5 Most Iconic Horror Movie Masks

What image sends chills down your spine when you’re alone in the dark? Is it a make-up laden freak like Pennywise the Clown from IT? Is it the soulless black eyes of Pinhead from Hellraiser, or the lashing black tongue of the queen from Aliens? They come in different breeds, but the best horror film villains enact a visceral response in viewers spanning multiple generations.

The human mind grapples with discrepancies between appearance and reality, which is part of what’s behind Masklophobia – the fear of masks. Psychologists say the fear may stem from the inability to read the person’s facial features for signs of a threat when the mask is on.

TheHorrorDome.com specializes in triggering Masklophobia. You won’t find a better source of horrifying Halloween masks! We don’t know about you, but when we close our eyes, these are the first masked villains we see:

Fans love the mystery of this quiet cold-blooded killer who hit his evil stride at the tender age of six, when he murders his sister on Halloween. Fifteen years later, he cleverly escapes the institution that raised him and continues with his murder lust, plunging knife after knife into victims with less emotion than the Terminator. What unstoppable evil drives him? Michael shows that even “average guys” have the capacity to channel the supernatural.

Shop for a Mike Myers mask if you’re the sort of person who isn’t deterred by whatever life throws your way.

Though Jason didn’t start wearing his trademark hockey goalie mask until Friday the 13th Part III, it’s a more recognizable look than the burlap sack with a single eyehole he previously sported. Later, in Jason X, he wears a face-hugging metal alloy mask to match his seemingly immortal power. He’s known for slaying shallow idiots and babes who’ve strayed from their virtues. Fans feed off supreme seriousness and surprising lack of remorse.

You may search for a Jason Voorhees mask if you’re stone-faced and often misunderstood.

Leatherface wears a small leather mask to conceal his facial disfigurement and skin disease. Later, he’s really just wearing someone else’s face – a gruesome detail inspired by real-life serial killer and grave robber Ed Gein who wore macabre masks fashioned out of human skin. Unlike other horror villains, Leatherface kills out of fear or sense of family duty, rather than true malice. He may suffer from neurodegeneration, but he can wield a chainsaw like nobody’s business.

Consider a Leatherface mask if you sometimes feel invisible or manipulated, but want to make a stand.

Pained eyes, warped mouth, frozen howl -- the Ghostface mask is simple, yet haunting and unmistakable. While it bears an uncanny resemblance to a famous Edvard Munch painting, designer Brigitte Sleiertin says she drew from old Betty Boop and Cab Calloway cartoons. “It’s a horrible look, it’s a sorry look, it’s a frantic look,” she explained. Harvard neurobiology professor Margaret Livingstone found in her research that the brain is more likely to respond to faces with exaggerated expressions. “That’s why I think a caricature of an emotion works so well. It’s what our nerve cells are tuned to,” she said. The all-encompassing shroud of this chilling face covering allows for the possibility of multiple wearers, which adds to the suspense of what lies beneath.

Anyone who “likes scary movies” can don the iconic Ghostface mask and play Father Death.

Dr. Hannibal Lecter embodies our worst fears – that people can be equal parts genius and monster. He’s an accomplished psychiatrist who is inarguably clever and cultured. Yet, he attacks with vicious cruelty and easily surpasses the unthinkable border into cannibalism. The mask serves as a prison for Hannibal’s mouth to prevent him from biting visitors – and yet, he maintains a commanding presence with his sharp tongue and ever-vigilant eyes, scanning the room for weaknesses to exploit. Many of his victims are dirt-bags, which adds to his allure.

Maybe you sometimes suffer from a superiority complex or you’d like to stop yourself from eating all that Halloween candy. Either way, you can’t go wrong with the creepy Hannibal Lecter mask.

As one of the fastest growing online Halloween products retailers, TheHorrorDome.com carries a haunting collection of graphic Halloween masks. From carnivorous clowns to rotting zombies and everything in between, find a hand-crafted, ultra-detailed mask that will make you stand out from the ghoulish crowd. You can think of us as your Freddy Krueger – we can make all your worst nightmares come true!