Hidden in plain sight

Masks; the topic of most conversations today, who’s wearing them and more importantly who’s not. But did you ever stop to wonder what makes these accessories so terrifying?

During this pandemic I have thankfully still been employed by my day job, where we’ve switched our normal functions of millinery (making hats) to the task of making masks. For the last 12 or so weeks I’ve sat at my machine sewing away mask after mask. When thinking of next topics for this blog, I wanted to stretch my legs a bit beyond talking about specific films. Not realizing the answer was under my fingers all along. Pre-pandemic world, the thought of wearing a medical mask frightened me, but I could never pinpoint why. Since in my daily dose of horror movies on any given day, you’d see a myriad of masks of all shapes and sizes. I wanted to dig into what make masks so creepy, where they came from, and how they inform some of horrors greatest killers. The further I went into my research and after reading Alexandra Heller-Nicholas’ book, Masks in Horror Cinema; Eyes Without a Face, I noticed that not only did masks hold a ritualistic quality but they humanized figures that were purposely being dehumanized. By stripping away any relatable qualities to what we recognize as humane the masks elevate them to something beyond us. An inhuman force that will stop at nothing to destroy that which crosses its path. The mystery of not knowing, or not seeing the face of the killer, allows us to believe that no human could possibly be so evil and destructive. Just how humans become disgusted when they look their dinner in the eyes, the killers themselves become unpalatable when we face the face beneath. Few films have challenged the status quo of masking villains. When you look at the three films that completely changed the genre and our relationship to the masked figure, you start to understand why masks become the source of one’s power. In Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Tobe Hooper 1974), John Carpenters Halloween (1978), and Scream (Wes Craven 1996), we see three very different types of masks that inform the symbolism of each killer. That is why these films are still being studied, watched, and loved by so many people to this day.

As a theatre major in college and grad school, I was familiar with a lot of the history and tradition that Alexandra’s book maps out when talking about where these ideas come from. You may be familiar with the Italian theatrical tradition of commedia dell'arte, where stock tropes of characters are used in storytelling. The artistry of the over exaggerated faces is used to blatantly identify good vs. evil, male vs. female, and what role they are taking on. The Japanese tradition of Noh theater uses brightly colored masks of traditional characters from famous oral traditions and literature throughout Japan’s history.  These ideas of clearly identifying good and evil, and either stock genders or gender neutrality, have informed how these masked figures in horror operate, even if we do not consciously realize our brain is making these distinctions. Nicholas also talks about the many shamanic and ritual based ceremonial cultures that have also informed the characters. Ritual is a large part of the horror experience, either identifying how the killer commits their crimes in a specific way, or even we as the viewers preform rituals when watching our favorites. All these devises have been passed down through history and adapted to each culture’s viewing of fear. As an American theatre goer, I see how these traditions, coupled with what was going on in our country at the time of these films releases really instills a fear that goes beyond the surface of men with knives and chainsaws.

Tobe Hooper’s 1974 film The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was release to the world at the end of the Vietnam War and the filtering out of the counterculture of the late 1960’s. We see five teens brutally and viciously hunted by a family of cannibals. Inspired by the killings of Ed Gein in the 1950’s cannibalism through this lens lends itself to the dismantling of the post- WWII familial ideas.

The masks donned by Gunnar Hansen, who brought the character of Leatherface to life, are Frankenstein patchwork pieces we are to assume are the past victims. Like a lot of low budget films of the time, there was no money in the budget for a costuming department and I found gaps in my research. Trying to bring to life who in fact designed and made these masks. With little information out there, I turned to the only man I knew whose knowledge of Chainsaw runs as deep as his Texas pride. Mr. Joe Bob Briggs himself, host of The Last Drive-In on Shudder, and a horror host for years shed some light on the information I could not find. There was no costuming crew and the young adult actors did provide their own costumes. But under the production management of Ron Bozman a crew of volunteers were brought in to assist around set. The masks themselves, “Killing Mask”, “Pretty Lady”, and “Old Woman” were made in Austin by a Plastic surgeon by the name of Dr. Walter Barnes. The ideas of gender are played with along side the ritual to torture their victims, as they do to Sally towards the very end. The only time we see Leatherface in a masculine mask is when he is killing. Every other moment he is on screen his masking is feminine. Using the ideas that the female equals docile and homemaker, this might be Leatherfaces’ role in the family dynamic as the masks are sewn together, sewing often looked at as feminine trade. This also paints the family portrait as we see the “Pretty Lady” face in the dinner scene. Father, mother, son, and grandfather are all place around the table in perfect tableau of the American image, when beneath the surface the family system has been dismantled. Skin and bones are a prominent decoration around the house, displaying their sickness and skill for their work, it also highlights that this is something they have been doing for what looks like years. Allowing Sally, a peak into their world only heightens the horror that her face could be the next persona of Leatherface. But as we see her seated at the table opposite of them, in her white pants and simple purple tank top now stained and ripped, the idea of the new liberated woman has become damaged by toxic masculinity.

We never see the man under the mask throughout the film which gives us a separation from the clearly abused and troubled human underneath. Just four years later the idea of a faceless killer is challenged in a completely different way.

