Have been trying to get a movie mold "vs" mask for years, and now I've finally got one! Still looking to acquire Jason X movie mold pieces if anyone can point me in the right direction.
Comparison with my old NECA vs mask below. Almost the same size and the features are basically the same, although the movie mask is narrower and longer.
My paint job was based on the "corn field mask" used through much of the film (see below).
As far as I can tell, seven hockey masks were used during the filming of Freddy vs. Jason. The masks were touched up a number of times and appear with very different weathering throughout the film, probably owing to not being clear coated (the main mask from Part 5 was also retouched several times). There are certain details that indicate masks that appear to be different are in fact the same, such as distinctive scratches or vent hole damage, so I've summarized what I've found below, with credit for updates and corrections to Nathan Stafford of the Horror Costume Index.
1. The Corn Field Mask: This mask is characterized by the wide, shallow forehead chevron. This mask had more subtle early in the film. Prop collector Paul Wintner bought this mask a few years ago but I think he's since sold it.
2. The Hospital Mask: This mask had a deep forehead chevron. This mask was also used in the resurrection scene in the beginning of the movie, among others. You can tell it's the same because the chevron is damaged in exactly the same way. This mask was also used during the resurrection scene, the first kill and in a number of promotional stills. Currently in private hands.
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3. The Boiler Room Mask 1: This was the unscratched mask used in the initial confrontation between Freddy and Jason in Freddy's boiler room. Currently owned by The Ultimate Freddy vs. Jason Archive.
5. The Boiler Room Mask 3: This mask had unusually wide cut eyes, making it look distinct from all others in the film. The scratches are also slightly different from the above Boiler Room 2 mask.
6. The Ambulance Mask: While this mask also had a shallow chevron, it is distinct from the Corn Field Mask in a number of details. This mask was also used during the promotional "weigh-in" of Freddy and Jason as evinced by the distinct vent hole damage.
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7. The End Scene Mask: This is the one owned by Mario Kirner for quite a few years. It's the narrowest and most damaged of the masks used onscreen and was recently sold at auction for nearly $100K.
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For a third post in our Freddy vs. Jason series, here's the only behind-the-scenes shot I've ever seen of Ken Kirzinger in full face makeup. It's from the ambulance scene, where Kelly Rowland has to pull Jason's mask up to give him CPR. Pretty good facial design, so it's a shame we didn't see all of it on film. I found this on Facebook, can't remember the source except that it was a photo of a photo that was printed on paper, so it may have been something Ken was selling at a convention. Someone correct me if you know the source.
Having recently come into a Freddy vs. Jason blank mask straight from the movie mold, I've spent some time studying details to try to get some insight into how it was likely made, and what it's origins might have been.
I can say for sure now that the movie mask was not a ground-up sculpt done for the film. It has a number of characteristics that clearly derive from the Part 6 mask and is almost certainly a third generation re-tool of a Part 6 mask.
The mask has some features that clearly derive from the original Paramount era masks. It has the uneven upper forehead that slopes down to the right, and the slightly askew brow that slopes down in the opposite direction.
The nose is slightly more pointed on the right side of the tip in exactly the same way. The contours are almost a perfect match to my Part 6 (a second gen recast of a movie mask by Fiberglassmasks.com), although the sides appear to have been pulled in for a tighter fit. Though the wonky contours match perfectly, the nose is noticeably smaller than a Part 6 mask.
Looking very closely you can see some finer details that give the recasting away. First, there is the faint impression of a forehead triangle or chevron.
Second, you can see some warping around certain vent hole edges, which can also be seen in some Part 6 masks.
The warping may have been caused by the mask maker working fast and with a high speed on his drill, which might have caused some melting of the plastic as he worked.
Third, you can see that a vent hole on the right side was moved, the circular outline of the original still being slightly visible.
While I'd say that the VS movie masks definitely have Paramount-era lineage, it may not have been direct. It's been known among long-time collectors for nearly twenty years that the crew recast one of the earliest fan-made Jason masks, made by a small company called Horror Hockey Masks from 2001 to 2005.
The long-defunct site sold masks that are said to have been cast from a Part 6 mask. And they do have a peculiar characteristic in that some of the earliest copies had that same right-side cheek vent moved outward.
HHM stopped moving the vent hole in later years and sold straight fiberglass castings, so it seems to be a feature unique to the masks sold in 2001-02, around the time Freddy vs. Jason was in production.
Justin Mabry (of Nightowl) said on Facebook recently that he was the first to recast a part 6 mask back in the 1990s, and that his masks were in turn recast by Gates of Hell Studios and Horror Hockey Masks. Here is a rare photo of one of Justin's original masks, currently owned by Bob at Fiberglassmasks.com. This is the mask that my above Part 6 mask was molded from.
