Halloween Costume Masks

Scary masks for Halloween are comprised of masks in several major categories. The first category consists of the “Dead”, including such entities as ghosts, spirits and apparitions. The next group of course is comprised of those known as the “Undead,” these are assorted zombies, vampires and their ilk.  Following the reanimation curve, we next come to the “Crazed Deformed Psycho Killers.” These guys are killing machines and it’s never really clear whether they are truly human, or a figment of a “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Last but not least are the “Evil Entities,” which include wicked witches, devils, demons and their minions.

Which group is scariest is based on personal experience and preference. At Halloween it is not unusual for children to seek to overcome their fears by assuming the identity of their most feared villain. Sometimes this villain will even be transformed for the good – from the wicked witch to the candy corn witch, for example, all with a simple wave of the magic wand!

If Michael Myers is your nemesis, you may actually be a little nervous about trick-or-treating, after all, he seems to wipe out one small town’s worth of citizenry, each and every year. But fear not, what better way to fool him, than to assume his identity? What if there’s a whole boatload of Michael Myers patrolling the town trick-or-treating? A monster could get real confused and even lose his identity in a scenario like this.

It seems like the scariest masks reveal the scariest detail of the human(oid) face, which is of course – the eyes!  If you notice, one of the really creepy features about Michael Myers and other of his fellow “Crazed Deformed Psycho Killers, is the expressionless face and the lack of eye contact. Machine like and unemotionally, they go about their slaughter with a lack of compassion, or human acknowledgment.

With other scary monsters such as vampires, the eyes are those of a feral predator, rather than a human being. If eyes are the mirrors of the soul, than it is human instinct to avoid those whose eyes seem distant and unavailable. Even wearing sunglasses inappropriately in certain social situations will heighten anxiety levels. For example, you would never wear sunglasses to a job interview – I hope. You want scary? Wear a hockey goalie’s mask and carry a chain saw!

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