CARLOS MARQUEZ

To learn more about this week’s COLLECTOR OF THE WEEK, check out this week’s forum thread HERE!

Sara Karloff awarded the license to Daniel a few weeks ago and The HMA can’t wait to see what Dan has up his sleeves for his newest line!

If you’re in the mood for some refreshing masks and monsters that won’t put a hurting on your wallet, check out Doug’s HOOSIER EFFECTS LAB LTD. now!

Here is just a small sampling of the fantastic creations you can find at H.E.L.L. today!

Head on over to H.E.L.L. today and tell them The Halloween Mask Association sent ya!

 Masks, Monsters, Haunted House props,…you name it and The Twisted Toybox has it! From the brand spakin’ new Ratzilla animatronic, to the new Pharaoh bust, to the wicked cool new Brains props, there’s going to be something for you to find at the new TWISTED TOYBOX!

JAMES LURGIO

To learn more about this week’s COLLECTOR OF THE WEEK, check out this week’s forum thread HERE!

We’ll start off with the Grandfather of latex masks, Don Post Studios. This fall, Don Post will be releasing the first ever, officially licensed Leprechaun Halloween mask along with complete costume. Does this new Leprechaun mask hit the mark with screen accuracy? Well of course not, but when was a mass produced offering ever 100% completely screen accurate? Just be happy that you’ll be able to scare the pants off folks this Halloween by ringing their doorbells and asking "WHERE THE H*** IS ME GOLD?!

Let us now move on to our "good friends" at Rubies. This year the folks at Rubies were granted to license to the Universal remake of the classic Wolfman! I hate to be so critical when it comes to any piece of art, but this new remake Wolfman mask looks more like a lawn ornament, rather than the cool Halloween mask that it should have been. Note to Rubies, when you get a hold of such an iconic license, please do it right! This is THE WOLFMAN for crying out loud, not to mention a RICK BAKER WOLFMAN! But I digress. You should be able to find this     Wolfman mask alongside cheap costuming and even Wolfman gloves, at your local Spirit, Spencer Gifts, etc., this fall. Rubies Wolfman mask will run you around $30-$50 depending on where you shop.

Let’s not forget our favorite hockey mask wearing maniac, Jason Vorhees from the Friday the 13th remake. Rubies has added 2 new latex Jason masks to their arsenal this year and I can’t say that I’m overjoyed by what I’m seeing. Does it seem like I’m picking on Rubies here? I really don’t mean to, but I hate to see such wonderful licenses go to companies who don’t care to do the characters any justice at all when it comes to sculpture and final execution. Well anyhoo, you’ll be able to grab the hockey mask wearing Jason, latex mask or the burlap sack version for around $35-$50 each.

He said he would be back, and he always is. The Terminator will indeed be haunting costume shop shelves this fall! I’m not a huge Terminator fan and I haven’t seen enough promo footage from the new film to give my opinion on the new Rubies offerings. Heck, I don’t even know what I’m looking at when I see these photos, but I’ll let you decide for yourself on these fellers. They’ll run you about $25-$50 each this fall.

That’s all for now, but I’m sure there are a few mass produced film masks that I’ve missed for this year. If you know of any that I might have looked over, give us a yell at HMAHEAD@hotmail.com . Also, please understand that I realize that mass produced masks are made with the intention of being worn for Halloween, then forgotten to time in someone’s garage or attic. The HMA appreciates that the bigger mask companies go out of their way to grab the cooler film licenses out there, but with that said, we think there’s still a lot to be desired when it comes to the end product.

Stay Scary,

HMAEA

BOBBY BEEMAN

To learn more about this week’s COLLECTOR OF THE WEEK, check out this week’s forum thread HERE!

I want to thank everyone who helped make MASK-FEST ‘09 such a huge success! For those of you who were unable to attend, I’ve put together this short video of the Mask-Fest ‘09 experience!

CLICK LINK BELOW:

MASK-FEST \’09

SAL SCARPULLA

To learn more about this week’s COLLECTOR OF THE WEEK, check out this week’s forum thread HERE!

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