1. When I first met you years back, you owned a Haunt prop, company called “Ex Mortis”. How did Ex Mortis begin?

I started Ex Mortis after visiting a trade show for Halloween and party stores. After seeing the demand for some quality props I developed a couple of ideas based on a few film props and costumes I had previously made.

2. With all of the films you’ve been working on in recent years, do you still run Ex Mortis?

Ex Mortis is still operating, but due to all of the other stuff I usually have going I haven’t had time to develop any new products for a couple of seasons now.

3. Obviously you’re a fan of all things Halloween and Horror related. Would you say you have a Halloween obsession?

I wouldn’t call it an obsession, but due to Ex Mortis and the year round horror and Halloween store my wife and I operate, I would say its actually taken over my life to a large extent!

4. Here’s a question I’m sure all of our readers would like the answer to. Do you collect masks?

When I was a youngster I was an avid collector and mask fan. I would write letters to mask makers and collect catalogs as well as masks. I was lucky enough to live in the same state as Ed Edmunds of Distortions, who was and is a super nice man that took the time to help me develop my primitive mask making skills – he even sold a mask I had made at his workshop one year in his catalog, which was an amazing thing for me. After becoming a business owner, I appreciate the time he took to help out a geeky kid even more. I have tapered off collecting much of anything these days due to the space and upkeep any type of collection requires, but since rubber masks were such a big deal to me I still have a love for them.

5. I’m not sure a lot of folks know this or not, but you actually own a year round Halloween store in Burbank, called Halloween Town. Tell us a little about Halloween Town and how it began.

My wife and I started Halloween Town after the company she had worked at for years closed it’s doors, which happened to coincide with the creation of Ex Mortis and becoming involved with the Halloween market in general. We thought we could offer something special to it and just decided to give it a try. Ten years later it has continued to grow and thanks to the Internet is visited by people from literally all over the world.

6. Halloween 2 will be the third Rob Zombie feature you’ve worked on. When and how did you become associated with Rob Zombie?

I met Rob through a mutual friend and wound up being his Monster guy for ten years now. He’s a great guy and it’s a pleasure to have a positive working relationship and call him a good friend after all of these years.

7. When you started working on Halloween, did you feel any pressure from fans to get the mask just right?

Most of the pressure I felt was from myself to create something that captured the classic image of the mask yet inject a little of my own style. Aside from Rob’s keen eye, I knew that there was a small army of hardcore mask guys out there that would put it under major scrutiny!

8. How did it feel to be working on such an iconic character, such as Michael Myers? Were you a fan of the franchise before you got the job?

I was of course a fan of the original film, it’s one of the classics in horror cinema that created a new sub genre, but I’ll admit that I kind of lost track after the digits after the title increased. I had also worked on Halloween 4 for John Carl Buechler in one of the earliest years of my makeup career.

9. So tell us about your work on Halloween 2. Is Michael Myers look the same in this film or should we expect to see some changes?

Since we are currently in production, I cant really discuss what is going on with the mask exactly, but there is a new mask specifically for it. Rob released a photo of the sculpture, but it won’t be exactly what people expect based even on that.

10. When you have time, do you ever drop by the HMA to see what’s going on?

I regularly drop by HMA to check out what the latest news in the mask world is!!

(Thanks so much for taking time to talk with The HMA, Wayne!)

To learn more about Wayne Toth’s film credits, check out:  IMDB Profile

To learn more about Wayne’s Halloween Town store in Burbank, check out: Halloween Town

To learn more about EX MORTIS, check out: EX MORTIS