The Shape of Shat

The first time I saw Halloween (back when it was originally released --and with my girlfriend in a jam-packed theatre on a friday night) I instinctively knew I had seen the mask worn by teen-killer Michael Myers somewhere before, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Later, when I found out it was a repainted William (Captain Kirk) Shatner mask I was like, "Pfft, of course."
Reportedly filmmaker John Carpenter originally envisioned Michael Myers to be walking around conducting business wearing a Frankenstein mask, but somebody on the Halloween staff had the idea to make the face more of a "blank slate" face that showed no emotion. The mask that was chosen for "The Shape" (as he appeared in the credits) was a current (1976) Don Post full-head William "Captain Kirk" Shatner. The Shat-mask then had its' eye-holes widened, face sprayed white, hair dyed darker and its' sideburns ripped off. (according to HorrorHound magazine these modifications were provided by longtime Don Post employee Bill Malone) Yeah, here's your amoral immortal killer --"Cold Willie T". A couple of Halloweens later (holidays, not movies) I looked around at several different sculpts of Shatner masks --in hopes of custom making my own costume-- but they never looked quite right for one reason or another. I didn't know at the time that I was really looking for the old Don Post mask, which was scarce by then.
If you've been a reader of this blog for long, you know how I love providing the ol' "previously unseen side-by side comparisons". So. Here's a shot of the original Shatner mask used for the Michael Myer conversion along with some Michael shots from the original Halloween movie.





















Really though --which guy would be ultimately be creepier if he had you cornered in a bedroom closet with a butcher knife?




Y'know...I'm just sayin'....