My grail 7 pieces. Blank mask from Beyond Disgusting studios, cast off the hero movie mask; undermask is a Silver Shampaign Novelties New Blood.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Part 7 movie mold hock on a SSN New Blood
My grail 7 pieces. Blank mask from Beyond Disgusting studios, cast off the hero movie mask; undermask is a Silver Shampaign Novelties New Blood.
My final part 8
Made from a blank cast from the screen used hero mask from Friday the 13th Part 8. Trimming, drilling and paint by me. Straps by Auzorann. Blank by Beyond Disgusting Studios.
Sunday, June 30, 2013
Friday, March 29, 2013
Obscure Italian Horror Magic
So lately I've been on a trip into the dark realm of Lucio Fulci and Dario Argento. In the past few weeks I've seen Fulci's The Beyond, House By the Cemetery, Don't Torture a Duckling, Zombie 3, The New York Ripper and City of the Living Dead. I first saw his legendary Zombi 2 when I was about 13 and it was one of the last films I saw that really scared the shit out of me.
Zombi 2 I really believe is Fulci's masterpiece for 3 reasons: 1. Zombie vs. Shark; 2. The eye impaling; 3. The vaguely racial undertones. The zombies are predominately poor black villagers from a dusty, isolated island in the caribbean and the remnants of their conquistador conquerors. The villagers are all ill and dying from the outset of the film, a situation occurring in many countries in real life, before rising to feed on the few whites remaining.
Fulci was always his own man in the horror genre, and lived to break rules. His adventurism reminds me of a cross between crazed schizophrenic and dorm room stoner. On the one hand his plots are juvenile, disjointed and nonsensical; on the other his what-if-we-tried-this creativity is boundless. Fulci's walking dead in Zombi 2 aren't reanimated by some virus or plague, but apparently by voodoo magic, making it one of the only zombie movies that stays true to the zombie mythology of the West Indies, the culture from which the word originates. In City of the Living Dead, Fulci again breaks the rules by creating super-strong-teleporting-ghost-zombies with a signature skull-crush move. Who else would dare blend genres like that? Fulci doesn't give a shit what you think, he does what he wants.
The first time I watched The Beyond after seeing it on a list of great horror films I thought what the fuck did I just watch? The plot was more silly "legend" trope that you see in older horror films, the acting was awful and the zombies thrown in seemed arbitrary. More genre blending from Fulci, seemingly to no purpose, but at the time I didn't understand the master.
Upon further viewings though, I've since gotten addicted to it, partly due to his incredible creativity, and partly due to the infectious soundtrack.
It is important to look at Fulci's entire body of work to really understand what made his genre blending so effective. Like Wes Craven and other great film makers, Fulci dealt with familiar themes from real life we don't like to talk or think about--autopsies, hospitals, funerals, cemeteries, our own physiological reality. If you could wrap it up in a word: Mortality.
Fulci's work is the work of a man trying to deal with his own mortal existence; to exorcise the fear of death from his subconscious by expressing it in all of its gruesome and somber reality on film. His films, taken as a whole, feel like one long, terrifying dream, a surrealist exposition of injury, death, decay, and finality. His few glimpses into the afterlife are governed by dreary despair.
The villains in Fulci's film aren't the Mansons or Gein's of the world, but rather the curse of death itself: they prey on the living without malice, but only seek to swallow up other lives and cover the earth in darkness.
The best horror films have something to say, even without intent by the film maker. In writing, directing and creating such a body of work, the film maker himself, much like a novel writer, may be unconscious of his own impulses while seeking to satisfy them. I think this is most evident in the work of Lucio Fulci.
Zombi 2 I really believe is Fulci's masterpiece for 3 reasons: 1. Zombie vs. Shark; 2. The eye impaling; 3. The vaguely racial undertones. The zombies are predominately poor black villagers from a dusty, isolated island in the caribbean and the remnants of their conquistador conquerors. The villagers are all ill and dying from the outset of the film, a situation occurring in many countries in real life, before rising to feed on the few whites remaining.
Fulci was always his own man in the horror genre, and lived to break rules. His adventurism reminds me of a cross between crazed schizophrenic and dorm room stoner. On the one hand his plots are juvenile, disjointed and nonsensical; on the other his what-if-we-tried-this creativity is boundless. Fulci's walking dead in Zombi 2 aren't reanimated by some virus or plague, but apparently by voodoo magic, making it one of the only zombie movies that stays true to the zombie mythology of the West Indies, the culture from which the word originates. In City of the Living Dead, Fulci again breaks the rules by creating super-strong-teleporting-ghost-zombies with a signature skull-crush move. Who else would dare blend genres like that? Fulci doesn't give a shit what you think, he does what he wants.
