When you think of Michael Myers, one of the most famous slashers in horror history, you don’t necessarily think about his face. Rather, you think about his ever-present vicious wrath. Or, you think about the possibility of finding yourself unlucky enough to be in Haddonfield on Oct. 31 where The Shape attacks in blue overalls while holding a large butcher knife as the blank white mask draws your attention.
Michael Myers’ famous mask, cracked and burned as it is these days, is one of the greatest images in horror cinema. And its origins are as legendary off-camera as on-screen.
Tommy Lee Wallace performed multiple roles behind the camera on Halloween. Alongside being art director, location scout, and co-editor, he presented four masks for The Shape to wear in his capacity as production designer. One was a 1975 Captain Kirk mask he picked up from Hollywood Boulevard for under $2.
The script had suggested “the pale feature of a human face,” and with the eyes widened and the face spray-painted bluish-white — it passed the spooky test.
Cinematic horror is packed with masked killers, but they usually guarantee an unmasking — their very own “Scooby-Doo” moment. Not Michael Myers. He remains one of the most hidden Boogeymen in slasher history. So, what is under that mask, and do the films ever show us?
Young Michael Myers
Yes, we know what Michael Myers looks like — Myers in his youth as one of the first characters we see in 1978’s Halloween — and only six years old at the time. Following the suspenseful opening sequence where audiences are forced to watch a savage murder from a killer’s point of view, the reveal of the young boy is still a shock. If you can’t remember what he looks like, it comes as no surprise. But even in a clown costume, holding a huge knife, he looks like a normal kid.
The tie-in Halloween novel expanded on young Myers, including the subsequent court case and incarceration. We never hear or see young Michael’s face again in the film. All we know comes from his psychiatrist Dr. Sam Loomis’ chilling description of the boy who never spoke and who Loomis describes as “pure evil.”
Adult Michael Myers
We see adult Michael a few times throughout the Halloween franchise, but never as clearly as during the opening scenes of the first film. A combination of shadows, rapid cuts, and soft-focus have kept Michael’s face hidden for over 40 years. Here are the movies where you see Myers without his mask and what we can tell about his looks.
Halloween (1978)
The first glimpse at the face of adult Michael comes near the end of the original film. His mask is ripped off during a skirmish with Laurie Strode. It definitely is a blink-and-you-miss-it moment, filmed on a dark landing, but it remains one of the best glimpses of Myers, then aged 21.
Six actors played Michael Myers in 1978’s Halloween. Will Sandin played the six-year-old Myers, with producer Debra Hill stepping in as his hand double. Nick Castle and James Winburn donned his adult overalls alongside Tommy Lee Wallace. However, when the killer is briefly unmasked, the face we see is that of Tony Moran. Moran’s Myers is noticeably distressed when unmasked, but he’s also injured. Earlier, Laurie Strode had desperately but successfully stabbed Myers in his left eye with a coat hanger. It was a severe injury, but it never held him back. Neither would the bullets Sam Loomis was about to discharge into him.
In revealing Myers’ adult face, if only for a moment, director John Carpenter set a precedent and challenge for the filmmakers that followed.
Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989)
Myers’ face wouldn’t be seen again until the fifth film, which is now part of a timeline ripped from the canon. In the middle of the patchy Thorn trilogy that concluded the slasher’s original run, Myers removes his mask before attempting to kill his niece, Laurie Strode’s daughter. This time, he wore the face of actor Don Shanks, shrouded in darkness. He looks roughly similar to his 1978 appearance, his eye injury highlighted by unexpected tears.
Halloween (2007) and Halloween II (2009)
Rob Zombies’ two reboot films kept Myers apart from his distinctive mask for longer periods than the original series. We spend a more significant amount of time with young Myers, played by Daeg Faerch and Chase Wright Vanek in Zombie’s reimagining — digging into the origins and motivation of a psychopath.
A more rugged, bulkier Myers carries long dark hair and a maniacal wide-eyed stare as an adult. On occasion, we see clear glimpses of his face when his battered white mask is smashed.
Halloween (2018)
David Gordon Green’s reboot stripped the franchise back to the original. Incarcerated for 40 years, Myers had four decades away from his mask. Nick Castle famously returned to the role, just one slice of welcome authenticity in the reinvigorated series. But for most of the film, the Shape, masked and unmasked, is played by James Jude Courtney. It was his shorn hair and gray stubble that we see in the opening, when two doomed podcasters approach him in the courtyard of Smith’s Grove Psychiatric Hospital. Green is determined to keep Myers’ full-face under wraps. Cuts and blurs obscure it until the slasher’s able to reclaim his mask. The opening scene is brilliantly tense. There are flickers, but a crucial lack of reaction from the killer, and clearly, Myers carries the damaged eye that he earned 40 years before.
Myers’ threat and danger are reasserted, and we are in no doubt who he is and how dangerous he can be. All without fully seeing his face.
Halloween Kills (2021)
In the sequel, Green goes a step further. Having stripped down the franchise and eradicated the curse element that bogged down the late-1980s films, Halloween Kills brought back a hint of the supernatural.
Continuing the storyline directly from the fiery conclusion of Halloween, Myers’ mask survives, although blackened and crispy. That proves invaluable when the film reveals Myers is empowered by the mask, strongly implying that it is the source of his durability and, potentially, invincibility. It picks up hints laid in the first film when Myers withstood incredible damage; the revelation becomes pivotal at the climax of Halloween Kills.
Trapped outside his family home, Myers is de-masked by Laurie Strode’s daughter, Karen Strode Nelson. Although sharp focus and angles keep his face obscured, he seems visibly weaker.
During this sequence, we get a better look at the man we were reintroduced to at the start of 2018’s Halloween. The eye injury is there, the grizzled stubble and receding gray hair. Again, for a slasher, a fairly average-looking 61-year-old. We get our best view in one shot that mimics the angles used in Halloween and Halloween 5. This time, Myers never reels in pain or sheds a tear. Instead, he is thoroughly battered and bruised.
Ambushed and beaten, it looks like evil really will die that night. But the people of Haddonfield’s big mistake is letting Myers put his mask back on. There is a man behind it, but in many ways, that mask is Myers’ real face.
Halloween Ends (2022)
As disappointing as Halloween Ends truly was, one of the biggest disappointments was Michael Myers failing to be unmasked despite several hints at it happening. The mask was ripped off, of course, but fans were not rewarded with an exclusive glimpse at Michael unmasked in the movie as originally promised. And yet, a behind-the-scenes photo showcased Michael fully unmasked, with burnt skin peeled and visibly disfigured over the years of battles.
In the end, Michael really is a man behind a mask. Whether that man is defined by supernatural abilities or possessed under an ancient curse is entirely up to you. It’s simply a matter of opinion, after all.
