Morbid Mask Studio Mask Making Kit

This classified ad for the Morbid Mask Making Kit appeared in the back pages of the UK publication The Dark Side. I'm not sure when the issue was published, but I've always been fond of the mummy illustration that accompanied the ad...

  

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic: Sleepy Werewolf

The Masks of Famous Monsters - Issue # 43

Welcome to the nineteenth installment in The Masks of Famous Monsters Series. Famous Monsters of Filmland magazine was an absolute treasure trove of early mask history. By combing through the 191 issues published between 1958-1983, it's possible to gain a good understanding of the decades of evolution and history of Don Post Studios and Topstone monster masks. The eventual goal of this series is to catalog and archive each monster mask appearance in the pages Famous Monsters.

Issue # 43 of Famous Monsters would feature another "Men Behind the Monsters" written by Verne Langdon. This time, the featured artist would be the legendary Ellis Burman. By '67 Burman was a veteran make-up man and monster maker.

The article was brief at only two pages, fortunately one of those pages contained a beautiful full-page photo of Burman working on a number of clown masks and a full body monster suit. Of note to Don Post Studios fans, the article mentions that Burman currently worked as the Chief Lab Technician at Don Post Studios, where his many duties extend to the design and creation of many Don Post character masks...

Back in a Few Days

I'll be taking a few days away from the computer to wrap up a some deadlines. I'll be back before the New Year. In the meantime, hang onto the holiday spirit through the week... it has a tendency to fade away quickly.

Photo from J. Willis' Flickr Photostream Photo by Jackie Alpers,

Merry Christmas to All!

Here's wishing everyone a very safe and merry Christmas!

Merry "X"-mas

Hope you have Merry "X" Mas Eve Creeps!

It was a real honor to have seen a mask that I created show up on the cover of Headhunters Quarterly, and even more so to see it sporting a Santa cap in the time honored tradition of Famous Monsters, Monsterworld, Creepy and the Halloween Gazette.

If you're feeling curious, you can check out the full history on this retired Devil's Workshop Flukeman mask.

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic: Merry Krampus!!!

Image Source: thewitchhunt.tumblr.com

Happy Holidays Halloween Gazette Style

This "modified" cover of the 1987 Halloween Gazette features Cortlandt Hull's calendar Drac decked out in full holiday apparel...

Image Source: The Maskahuna

Decorating Brucie for Christmas

A short Christmas clip from the Hilarious House of Frightenstein...

For those unfamiliar with the series, Brucie J. Monster was Count Frightenstein's inanimate creation which sported a Don Post Studios Karloff Frankenstein mask. Each episode followed the Count and his sidekick Igor's efforts to revive Brucie.

1972 Bayshore Halloween Catalog

These photos of the 1972 Bayshore Halloween catalog may be low resolution, but they'll still put a smile on the face of any Halloween fan with these pages of classic blow mold goodness and cheap Halloween masks...

Distortions Unlimited - Massacre Masks Ad

This Starlog Press ad for Distortions Unlimited masks appeared in the December '86 issue of Fango, and would run consecutively through the next eight issues...

100th "Don Post" Post

This post marks the 100th post tagged with "Don Post" here on the Blood Curdling Blog of Monster Masks. There's no better way to mark the occasion than with Don Post himself with one of the studios' longest running and iconic masks...

Don Post Sr. and Vintage Skull Masks

1972 Creepy Annual

The cover of the 1972 Creepy Annual where the Verne Langdon Zombie mask made it's public debut...

1972 Creepy Spooktacular Annual Cover

Random Sunday Morning Mask Pic: Merry Krampus!!!

Image Source: thewitchhunt.tumblr.com

1993 Illusive Concepts Catalog

I've been on the hunt for Illusive Concept catalogs for quite some time. Fortunately, four IC catalogs fell into my lap back in October. I've been on something of a scanning binge over the last few days and was able to digitize close to twenty monster mask catalogs including the previously mentioned Illusive Concepts scores. The first one up from the batch is The 1993 Illusive Concepts Catalog, which is fitting, because this was the year I first saw many of Mario Chiodo's creations in person.

It's no stretch to say that (at the time) these masks were the most innovative creations that the mask industry had ever seen. Their impact on me was immediate. The sheer size and thickness of the masks had never been attempted on a mass-produced commercial scale before. And, as a sculptor, I never tire of looking at the expressions on the faces of these masks and the wonderful textures, and wrinkles that are prevalent in so many of Mr. Chiodo's characters.

I'll never forget the first time I layed my eyes on the Illusive Concepts Grand Lantern mask at Fantasy Headquarters in Chicago in 1993...

I was simply stunned my the piece. If memory serves me right, there was a $120 price tag attached to it and the mask, which made it impossible that it would ever come home with me. I would see the mask during a handful of visits to the shop of the next few years, and one day it was gone. Over fifteen years would pass before I would see one again at Fantasy Headquaters. It was apparently found in the warehouse and brought back out to the store shelves. There was a strong chance it was the very same copy as it bore the same price tag and the original '93 tag. It was a dream come true to bring him home on that cold autumn afternoon...

I know that within collector's circles,  Illusive Concepts takes a lot of heat for the Universal Monsters masks that were released during the early to mid nineties. Some of the criticism is justified, but there are a few from the series that I think hold up incredibly well. The resemblance to Karloff in the Mummy mask is fantastic...

The Illusive Concepts Creature from the Black Lagoon is my personal favorite sculpt of the bunch, although I've never been a fan of the factory paint scheme...

 With a little custom paint work, this mask really shines. This was the first Universal Monster mask I ever owned and it's still prominently displayed within my collection. It towers in size over other Gilman masks...

And don't forget the Illusive Concepts Phantom of the Opera mask, which was another beautifully sculpted mask from the series...

There are a number of other Illusive Concepts original designs featured in this catalog that I've always been fond of too including the Pirate Skull, Ghoul and the Cranium Skull. All have a classic Halloween vibe that can't be denied...

Of course, there are the massive Majestic Dragon masks as well as the Slobber's masks which are among the most unique designs ever offered up to the mask buying public, but I digress... finally, after all the Phantom's rantings and ravings, we get to the catalog pages themselves...

Don Post Studios Face-Hugger Ads

If you looked hard enough in the October 1979 issue of Fango, you could find this snippet which announced the coming of the  special limited edition Face-hugger from Don Post Studios...

A full year later the "mask" was made available in the October 1980 issue. The price in this ad must have seemed a bargain at only $375, as it was listed at a whopping $500 in a popular two page color ad that ran in many publications of the day...

Looking for more info on this rare piece? Check out this thread on the HMA started by the Maskahuna which contains plenty of history and photos.

Burman Zombie Mask

Last night an old post received a comment from one of Ellis Burman Sr.'s grandsons that mentions some fond memories of the classic Burman Zombie mask being used at Halloween to scare the neighborhood trick or treaters. I realized this morning that the blog is almost entirely void of photos of the classic Burman Zombie until now...

1994 Don Post Studios Catalog

Hey creeps, it's time to fill another hole in the Monster Mask Catalog Archive! This time with the 1994 Don Post Studios Catalog...

There was little variation between the '93 and '94 catalogs in terms of the line-up and the catalog design. Not that this is surprising,  in '93 the entire line over went a big make-over and the still fresh line-up needed some time to establish itself. The new changes to the line-up in the 1994 catalog include the addition of the Gorillas on page 5, as well as a newly sculpted Deluxe Tor Johnson...

Here's a look at the 1993 Don Post logo with the traditional Tor style and the 1994 Don Post logo with the new Deluxe Tor Johnson mask...