WEAVERVILLE, N.C. (828newsNOW) — Have you ever bought a Halloween mask that doesn’t look quite right?
Maybe it feels cheaply made. Perhaps the paint is the wrong color. The mask could be too small, or maybe it fell apart over a night of trick ‘r treating.
Eli Lawrence is out to ensure you never lay your hands on an inadequate Halloween mask again.
Lawrence, 22, is a local mask artist native to Mars Hill.
Unlike the masks you might find at an artisan market or craft fair, these aren’t made of papier-mâché or carved from wood. In fact, his work begins life as finished Halloween masks already.
“There is this word in the community, ‘mask rehauler’ or ‘mask rehaul,'” Lawrence explained. “It refers to the process of taking a store-bought mask and repainting it, rehauling it, revitalizing it, refurbishing it and typically flipping it for a profit.”
While rehaulers exist for virtually every corner of the Halloween mask market, Lawrence has so far focused on one of the largest: Michael Myers masks, or the white-faced, brown-haired mask of the killer from the “Halloween” franchise of horror films.
Michael Myers, at first glance, might appear simple enough. The character’s mask is simple, consisting of a white, humanoid face, almond-shaped eye holes and a shock of brown hair. However, take a closer look, and Lawrence can tell you the exact ways in which Michael Myers is so often done wrong.
Two years ago, taking a closer look is what got him started.
“I got a mask from Spirit Halloween. It was my first Michael Myers mask, and it started out as, ‘Oh, this detail could be a little more accurate, let me take some acrylic paint and brush over that,'” Lawrence said. “I kept doing that over the course of, like, a month, and by the time Halloween rolled around, the mask looked completely different.”
Lawrence and other rehaulers use the techniques employed by the original films as much as possible for their mask recreations. There is no better example than the origin of the first Michael Myers mask.
In John Carpenter’s “Halloween,” the iconic killer’s mask was actually a flesh-colored Captain Kirk painted white, with blonde hair spray-painted brown. In his dedication to accuracy, Lawrence emulated that process, down to splotches of pink skin visible through the white paint and the slightly mismatched cut of the mask eyes.
“That’s been so much research on online forums and talking to different people in the community to figure out, like, what type of hair was used, how was it blended, what kind of paint was used, how was it applied to the mask to get the effects that you see,” Lawrence said. “Even past that, it’s taken so much time to build those skills. To be able to do it the same way, it’s a lot of trial and error.”
Those skills range from the practical to the esoteric. Lawrence learned to recut eye holes, rethread hair, make latex patches, paint with an airbrush and replicate minute cosmetic details.
Holding one mask, Lawrence explained that he used camel hair instead of synthetic fibers on the masks because it was easier to work with. Meanwhile, in the bathroom, he had a Michael Myers mask face down in a tub of water.
“In most cases, I completely strip the paint from these masks,” he said. “It helps to soak it in water.”
Afterward, Lawrence repaints the masks using the same brand of paint used for the movie masks.
The work that goes into crafting these masks to such exact specifications is why they go for such a high price, Lawrence said.
“You’re paying for so many different things. You’re paying for the actual product, the mask. You’re paying for how scarce it is to get your hands on a completely accurate replica,” Lawrence said. “But you’re also paying for the artist’s time, not just the time it took to make the mask but the time that it took to research and perfect all those techniques.”
Most rehauled Michael Myers masks sell for $400-500 on eBay. In some circumstances, higher-end masks can cost up to $1,000.
Occasionally, even the evil Michael Myers can be a force for good. Lawrence recently sold one of his masks in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
“One hundred percent of the proceeds I took home I donated to BeLoved Asheville, which is a charity that’s helping Helene victims right now,” Lawrence said. “It was really cool to be able to use that skill to help somehow.”
For more “Halloween” content, read the 828boosNOW recommendations for “Halloween” (1978) and “Halloween” (2018).
It wasn’t the only time Michael Myers has felt like a bandage on a knife wound for Lawrence. He thinks horror movies and the characters that haunt them can be helpful after many kinds of real-life disasters.
“I think it’s cool that so many people can watch movies or shows or read books about all this gruesome, horrific stuff happening and find kind of a sense of comfort in that,” Lawrence mused. “Like how horror movies become more popular when the nation is at war. I think we need, not necessarily a distraction, but I think we need our own struggles mirrored by the extreme and outlandish struggles people go through in horror movies.”
Even horror villains can be a healthy outlet for real-life fear, Lawrence said.
“I think characters like Michael allow us to do that,” Lawrence said. “They’re a fun counterpart to all the boogeymen that we encounter in real life who are objectively not as entertaining and a lot more scary.”
Despite his love for the Michael Myers character, Lawrence does not think every “Halloween” movie is created equal.
“Among the ‘Halloween’ community, when you’re asked what your favorite ‘Halloween’ movie is it’s almost sacrilege not to say the original,” Lawrence cautioned. “But I also love the 2018 ‘Halloween’ movie.”
Lawrence would rank the Halloween films as follows:
- “Halloween” (1978) and “Halloween” (2018) – Tied
- “Halloween III: Season of the Witch”
- “Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers”
- “Halloween Kills”
“Beyond that, you really can’t rank the ‘Halloween’ franchise in terms of quality, because aside from a few standout ones, none of them are particularly good movies,” Lawrence admitted. “They’re fun. They’re entertaining. But I wouldn’t call them, like, peak cinema. It’s really just about Michael for me.”
In the future, Lawrence does plan to move beyond Michael Myers. He has already started work on rehauling Ghostface masks from the “Scream” franchise and has his sights on the Universal Monsters.
“I’m always gonna primarily do masks, but I’m researching other things, like how to make Freddy Kreuger gloves from real metal and real gloves,” Lawrence said. “At the end of this journey, I want to be able to make some kind of prop from every big horror movie.”
More examples of Lawrence’s work are available on his Instagram, @creepshow_collectibles. For other mask rehaulers in the community, Lawrence recommends @se7ensins_studios, @shapestudioz and @nagmasks, also on Instagram.