Michael Myers has been terrorizing citizens of the Midwest and West Coast and scaring audiences for 45 years, almost to the day now. He's been featured in 12 films, video games, and comic book series and is alongside Leatherface, Freddy Krueger, and Jason Vorhees as a staple of the slasher film.
Being simply known as The Shape in the script, Michael's history has been written--and rewritten--since the first Halloween film back in 1978. Some films humanized him, some made him less of a man and more of a demonic force of nature. Throughout the years he's simply known by his pale face (a Willam Shatner Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek), his red hair, and his knife that has more than likely already taken a victim by the time you see him.
So let's take a quick look at the details of Michael and his macabre mask.
Halloween (1978)
When we meet Michael at the beginning of Halloween, he's already made his mark on his town of Haddonfield, Illinois as he murdered his sister, Judith. We don't know much about him here aside from his clown costume, blank expression, and the bloody knife he's still holding after he already took a life.
Halloween (1978)
There's a figure haunting Laurie and we don't get a good look at his face until later in the film, what is teased is a blank expressionless visage with two voids for eyes. It's the mask we know as Michael's legendary mask and something that follows him his entire monstrous career.
Halloween II (1981)
After Michael went missing at the end of Halloween, we were unsure of where he would go, but knew he would be back. The first sequel picks up directly where the original ended and Michael follows former babysitter Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) to the local hospital where he kills the staff one by one.
This is also where Dr. Loomis (Donald Pleasence) discovers that Laurie is Michael's younger sister. Once again, Laurie tries to take down the looming figure and shoots Michael in the eyes (see image). Loomis then blows up the operating theater room while Laurie escapes.
Michael's hair is less matted here and the sequel upped the level of violence and gore, with Michael bleeding exponentially more this time around, showing he's human after all.
Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988)
After a departure from the narrative with Halloween III: Season of the Witch, Michael returns in the aptly titled Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers. We also get our real first visual difference with Michael's mask.
It's still a Kirk mask inside out, but the production crew painted it, giving it a more bleached skeletal color. They also altered the mask's hair and widened the eye hole areas for stuntman Tom Morga and actor George P. Wilbur who donned the jumpsuit this time around.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Only a year after his return, Michael was ready to hit the streets after being declared dead once again. Taking place immediately after "Return", Michael was nursed back to health by a lonely hermit and donned the mask again to get back to his stabbin' life.
This mask looks way different for a few reasons, the main one being that it's an original sculpt as Wilbur wasn't going to reprise his role as Michael and a new mask had to be made for stuntman Don Shanks to fit his face better.
It's not just that though. This mask came across as actually emoting. Greg Nicotero designed this mask with a more defined expression, almost with a silent anger. The neck also sticks out where Michael had previously tucked it in, but here it looks like skin peeling off the body, giving more of a ghastly silhouette.
Halloween 6: The Curse of Michael Myers (1995)
For the first finale of the Halloween series, we have a few big alterations. First, the design went back to the expressionless feature again. It has wider eyes, giving it a more alien look. Also, the hair was slicked back, making it have a neater appearance--which will change immediately with the next movie.
Halloween H20: 20 Years Later (1998)
Okay so here are when things get a little tricky with actual Halloween continuity. This film actually ignores Return, Revenge, and Curse and takes us all the way back to the first sequel with Laurie in hiding in California with Michael tracking her down to exact his violence once more.
Now to make matters even more confusing Michael actually goes through four different masks here and a Halloween first--a CGI one used here. It's the first mask that's confusing because it's the mask from Curse...which this movie has decanonized. There's a second mask when we see Michael again that is used for most of the movie but was changed because the producers were unhappy with its overall look. The third mask was designed by Stan Winston Studios and can be seen in a lot of the reshoots of the movie.
The aforementioned CGI mask is more of a copy of the original from '78, but then technology at the time for something so simple even then was very glaring. It was used to cover up a lot of the second mask in post-production.
Halloween: Resurrection
Taking place three years after H20, it retcons Michael's death at the end of the previous movie--again--and actually kills Laurie. This mask was designed by the makeup and special effects company Cinema Secrets, and it's the only mask design used throughout the film.
The mask has more profound details with the brow and philtrum (vertical groove between the base of the nose and the border of the upper lip) making it almost look like this is Michael's actual face.
Rob Zombie's Halloween I and II
When Rob Zombie rebooted the franchise with 2007's Halloween, he kept the mask design still in the vein of its shape but made it his own. The mask was designed by Wayne Toth, a designer who had worked with KNB EFX group and had previously worked with Zombie on House of 1000 Corpses.
This mask was specifically made to fit actor Tyler Mane's face and instead of a pale visage, it sports a more decomposing and rotting aesthetic. For the sequel, which takes place a year later, it used the same design only with a few minor alterations and changed the level of decay.
Halloween (2018)
Yes, this is the third movie to bear the same name in the franchise. Now this movie ignores everything except the first movie from 1978. Which is why this is definitely a return-to-basics approach to Michael and his mask 40 years later.
Designed by Christopher Nelson, this mask is a hybrid between Halloween and Halloween II's design with the added elements of decay, but to a much lesser degree than what was going on in the Zombie movies. There are also bits of latex deterioration and general wear and tear of what would have been a 40-year-old Halloween costume mask at this point.
Halloween Kills (2021) and Halloween Ends (2022)
By the time we get to Halloween Kills, three years after the previous installment, Michael's mask has been through it. It's been torn, torched, bled on--the works. It definitely mirrors Michael's experiences over 40 years and while it was introduced in Kills, they reused it for Ends because it's so gruesome. The eye holes seem hollowed out it's like a floating skull and confirmed it's a genuine source of evil.
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