Face Off

Face Off was the very first head. I designed this prop specifically for a mad scientist haunt. I wanted a fairly human looking head that I could rip open to reveal a grisly interior. To my chagrin, most mask companies aren't very interested in making regular human head sculpts, so I bought the Frankenstein-inspired mask you see here. In the original version of this prop, I used some kind of sugar-based make-up type goo that you had to melt and pour on things. In one way it was really neat, because it mold well to contours. But in most other ways it was a horrible medium. It wasn't very permanent and had a tendency to fall off the skull.

After the initial year of use in the Huron Valley, Michigan Jaycess haunted house, I came up with ideas for several other heads. and Face Off was moved to the back of the storage shelf. Eventually, he got thrown into a storage container in my attic where he stayed for two years.

When I started considering making a business out of these things, I pulled all my old props out and looked them over to see which ones I could use. Poor Face Off, with all his sugar-based make-up had actually begun rotting! This made him the most realistic prop I had! (If only the effect was intended and not accidental.) So I peeled all the make up off and updated his features using my modern methods of toilet paper and liquid latex. Due to the expense of buying the mask, however, he didn't make the final cut to commercial product.

He was actually a great Haunted House prop, though. After he was resculpted in 1994 or 1995, we used him again in a mad scientist haunt again. Notice how worn the nose is (from pulling on it while using it in the Haunted House.)

One nice thing about this mask was the suture lines. This allowed me to carefully cut the mask along that stitching so that it made logical sense that you could pull that compartment open. (Recognize that I'm using 'logical' in the loosest sense of the word here.) If you look close, you'll also notice the velcro strip on the head and mask to hold it closed when not in use.

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