You know, this mask is way more than just a mask in a costume area in Halloween 4…it’s concept, it being a brother and also a little brother to another mask is quite interesting.
The 1983 Mummy was developed by Jim Leonard as a direct brother mask to the Mummy 5000 BC. Mummy 5000 BC was developed by Bob Short, who actually used the famous Don Post Skull mask sculpted by Pat Newman, added some hand laid fabric on it and with a little tweaks…boom, one of Don Post Studios most memorable masks was made.
In 1982 an idea was hatched to intertwine the Mummy 5000 BC with a snake. (Maybe inspired by a scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where you see a Mummy with a Snake coming out it’s mouth?) Jim Leonard was asked to upgrade it and this was the was his effort. I barely saw it in any stores back then…as a matter of fact, I never ever saw one.
Flash forward to a couple of years ago, I finally saw 2 of these sell on eBay. One I went after and lost, another I didn’t go after so another member here could get one. After this auction, and the price it sold for I let Don Post know of the interest of this one mask and the tie to Halloween 4. Don actually decided to look for the master and either make me one or re-release it. A couple of days later Don said he found the master he believed. Sadly, fate reared it’s sometimes ugly head and Don Post Studios was shut down and gone. Almost, the entire Don Post molds, masters and direct pulls were liquidated in an auction. A couple months later molds, masters and pulls have started hitting eBay; and this blank showed up. (I was not going to lose this auction! The mask escaped from me 2 other times and this time, not again.)
I won the auction and sent it to Rob Tharp. Upon Rob receiving this mask, Cathy Tharp told me the story of this pull.
“In case you didn’t already know, this is a master-mold copy; very nice! And worth the price you paid to win it. When I asked Rob why there was a master pull of this at the shop, he told me that it was one of several masters he poured up to show Don when Don was looking for ideas for the retro line. Don didn’t want to include this in the retro line, so it and the other “rejects” got tossed aside into a box that was forgotten. That is also why there was a copy of the B Garret Theta and Yeti up for auction. I know you like DPS stories, so I thought I would include this bit for you.”
So, you want history from Don Post Studios, that is history my friends. That means this pull was made in 1998. I asked Rob to add something to it to make it more fluorescent…and Rob came thru in spades. Fluorescent green was added to the rotting flesh pulling the bottom jaw from the mask. The mask is absolutely one of my favorites ever released from Don Post.
So, here are some pictures of the masks together, first with his older brother…
Here is a picture with his older sister, Hagatha; also sculpted by Jim Leonard. Don’t they look great together? Maybe Halloween III could of had a fourth mask…this mask would have been great with them.
unbelievable