Do you remember the first time a horror movie villain really terrified you? It
probably had a lot to do with a truly terrifying disguise. So let's go down
the memory lane of our nightmares and explore the best disguises in horror movie history.
The title of the 1996 movie Scream and its infamous Ghostface mask
are both references to Edvard Munch's 1893 painting known as The Scream,
which depicts the panic and anxiety of human existence. As Munch wrote in his diary,
inspiration for the piece came to him one day when the blood-red splash of the setting sun onto the
clouds gave him the sense of an unending scream passing through the world. Considering all that,
it would be strange if the painting didn't go on to inspire a Halloween costume.
Sure enough, Scream director Wes Craven discovered the Ghostface mask after it
had been released as a Halloween costume. This mask helped disguise the fact that the killer
was actually two people working together to take revenge on Sidney Prescott's mother.
The existentialist philosophy that The Scream painting is often associated with
points toward there being no inherent meaning in life. This in turn means that people can,
and must, create their own purpose, which plays into the villains' motivations in the film.
Mrs. Prescott's affair tore Billy Loomis' family apart and sucked the meaning from his life,
thereby compelling him to put new meaning into his life via his violent quest for revenge.
"What's a matter, Sidney? You look like you've seen a ghost."
Director Kevin Smith's shocking 2014 film Tusk isn't the most well-known horror movie,
but it's nevertheless made an indelible mark on the genre.
This movie's disguise is unique in that it's not worn by the killer but instead
imposed upon the victim. Worse yet, it's constructed from the skin of the victim himself.
The plot follows Justin Long as Wallace, who encounters Howard, an eccentric,
wheelchair-bound old man who lives in the middle of nowhere. Howard severs parts of Wallace's limbs
and re-stitches his skin to form a walrus suit, which includes tusks made out of tibia bones.
So why did Howard choose this particular aquatic mammal? It turns out that he once
survived a shipwreck with the aid of a walrus who rescued him and pulled him to safety on the rocks.
But he remained stranded for so long that he eventually had to eat his savior and companion.
Since then, he's attempted to recreate Mr. Tusk multiple times, hoping secretly that one of
them will have the fortitude to kill him and do justice to the memory of the friend he betrayed.
The sacrificial garb in 2019's Midsommar is another example of an intensely symbolic disguise
that's forced upon the victim. The film chronicles the pagan rituals that take place
at a festival celebrated by a Swedish cult once every 90 years. The plot begins with a group of
students responding excitedly to their Swedish friend Pelle's invitation to the festival. But
he's luring them to be a part of the ritual, which will lead to some of them dying. Dani, as played
by Florence Pugh, wins a maypole dance competition and is crowned the May Queen. That title grants
her the responsibility of choosing the final sacrifice of the festival, who will be put into
a disemboweled bear suit. She selects Christian, her emotionally distant and unfaithful boyfriend.
In Norse mythology, the bear symbolizes the kind of strength and healing that
brings balance to the human and spiritual world,
which is what the sacrifice of Christian in the bear suit is supposed to accomplish.
Donning costumes was a symbol of power in Viking culture, but Christian is the opposite of a god
and leader, so in a fascinating inversion, the bear suit serves as the vessel of his destruction.
Pennywise the Dancing Clown's appearance isn't a disguise in the traditional sense---
like you would see a human killer don a disguise to mask their identity. Rather,
it's a symbolic form, taken on by an ethereal force of evil in order to lure people in and
prey upon their fears. The clown manifestation is one of many that this ancient entity has assumed
over the course of centuries to prey upon the children of Derry, Maine every 27 years.
Author Stephen King chose the form of the clown
after asking himself what scared children more than anything else in the world.
The fear of children was central, because one of the entity's main powers is its ability to go
undetected by adults. The killer clown's sewer habitat, meanwhile, was inspired by the goat
who dwells under a bridge in the "Three Billy Goats Gruff" fairy tale. In just about every way,
the Pennywise disguise represents a villain designed specifically for targeting children.
"Popcorn! Is that your favorite?"
"Uh-huh."
"Mine too! Ha ha ha!"
Hockey is a pretty violent sport, though not quite as violent as serial killing. Nonetheless,
the sport's traditional goalie mask is inextricably linked with one of
the greatest horror movie villains of all time. The world first met Jason Voorhees in
1980's Friday the 13th. But it actually wasn't until 1982's Friday the 13th Part III that his
trademark mask first came into the picture, courtesy of Jason victim Shelly. Previously,
Jason wore a burlap sack with one left eye hole to hide his face.
Jason would go on to wear the mask until his supposed death via bludgeoning from a kid named
Tommy in the fourth Friday the 13th film. But even after getting hacked up with a machete and buried,
the legacy of his mask lived on. A similar mask is worn by his copycat killer, Roy Burns, in the
next film. Also, Tommy has a nervous breakdown and nearly becomes a copycat killer himself
while donning a similar hockey mask. Following this, in the sixth film, Tommy goes to make sure
Jason is dead, throws the mask on his grave, and accidentally revives the killer through lightning.