In John Carpenter’s Halloween, within ten minutes into the film we see who the killer is. A little boy by the name of Michael Meyers has just killed his sister and her boyfriend at only 10 years old. He is unmasked from his clown face on Halloween night, juxtaposing terror that lies underneath a cheerful exterior. Locked away for years, now in his late 20’s Meyers escapes and once again wears a mask to take down his victims. The history behind the mask is almost as popular as the film itself. Again, we see a film that has a smaller budget and not much room for a costume department or designers. Beth Rodgers is credited as the Wardrobe Supervisor. On further digging I came across an interview from 2018 with Jamie Lee Curtis for Rotten Tomatoes where she briefly talks about the costumes. It seems that the actors with the assistance from Rodgers, were taken to JC Penny’s to find the looks for their characters. A freedom to actors that is rarely afforded, beyond conversation, for the modern design process. The mask was given the same treatment. With not enough money in the budget for a custom mask from Don Post Studios, the art director (whose correct name I cannot find, even though IMDB has a Randy Moore credited as assistant art director I am unclear if this was the man who went shopping or not) took a drive down to Bert Wheeler’s Magic Shop on Hollywood Blvd. and purchased a Captain Kirk mask for $1.98. Because the mask looked nothing to the like of the actor who played Kirk, William Shatner, they were able to make some minor tweeks and a paint job to give it new life. Unlike Chainsaw we see a blank mask, found and accessible. What gives this blank figure fright is the preexisting knowledge we have of who is underneath. By giving Michael Meyers the motive to be just inherently evil tearing through middle America suburbia, we see the fear of the conservative views of the late 1970’s being challenged. 1978 was the height of the fight to ratify the ERA, which was met with pushback from the right. A dismantling of “American family structure and values” was how they opposed them. As the Cold War continued to rage on, we see the finger pointing to the “other”. This drive to come back to the systems of the pre-counterculture 1960’s is what propelled Regan into office in 1980 just two years after the release of Halloween. We see the target of wholesome teens, who have not invited this danger like the teens in Chainsaw. They did not pick up an unwanted hitchhiker or turn to astrology to inform their life choices. These were the football players and babysitters, who were just living their lives.

After Halloween, the 80’s brought a surge of famed masked killers using the same formula story telling. Wholesome teens being picked off one by one to meet their gory demise, while the final girl was left to watch all this unfold and fight back against her oppressor. Displaying the idea that if you stay chaste and make good choices, you too will survive horrors that await us in this world. Regan’s America mirrored a lot of what we are seeing today, this othering of minority groups all in the name of “American Values”. Now, the slasher subgenre is one of my favorites, but making the same formulaic films for almost a decade and a half you must wonder if the pattern will ever be broken.

After contributing to one of the most popular slashers in the genre, Wes Craven was ready to comment on the work being done. In 1996’s Scream, we see a different kind of masked killer who ran wild through the teens of Woodsboro. I was thankful enough to sit down and chat with the Costume Designer Cynthia Bergstrom, she was a wealth of information. So, while I will not go into too much of our conversation here, as I plan on doing a whole focused post on the original Scream. I gained some insight into Ghostface and how he became one of the most recognizable face in horror.

Upon initial design of the killer, Wes Craven asked for white ripstock nylon, which if you are not familiar with that specific name, it’s heavy weave fabric that is resistant to tears and rips, think WWII parachutes. I must take a moment to give a big kudos to great directors such as Craven, what makes a director genuinely great is the vast knowledge that they have. Not only the knowledge for their craft but knowing the materials of the creative collaborators they are working alongside. As a designer, when I work with a director who knows what they want in this capacity, it makes me more inclined to go above and beyond because they know that it takes a village to make something spectacular, it also tells me that they really care what is on that screen or stage. This fabric does make sense and would serve well on set, because of its fire retardant and water repellant qualities. On first prototype and screen test Cynthia recalls “By using white as the look of Ghostface, keeping the continuity from take to take of blood splatters, rips and tears, was hard to accomplish, not to mention how dirty it would get just running around to perform the stunts”. Anyone who has worn white knows how hard it is to keep clean, and Ghostface unlike our other two stoic men above, are agile teens. He runs, climbs, and wrestles his victims to the ground. I get afraid to wear a white blouse to the supermarket!

As they got back to the drawing board, Cynthia tells me of another story about her, Wes, and their DP Mark Irwin having lunch one afternoon. Next door to their outdoor table was a fabric store, “What really caught Randy’s eye was how the fabric in the window caught the light, this black fabric that had small metallic threads woven in” Taking inspiration from Edvard Munch’s famous Scream painting, and her knowledge of the grim reaper, Cynthia designed a killer that was not only terrifying but easily recognizable. She say’s their props master, J.P. Jones, put the finishing touch on the look with a party store purchased mask. Now you can’t go into any Halloween store without seeing Ghostface.

The accessibility of the mask really resonates to the men behind it. Billy and Stuart are in high school, these boys while not having a lot of money have the disposable income and a basic access to supplies that would be found in this town. So, finding this mask in a party store is on par for what their characters would do. Calculated just enough to throw the teens off the scent to who is committing these heinous crimes but not enough to win, I look at these two as the embodiment of white male privilege. This idea of coming from upper middle class and acting in a way where they feel they are “untouchable”. In their reveal, we are given a twist to the story that there isn’t just one killer but two working as one. As we are revealed to their human faces, the fear against them still lingers in us, but in a whole different way. We have just spent the entirety of the movie getting to know these boys, then we are shocked to find that they are able to pull off these killings and manipulate the people in their lives.

Masks in horror are the terrors of the unknown. The lifeless material that is staring back at us, taunting us, to make our palms sweat and our heart race. The fear of masks has even bled into our real-life horrors beyond this pandemic, being banned from movie theatres and some costumed conventions for fear of shootings and mass hysteria. Without a face the accountability goes unnoticed and the fear that any one of us could be that inherently evil plagues our thoughts.