A friend of mine and long-time collector sent me an autograph from Bill Terezakis to Joe Cliff of Horror Hockey Masks thanking him for supplying production with a mask, so it looks like that's what happened here. Check it out!
And here is a photo Jo Nobile found at the Ultimate Freddy vs Jason Archive (Facebook) showing what appears to be the HHM mask they were given used during an early costume test.
So in a nutshell, the masks of Freddy vs. Jason were a third generation retool of a mask from Friday the 13th Part 6 via HHM and Nightowl.
This is an interesting shift from what previous films had done, which was to get an older mask or mold straight from Reel FX, who had been custodians of the mask since Part 3, or from a previous special effects team. Evidently things had gotten lost by 2002 and production had to turn to fans as the keepers of the mask.
I've been wondering this for quite a while. I've had a (repainted) NECA Freddy VS Jason mask for over a decade and it always seemed a little small to when I compare with photos of the movie mask.
Josh Ludemann of Beyond Disgusting Studios, often the first mask maker out of the gate with a new movie mold piece, recently pulled a limited run of 20 pieces from the original Freddy VS Jason mask mold, won by Sean Clark at the Bill Terezakis estate auction a few months ago. I've got number five.
Finally, I can compare the NECA to the real thing. What I found is that while there are some obvious differences -- the NECA's nose and overall profile is slightly flattened compared to the movie mold piece, the forehead has been reshaped and about 4 mm of the edge has been trimmed off -- overall, it's about as faithful to the movie mask as I expected, given previous NECA mask experiences. Slightly wider, slightly shorter. Noticeably smaller and flatter, but with the details faithfully preserved.
Profile flattening is sometimes the result of molding a piece without creating a plaster shell to hold the shape of the silicone, or several generations of recasting. In this case I think it's probably the former, but it's hard to say. NECAs website advertised their VS mask as cast directly from a film-worn mask, though which one it was isn't clear.
For anyone interested in exact dimensions, the NECA is 23 cm height x 19.2 cm width measured across the back; the movie mold mask is 23.4 cm height x 18.9 cm width. It's closer in actual dimensions than it looks in photos, but a few millimeters of lost plastic makes a lot of difference when you look at it. For comparison, the end scene mask formerly owned by Mario Kirner measures 24.5 cm x 17 cm, according to the Propstore auction.
Now that I finally have a direct movie mold VS mask, the NECA will be up for sale, probably on eBay. Keep an eye out for it if you're interested.
Mario shows off a little mask detail with the part 6, part 8 and Freddy vs. Jason masks he's owned for quite a few years. You can also see this on the Propstore's Youtube channel.
William Terezakis (1966-2021), was the main makeup effects artist on Freddy vs. Jason (2003) and the junior member of the effects team of Friday the 13th Part 8 (1989). The Canadian-born Terezakis (right) is seen here with Jamie Brown (middle) and Tibor Farkas (left), both also deceased, during production of part 8. They were the makeup crew on the film, and Terezakis seems to have had a hand in sculpting the Jason design.
Bill also seems to have handled sculpting, makeup and mask-making for Freddy vs. Jason, and we see a ton of evidence of that from his estate auction.
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| Bill Terezakis at left. |
There were evidently two Jason molds made for the film: a hero mold, which was split down the middle, and a stunt mold which was split more traditionally through the ears and across the shoulders. The hero mold sold for $2,850 CAD.
There was also what appears to be a paint master from the hero mold. This one sold for a massive $20,000 CAD.
There was also a bunch of hockey mask blanks that came out of this. The top one here (lot 722) sold for $15,000 CAD and the lot of experimental masks below sold for $8,500 CAD.
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And here was the most unexpected thing... Bill evidently kept a part 8 mask for himself. The sculpt it sits on doesn't appear to be a movie mold cowl but may be a design maquette created during pre-production. I'll tell you though, something looks off about this hockey mask. It doesn't seem to be movie mold--the movie masks were vacuum-formed clear plastic (acrylic or PETG) probably .093 sheet, but this appears to be much thicker and the nose doesn't quite look right for a part 8. I wonder if Bill just bought a fan-made mask as a souvenir. It's also possible that it was a casting master for the masks of Freddy vs. Jason. It sold for $2,300 CAD.
There were also Freddy molds, maquettes and makeup busts but hey, this isn't a Freddy blog.
You can see the rest at iCollector.com
Rest in peace Bill, and thanks for the movie magic.