The first time I watched The Beyond after seeing it on a list of great horror films I thought what the fuck did I just watch? The plot was more silly "legend" trope that you see in older horror films, the acting was awful and the zombies thrown in seemed arbitrary. More genre blending from Fulci, seemingly to no purpose, but at the time I didn't understand the master.
Upon further viewings though, I've since gotten addicted to it, partly due to his incredible creativity, and partly due to the infectious soundtrack.
It is important to look at Fulci's entire body of work to really understand what made his genre blending so effective. Like Wes Craven and other great film makers, Fulci dealt with familiar themes from real life we don't like to talk or think about--autopsies, hospitals, funerals, cemeteries, our own physiological reality. If you could wrap it up in a word: Mortality.
Fulci's work is the work of a man trying to deal with his own mortal existence; to exorcise the fear of death from his subconscious by expressing it in all of its gruesome and somber reality on film. His films, taken as a whole, feel like one long, terrifying dream, a surrealist exposition of injury, death, decay, and finality. His few glimpses into the afterlife are governed by dreary despair.
The villains in Fulci's film aren't the Mansons or Gein's of the world, but rather the curse of death itself: they prey on the living without malice, but only seek to swallow up other lives and cover the earth in darkness.
The best horror films have something to say, even without intent by the film maker. In writing, directing and creating such a body of work, the film maker himself, much like a novel writer, may be unconscious of his own impulses while seeking to satisfy them. I think this is most evident in the work of Lucio Fulci.
Sunday, January 13, 2013
New Roy
First Roy in 2 years and the only one I've ever been satisfied with. Still need to find straps. This is my second favorite of the masks in the series, just love the blue chevs
Thursday, December 27, 2012
HSS Hell repaint
I didn't care for the original paintjob, which had a dime store mask look to it with a high contrast purple-airbrush shadowing job, so I used a few screen caps and brought it closer to the movie design. I only kept the skull face and the strap compressions the same color, since I liked the purplish color as a bruise caused by tight mask straps. Once it has a solid paint job, the HSS Hell is a great piece to have in your collection. This look is one of my favorite Jason designs, so its great to have a movie mold piece.
Sunday, December 9, 2012
The Best Part III Busts
Scabboy had probably the most comprehensive list of part 3 busts produced by the fan community on his now defunct blog http://scabboy.blogspot.com, so I thought I might do one of my own since I'm still split as to what exactly is the best Doug White bust made by fans. I have it down to D-Bach's Hangman II (produced in a short run in early 2010) and Dead End Hollow's Horror at Higgins Haven (2010).
As an interesting aside, it seems to me that the period from February 2009 to mid-2010 was the golden age of Jason mask replicas since the most accurate pieces were produced in that period. Crash's HLM (2010), the two aforementioned part 3 pieces, HUD (2010), Justin Mabry's Vengeance (2009?) and Re-Vengeance (2010), the movie-mold pieces by HSS and SSN (2009-2010) were all produced in that golden period of super-accurate F13 props. Almost no one is sculpting outstanding original Jason busts now; all of the artists, including myself, have moved on.
So what were the best part 3 busts? In order of greatness:
1. DEH HHH (2010)
This sculpt nails it overall probably better than the rest. The neck, cranium and face are all a solid representation of the DW makeup.
2. DBach Hangman II (2010)
I think this is the only part 3 bust to get the nose perfect and the menacing, animalistic stare amazingly captures the end scene of the film. This bust was evidently inspired by the earlier Itz-U, since it has the same flaw-- a too-flat rear cranium. I own one of these, and it will probably be my final part 3 keeper.
3. MMFX Resin 3D (2009)
A great piece overall, exquisitely detailed and accurate.
4. Itz-U (2005)
A fan favorite, probably because it was the first accurate part 3 fan bust on the market.
1. DEH HHH (2010)
2. DBach Hangman II (2010)
3. MMFX Resin 3D (2009)
4. Itz-U (2005)
Friday, November 9, 2012
Behind the scenes at Camp Kenmont, September 1980...
Yes its my Pamela Voorhees first finished pull. I call this one "Pamela's Curse" and will only be pulling a few blanks for people.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
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