Jason then stumbles his way through movie after movie as his mask gets increasingly beaten up.
Halloween's Michael Myers is meant to be seen as the incarnation of pure evil, which isn't
exactly a compliment to William Shatner, whose face inspired the mask that the killer wears. It
was all a matter of budget, or lack thereof. The first Halloween didn't have a whole lot of money
on hand, so the mask was just something bought from a local costume shop for a meager $1.98.
This hasty solution worked great at first, but it created some difficulties for the sequel.
Rick Sternbach worked as an illustrator on a number of Star Trek franchise projects as well as
on Halloween 2. He could only find one mask from the original film, and no one had any clue where
to get more. Luckily, he discovered a serial number etched into the neck area of the mask,
along with the name of the vendor, Don Post Studios. A quick phone call later, and it turned
out to be their Captain Kirk mask. In exchange for credit, Don Post sent over a whole box. The
creepy mask now remains an icon, even if it still doesn't really look all that much like Shatner.
Leatherface was first introduced to moviegoers in 1974's Texas Chain Saw Massacre.
He's a cannibal who wears a mask made from his victim's skin. More than almost any other
cinematic killer, Leatherface's different masks expose a lot about his psyche and desires. They
even arguably create them. This is perhaps why he's garnered empathy from some viewers,
as he seems to simply be a large child, acting completely at the whims of his family.
One way or another, Leatherface's personality is externally determined, in nearly every instance.
His "Killing Mask" is worn while capturing and dispatching people. But he also has an
"Old Lady Mask," and a "Pretty Woman Mask," which facilitate his respective desires to
honor his country upbringing by dressing up and being domestic, caring, and helpful.
The most significant aspect of Leatherface's habit is that the masks themselves are arguably the only
way he exhibits any sense of personality. The only thing they obscure is emptiness.
Over the course of the Saw series, we get multiple looks at the actual face of Jigsaw killer John
Kramer. But we also see him in a pig mask, which is first introduced in the 2004 original as a
detail that one of his victims recalls. Later in the series, the mask is revealed to be a tribute
to the Year of the Pig, during which Jigsaw began his work. In Chinese zodiac legend, the pig can
symbolize laziness, the antithesis of the will to live that John attempts to divine in each of his
test subjects. The pig is also the final animal of the zodiac cycle, which can be read as a symbol
of John's cancer diagnosis, with his serial killing being the final chapter of his life.
A pig mask containing a chloroform rag was the first tool that John ever used to subdue
a test subject. He chose it personally as a representation of his pessimistic worldview
and the slow decay of his body from cancer. However, the pig also represents rebirth,
which does require a death. So while it may appear paradoxical at first,
it actually makes sense to read the pig as a symbol of both beginning and ending. This
squares up with Jigsaw's motivation and tactics. Despite the frequent deaths of his subjects,
he genuinely does want to give them a second chance at life.
The cast of the killers in 2011's You're Next are credited by both the names of the human
characters they play as well as the names of the animal masks they wear. This crew includes a lamb,
a tiger, and a fox. Behind the masks, though, Lamb and Tiger are brothers,
and represent just about the only instance of familial loyalty in the film.
Two other brothers, Felix and Crispian, turn out to be in on a plot to massacre their own family
in order to collect an inheritance. Animal masks are the perfect representation of a home invasion,
in which some wild and destructive force from the outside threatens the balance within the home. You
might expect a wolf to be among this invasive animal cohort, but it's nowhere to be seen.
But perhaps we do see a wolf after all. Erin, Crispian's girlfriend, has her own primal roots,
having grown up on a survivalist compound. This is something none of the conspirators anticipate,
and she takes them all down one by one, surviving on her own strength as a lone wolf.
"Where's Felix?"
"I stuck a blender in his head and killed him."
Psycho: Norma Bates
Psycho's Norman Bates doesn't wear a mask, but he doesn't need to for one of the most shocking
disguises in horror movie history. When he kills, he dresses up as his mother, which is about as
creepy as it gets. Both Bates and Leatherface are loosely based on real-life serial killer Ed,
also known as the "Plainfield butcher." Gein had dissociative episodes when he dug up corpses
from local graveyards, which echoes Norman's struggle with dissociative identity disorder.
Meanwhile, in Psycho, Norman's efforts stopped at the point of only just wearing
his mother's clothes. His psychology is nevertheless quite similar to Gein's,
as all of Norman's killings revolve around his mother.
His first victims are his mom and her lover, whom he kills out of jealousy.
"A boy's best friend is his mother."
After this trauma, he develops dissociative identity disorder, taking on his mother's
personality at times to escape his own guilt and to kill anyone he thinks she would want dead if
she were alive. This also absolves him of guilt for any other killings in his mind. Ultimately,
the disguise is a coping mechanism in response to the loss of the most important person in his life.
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