A post on Twitter from the Friday the 13th franchise brought back memories.. That dreaded Michael Myers mask from Halloween H20..
It clearly was one of the weirdest and worst.. the eyes too big.. the chiseled jaw line.. the strange computerized appearance it took on.
The film was a mixture of hits and misses–mostly misses.. John Carpenter thankfully recused it with his re-do in 2018, and subsequent sequel that was delayed until October 2021..
On the 20th anniversary of the 20th Anniversary of the original Halloween, 2019, an article in Screen Rant had an explanation of sorts:
Though there have been some questionable changes made to the mask Michael Myers wears in the Halloween franchise over the years, H20‘s mask stands out a cut above the rest – and not in a good way. In H20, there were four different masks used in various scenes and stages of production. This is different from all the other films in the franchise, which used one primary design. Because of this, there was no real sense of continuity and the changes from one shot to the next took audiences out of the film, effectively limiting the terrifying visage of the antagonist.
While the H20 mask was applauded for trying to look more like the original film’s, it was ultimately disliked by audiences, due in no small part to the fact that there were four masks used in production. These 4 masks are the KNB mask, Buechler mask, Stan Winston mask, and CGI mask.
The Buechler mask is the mask used in the opening scene. It was made to look like the mask from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.
The Stan Winston mask is the main mask in the film and is the mask mostly seen throughout the film. This was used in reshoots to replace the KNB mask in some shots. However, even though this mask look closer to the original mask, it was criticized for being too tight (Michael’s eyes are often clearly visible), looking awkward, showing Michael’s eyes, and having messy hair.
So after all these years.. and all of the dreadful sequels, it is clear. So many bad masks existed in H20..
But nothing as bad as Halloween 5..
Fans have often said it was the worst.. even comparing its look to that of Thomas the Train…
