We Need to Talk About Roy Burns's Face

As many fans know, Dick Wieand, who played Roy Burns in Friday the 13th Part 5, used to bring a copy of his face to conventions--believed to be the same face used in the final scene of the film, as seen here.

He had this poor dilapidated face--probably foam latex-- for decades and it was beginning to show its age. He finally gifted it to a fan, who has taken numerous photos of it and even set it in a (not movie mold) David Miller cowl.

There's no question this piece is straight from the set. There were photos David Miller took during production that prove its a face he made, such as this one.

However, it's not the actual face used in the reveal at the end of the film. Check this out.

At first glance, they look like the same face. They are certainly from the same mold. But look closely at the eyebrows. The face in the final reveal had eyebrows set about a half-inch lower, much closer to the eyelids than Dick Wieand's "convention face."

Before you suggest this is just lighting or perspective or something, note there is a clear anchor point. There is a small scar on Wieand's forehead just about one inch above the bridge of the nose. In the face on the left, the left eyebrow is almost touching the scar; in the face on the right, it is at least an inch or more away from it. Just so you can see clearly what I'm talking about:

The eyebrows in the "convention face" are consistent with the behind-the-scenes photo taken at left in 1985, so we can conclude they were never altered. It looks like what we're seeing on the right is actually Dick Wieand laying on the tractor harrow, pretending to be dead, and the face on the left was used only on the dummy that was dropped onto the spikes in the previous scene.

Many people may already know this, but I had always thought we saw that fake face in the final reveal. Evidently it just did the stunt, and its actually Dick we see in the close up. This is corroborated by the fact that we see his cheek exposed and drooping, due to gravity pulling on it because his head is turned slightly toward the ground.

Well. You learn something new every day.