Welcome back to another entry in the 2011 Branded Countdown to Halloween! It’s day ten, and though today’s monster mask ad is a little sparse, it’s one of my favorites. Originally found in issue #25 of Fangoria from 1983, this is another Don Post advertisement for their line of Halloween III Season of the Witch masks…
For those of you not familiar with the Halloween film sequels, part three was the first and last sequel that didn’t feature the character or story of Michael Myers. Long story short, when John Carpenter was first thinking about sequels to Halloween he wanted each subsequent flick to feature a new Halloween-themed story instead of trotting out Myers again and again. Though it didn’t quite work out that way in the first sequel, he and producing/writing partner Debra Hill stood firm with the third installment and thus a departure from the franchise was created. I have to say that I love the idea of a Halloween season themed film anthology series, and a lot was riding on this third movie to ensure the success of a venture like that. Alas, because the eventual story was a bit off-the-wall it didn’t really resonate with audiences and the idea was scrapped.
Even though it’s a weird flick and there’s a lot of stuff in the film that’s questionable in terms of ration and logic, I love it and in no small part because of the props. In the flick, monster mask and novelty company Silver Shamrock is seeking to bring about Armageddon through witchcraft and science. They’ve discovered a mystical obelisk from Stonehenge that when introduced to the flicking imagery and specific music broadcast through a television set can reduce the human form into a pile of deadly venomous insects and snakes. The idea is to implant chips from the obelisk into receivers that are attached to their line of popular Halloween masks. The company then created a give-away promotion airing on Halloween night that would reach into millions of households around the country turning children everywhere into swarms of venomous creatures that would kill their families.
There were three main Halloween masks produced for the film by Post Studios, of which the Jack-o-Lantern was the only new mold specific to the movie. In conjunction, Post produced a line of replica masks that they hoped would become cult items that kids and teens would want to buy and wear to the movie. Aside from these three there are a lot of other Post Studios masks peppered throughout the flick, in particular in the Silver Shamrock offices. As far as Monster Mask movies go, this is probably one of the coolest, if not the weirdest ever made!
Anyway, come back tomorrow for more mask tomfoolery, and if you’re looking for a ton of Halloween content all through the month of October, make sure to stop on by the official Countdown to Halloween site and check out the list of participating blogs for 2011. You’ll be glad you did!
