What Is That, Get It Away From Me

 

 

Every now and then I'll come across a truly cursed mask, and I feel like these things certainly fall into that category. These are absolutely horrifying. Are they still artistic? Yes, as hell, actually. But that doesn't make them any less terrifying, bewildering and quite frankly evil, for lack of a better word. I was going to say, originally, that these look like something ripped from the screen of a Blumhouse horror movie, but then I realized they're far more artistic than that, and that's not fair to the masks, as they're actually incredibly creative. These things are nightmare fuel for sure, though.

The slight chubbiness that exists in the molding, the professionally kid like facial features added on, and the total lack of color to the face itself are all just factors that make this thing the sort of creature that would easily hunt you down in the dead of night and suck your soul out through your butthole. I mean, just look at that mouth, that mouth was made for sucking souls out of buttholes. Butthole soul sucking aside, however, these are also extremely creative. While they look more like decorative pieces you'd hang in your home (though I don't know what kind of sick fuck would do such a thing; imagine getting a glass of water in the middle of the night and having to pass these bad boys in a dark empty hallway) than they do masks, they are still in fact masks, and that's why they're here.

They look almost 50s maybe 60s era, something a child would've worn perhaps. Why a child would wear another childs face over their own is an existential horror crisis we're not even gonna deal with, but they definitely feel like they're from around that time period. There's a whole collection of masks, most notably by a company called Ben Cooper - by a mane named, you guessed it, Ben Cooper - who made extremely iconic masks between 1937 to 1992 (some of which I'll likely cover on here at some point), and that's absolutely the feeling I'm getting from these. I don't think these are Ben Coopers, but I do think these were extremely inspired by their style, if nothing else.

With that little bump for the nose and the really overly large teeth, and that one little strand of hair held by a bow coming down the front, these are probably supposed to be "cute", but they are not cute, they are terrifying. Thankfully, I appreciate terrifying.

As with every single mask so far discussed on this blog, these wouldn't be here if I didn't think they deserved to be. Are they downright horrifying? Yes. Are they still absolutely amazing artistic wise? Yes. And that's why they're here. Because, even in light of their scary nature, they're amazing pieces of work that deserved to be recognized as such. Oh sure, they may suck your soul out your butthole, but at least they'll look cool doing it. While these may appear simplistic in nature and execution, I guarantee that's only because the people who made them were so good at what they do that they could make something that looked like a child made it. It's a real skill to be able to convey childlike wonderment through something when you're an adult, but whoever crafted these things nailed it.

Unfortunately (or not, I suppose, depending on how you feel about these) this is the only image I could find of these masks, so we only have this one angle to go off of, but frankly, I think that was more than enough. Believe me, if I'd found more pictures than this, we might be hexed right now, as I feel like peering upon these things even momentarily through a picture is enough to damn you to a nightmare realm for all eternity.

If I had to go out on a limb and guess what these masks are supposed to represent, I'd say a baby. That only makes them worse, quite frankly. If you have a baby and it looks like this, chuck that thing in the nearest dumpster and try again, because that ain't normal, dawg. And nobody would blame you for it, either. Remember, if at first you don't succeed, try again.