COLLECTION CORNER!!

[Sir Masksalot]

'Great FLY mask, Doh, even better since you added the appendages.

Version #2 of House of Horror's FLY mask took wing in 1981. Gone were the plastic lenses
but its newly designed eyes gave off an opalescent effect. It was also a full overhead mask
while the previous version had a fabric fur hood.

     

[Doh!]

Thanks, Sir! I also made my own claw out of an oven mitt wrapped in foam rubber, then covered in hair.

I couldn't find a tan lab coat so dyed a white one:

[Doh!]

I treated myself to a Christmas mask: the host from Creepshow (TOTS):



Nice sculpt and paint, but this thing is stupidly small! It's a half mask with a strap that's supposed to hold it in place -- but I can barely get it on my head. I'd swear it was made for a child. The latex is somewhat thin, too. I'll hold onto it, but honestly not really worth the price.

[Anton Phibes]

The half mask and strap reason is why i passed on the EC Ghoulunatics. They seemed cheap.

[Sir Masksalot]

Doh, that Creepshow "puppet" is scary as hell. Since it doesn't fit you well, it should make a great Halloween prop.
Either that or give it a decent burial.

As to your Fly outfit, seeing the whole ensemble reminds me of the story's deeper message of "science gone wrong".
It could happen to any of us!

Later in 1981, House of Horror Studios released their third and what must've been super-deluxe FLY mask.
It featured extra appendages, more hair tufts, vacuum-formed plastic eyes, plus an extended neck bib >



I remember there being a fourth HoHS Fly produced sometime afterwards but I never got a copy. It wasn't until 1986
that HoH's BUGG mask infested my collection which, although clearly insectoid, was not a Fly >

[Doh!]

Nice adds! I was going to try and attach some sort of plastic lenses to my Fly mask, but wasn't clever enough to figure out how. Maybe I'll make it a retirement project... when I retire.

[Sir Masksalot]

Of the Star Trek monster masks initially offered by Post Studios in their 1976 catalog,
this one was my favorite >



To me it just looks the most extra-terrestrial of the three. I got a first edition that January >



Sometime later DPS changed up the colors and I got one of those versions too
although I can't recall exactly when >



In January 2003 I scored a third copy. It's cast from the DPS mold, came with attached DPS tag,
but released through Rubie's Costumes. 'Some weird arrangement between the two companies
but hardly more weird than the character itself. This salty ol' wench has my heart anyway >

[marsattacks666]

I totally dig that Salt Vampire mask.

[Sir Masksalot]

Pablo Picasso might've saluted the Ed French Studios for creating this wacky mask.
It's been known variously as "Disorganized", "Mixed up face", and "Geek Maggot Bingo"
after a movie in which it appeared. I can't recall where I first saw the above portrait
but it circulated through genre magazines of the early 1980s. By summer '83 I had
scored a casting of my own >



Later, Death Studios offered a more wearable resculpt but it's rare to find either version
in private collections nowadays. 'Just another forgotten horror from the early years of
independent mask-making.

[Sir Masksalot]

As a pre-teen kid in the 1960s and desperate to own a Don Post Studios GORILLA mask,
I actually made a facsimile using pastels on construction paper to fill the void on my
monster room shelf >



It wasn't until the early 1970s that the genuine article came along. I had the hands and feet too,
plus my seamstress Auntie stitched together a shaggy ape suit for me.



My mask soon began falling apart from constant use/abuse. Thankfully, the character remained
in production at DPS and available for sale at my three favorite shops through the mid '70s.

      

I got a second copy while the getting was good ...



... and so for a time nearly fifty years ago, I had two original DPS GORILLA masks >

       

Both have long since been consigned to ape mask eternity but I still have a really nice copy of the Retro Line version,
scored in October 2000. At my age, I can't be suiting up anymore but did wear the mask by itself on a few occasions >

       

[jupiter2]

Great pics! Just love that gorilla!

[Doh!]

Great apes! The only ape I have is the TOTS Kong -- which is quite good.

[jupiter2]

Collection Corner #82

2012 Jonathan Fuller "Pestilence"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V13F83T0Gs8

https://youtu.be/V13F83T0Gs8

[Sir Masksalot]

2012 Jonathan Fuller "Pestilence"

That is one gruesome character. I'd rather lock lips with Mason Verger than "Pestilence". Thanks for reviewing, jupiter2, always a treat.

[Doh!]

VERY creepy mask! The wispy hair works really well, in spite of how it's glued onto the top of the head.