sent my senses spinning back in 1991! Is it just me, or is it crazy that in a few short weeks 1991 will be 20 years ago? Wow.

Distortions Predator and Leatherface Masks

The Predator series featured 3 different versions of the mask, with the deluxe Predator being the cream of the crop. The deluxe Predator was released in 1990 and was sculpted by Henry Alvarez. This huge mask came with the shoulder armor and had seperatly cast dreadlocks and usually sold for over $300 retail.

The impressive matching hands can be seen in the ad and were sculpted by Dwight Shundo, and featured separately cast blades on the left hand in the ad. The Standard Predator was actually a pretty decent sculpture, but the subpar paint scheme left a lot to be desired.

What made this ad so special was in addition to an already bad-ass Predator it also featured the Distortions Leatherface series! The whole head deluxe edition pictured on the left of the ad was based on the TCM Part III design. In addition to the full head mask a smaller, less expensive, face mask was also offered.

CFX Silicone Masks

I grabbed some amazing photos of silicone mask work while cruising around DeviantArt yesterday when I stumbled upon Crawford-the-Imps home page. These are just two of examples of the many pics up in his gallery:

The DeviantArt link from above has more great photos, and the CFX website offers these killer masks for sale.

While I prefer a nice old school latex mask, there's no denying that if you're going to wear the mask, silicone provides very natural lifelike movement, and these are some of the finest out there. Really nice original designs, the tentacled Deep Spawn is one of the coolest masks I've seen in some time!