Halloween IV – The Blond Mask

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While pointing out continuity errors can be amusing, I don’t want to see this collection devolve into pointing out errant boom mics or awkward jump cuts.  I love to nitpick as much as the next guy, but not all bloopers warrant much analysis.

Of course, there are also those that go far beyond mere continuity errors.  I’m not going to beat around the bush here – the blond mask in two shots in Halloween IV is one of the biggest wtf moments I can think of in modern horror.  Everything from how it happened in the first place to why it was left in the finished film completely baffle me.

So, to begin with, why was a blonde mask ever created?  Was there anyone misinformed enough with the series that they couldn’t remember the hair color from the previous movies?  If so, how the hell did they get a job on the movie?  I assume that it would even be a requirement for the craft services people to at least know who Michael Myers is.  Somewhere along the line, someone was tasked with creating a Michael Myers mask that evoked the first two movies and came up with this:

To me, the first step in creating a new mask would be to look at the old mask.  I’m all right with putting your own spin on it.  I love the Halloween 6 mask and I’m even willing to accept the neck flaps on the Halloween 5 mask, but to completely get the hair color wrong?  The Friday 5 people took some confusing creative license with the mask on the cover of the VHS box, but they never tried to pass off a glowing red-eyed killer in the movie.  Even if they had, it would have made more sense than the blond mask here.

Even if some buffoon made such a dopey looking thing, the people on the set still have some explaining to do.  Was everyone so afraid of Dwight Little that no one wanted to point out a serious problem with the mask?  I refuse to believe that no one on a crowded film set noticed the mask looked completely wrong.  Donald Pleasence was in both shots, surely he had enough familiarity with the series at this point to say, “Are you guys fucking serious?”

I saw Danielle Harris at a convention around 2002 or so and someone asked her about this during the Q&A.  She said that she was the one who noticed.  I haven’t heard that story since and who knows how reliable a 10 year old’s memory is more than a decade later.  Still, everyone on that set needs to be taken to task a bit.

I kind of wish I could have been a fly on the wall when someone finally did notice.  You’d think it would have been on the set seeing as only two shots feature the mask but, if that were the case, I’m sure they would have re-shot them.  That leads me to believe that they may have figured it out while assembling the movie.  I’d like to think that at least one person in that room said, “What the fuck is that?”

Perhaps even more interesting than any of this (is any of this interesting?) is how far horror fans seem willing to go to reconcile such idiocy.  The best example is when a friend of mine theorized that the shot might have been intended to be shown after Rachel hosed Michael down with the fire extinguisher.  It’s a little unlikely given that the assault on Loomis was the reason Jamie was alone, but it was something.  I feel like I should turn a fire extinguisher on the next brunette I see just to see if it turns them into a bleach blond.

It takes a special kind of blooper to be this enjoyable.  Such complete obliviousness to the single most important aspect of the movie your making is memorable enough to warrant a spot in my collection.  Short of having Michael where his underwear on the outside, I don’t think this one will be topped anytime soon.

Rare still from early subtitles