H20 masks

Main H20 mask

This is an article on the masks used in Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later, the only film in the franchise to have more than one "hero mask".

All the film's masks

Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later had at least four to five Michael Myers masks made for production. This is unique for the Halloween films because every other film had one primary mask design. This has led to criticism of Halloween H20, particularly towards the CGI mask that was briefly used.

Four different masks are seen. The original one that director Steve Miner had intended for H20 is known as the KNB Mask.

Affordable mass-produced replicas of this film's hero mask have been produced by Trick or Treat Studios.

While the H20 mask was applauded for trying to look more like the original film's mask, it was ultimately disliked by audiences, due in no small part to the fact that there were four masks used in production. These four masks are the KNB mask, Buechler mask, Stan Winston mask, and CGI mask.

The Buechler mask is the mask used in the opening scene. It was made to look like the mask from Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

The Stan Winston mask is the main mask in the film and is the mask mostly seen throughout the film. This was used in reshoots to replace the KNB mask in some shots. However, even though this mask look closer to the original mask, it was criticized for being too tight (Michael's eyes are often clearly visible), looking awkward, showing Michael's eyes, and having messy hair.

The KNB mask can still be seen in the movie, as they originally had that mask, but changed it to the Stan Winston mask, the mask you see most of the time. The crew had to reshoot his scenes, but many of the long shots still contain the KNB mask.

The original KNB mask gets some criticism, as it looked silly and the eye holes were too wide and a weird hairline, exposing most of his forehead. People said he looked like a martian. It seemed to be a blue-white color. Others praise it for having an aggressively scary look.

The CGI Mask is only seen in one scene. It received negative reactions for being pointless and looking awful.

When Chris Durand was cast to play Michael Myers, he went to be fitted for the mask that would be used in the movie. To get an idea for what he wanted, director Steve Miner had Durand try on every mask used from the prior films within the franchise. This excluded the original mask, as it was given to Dick Warlock, whom had portrayed Michael in Halloween II.

Wanting a different presentation with the mask, Miner wanted it to be void of all expression and to be very white. KNB designed it based on this description. Miner loved the mask and chose it for principal photography.

After nearly four weeks of production, the producers and various members of the crew attended a screening of the film, which was about halfway complete. After Michael was seen on screen for the first time, a person (who has not been identified) stood up and said “that is not Michael Myers' mask”. A new mask was then demanded by producers, but Miner was unaware of this as he was unavailable for the screening.

John Carl Buechler and his team were called by the studio to recreate the mask from the sixth film, without Miner's knowledge. Chris Durand was fitted and the mask was brought to set to film the opening scene of the film. Infuriated, Miner still shot with the KNB mask but to please all involved, shot the scene again with Buechler’s mask.

After an in-depth discussion with executive producer Moustapha Akkad, Miner agreed to change the mask, but was dissatisfied with Buechler’s and wanted a mask that he could choose.

A call was then placed out to Stan Winston, who agreed to create a mask, but convinced Miner of something a little closer to the original. Many have speculated that Durand was unavailable to be fitted for the mask as it appeared to be very tight around his face.

With Winston’s mask complete, the production was afforded an additional $1.2 million to reshoot as many scenes as possible with the new mask. However, a digital mask had to be created for Myer’s reveal to Charlie as the set for that scene was already torn down after it was shot with the KNB mask.

Reception

Initial reception for Halloween H20's mask was negative. The brunt of this reaction has been towards the constant changing of the mask, which is evident throughout the film as four (or more) different masks are seen. The Stan Winston mask has garnered a better response years later for its attempt to replicate the original, but continues to receive criticism for certain cosmetic differences between the two. The H20 Winston mask features messier hair, and Michael's eyes are plainly visible throughout the film. The other masks have gained a better response years later as well. 

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