Tuesday, February 21, 2017

New Project: Part 4 Movie Mold Bust

Some of you guys that have been around for a while may know Ryan Bean, one of the best sculptors in the business and an absolute fount of knowledge about Friday the 13th masks and FX work.

A few years back, Ryan and James Mangrum (sculptor of the legendary "His Unlucky Day" resin bust) retooled a 1980's latex mask pulled from the original movie mold that produced the animatronic stunt dummy impaled at the end of the film.
Yes, this stunt dummy.

Ryan's resulting resin head, the "Bloody Ending" remains the only commercially available work that descends straight from a part 4 movie mold. Given the poor condition of the surviving movie pieces, it will likely remain so.
Left: the movie mold mask. Center: Recast, minus crappy teeth. Right: Final version.
Jason actor Ted White with a painted "Bloody Ending." He told the owner "I don't recall ever seeing one this good." Source: http://www.thehma.net/forum/index.php?topic=42113.0

As you can see here, he perfectly preserved the original features, adding custom sculpted teeth to recreate the movie look. (Click any image to enlarge):
Comparison: Movie sculpt at left, "Bloody Ending" at right. The detail preservation is incredible.
For anyone unfamiliar with the FX work on Friday part 4, there were actually two sculpts used in the film. The first, seen above, was used to create the impalement dummy for Jason's death as well as the cowl that White wore throughout the film. The second, somewhat more detailed version was created for the facial appliances used during the unmasking.
The cowl came from this mold as well.
 Obviously the Blood Ending is a killer collectible. It's sole drawback is that the source mask was badly shrunk--down to child size--as you can see here, so the finished product is rather small (in the middle, with the first H.U.D. at left):
 
But thanks to the sorcery that is 3D printing, we can actually fix that.

The H.U.D. is still a coveted piece for part 4 collectors. It is after all, an absolute masterwork of recreation. But since there are only 27 in existence, selling for as high as $2,000, few fans will ever be "lucky" (heh) enough to ever own one.

But right now we are gauging interest on a reasonably-priced alternative: The Bloody Ending II.

This will be reproduced in perfect detail using a high-resolution 3D printer to life size... roughly as big as the H.U.D. Ryan has agreed to sell it for about 10% of the cost of a H.U.D. These will be resin as well, so they'll last forever.

3D scanning and printing a master copy is expensive, so we don't want to move forward unless we have substantial interest. That means if you are seriously interested in owning a piece of history, comment below with your email or PM me on Facebook. If we get at least ten potential buyers interested, we'll look at the next steps.

This would be produced later this year-- maybe this summer or even later, so you don't have to worry about coming up with the full amount right away. This is merely to gauge serious interest.

I'm really excited about this idea. Let me know if you are interested!

UPDATE: We have more than 30 people who have declared interest at this point so we are moving forward. We'll keep you posted.

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Pamela's Curse II Mold Sold

For any interested parties, the mold to my Pamela's Curse II sculpt (copy seen above with the screen-used head behind it) was sold to Shallow Grave FX. They are offering copies for sale at a reduced rate. I've already sent them some of your emails but look them up on Facebook if you want a copy!

I have another Pam-related project coming down the pipeline this year... stay tuned.