When Mask Maker first came out on DVD, I saw it everywhere. It was on Facebook, Amazon, in Redbox, etc. After the assault of promotional media for the film, I decided to check it out on Redbox. I brought it up on the screen and for some reason the description “lucky couple,” made me go, “Hm… pass.” I don’t know, films about a near-married couple facing evil usually tend to bore me. Several weeks later while searching On Demand Movies, Mask Maker popped up in the results. I finally decided to give it a watch. Was it boring as I had expected? Read on to find out!
Mask Maker is a horror film about “A lucky couple that hits the jackpot when they purchase a 19th century plantation home for pennies on the dollar. Determined to get rich quick, they invite their friends up for the weekend to celebrate their good fortune. It’s quickly apparent that the plantation home’s former residents have not left and the unlucky youths suddenly find themselves running for their lives!” [Amazon] Mask Maker is directed by Griff Furst, the man who also brought the horror world Wolvesbayne, Lake Placid 3, and Swamp Shark. Had I known this fact before, knowing Furst directed this movie, would have been enough for me to watch it in the first place!
Furst also wrote the film along with Eric Miller and Jake Kennedy. Andrew Strahorn is the director of photography and Matt Taylor is the editor. Mask Maker stars Jason London (The Rage: Carrie 2, Killer Movie), Nikki Deloach (“Ringer,” “Awkward”), Stephen Colletti (“Laguna Beach,” Kill Katie Malone), Annabella Casanova (“Sorority Forever”), Ross Britz (Sinners & Saints), Lara Grice (The Reaping), Terry Kiser (Friday The 13th Part VII, Weekend At Bernie’s), and Treat Williams (Deep Rising, 127 Hours). It was very surprising for me to see Treat Williams with a sex scene. I thought, “Dr. Andy Brown! No!”
So, finally, what did I really think of Mask Maker?
Well, for starters… There are several nods (if not overall steals) to Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The killer in this one is pretty much a brutish, disfigured, “slow,” murderer who kills people, cuts off their faces, and wears them as his own. Sounds familiar, right? Reminds me of Friday The 13th in some ways too, for completely different reasons, obviously. However, after five decades of horror films, it becomes difficult to not make something familiar to another film; and who doesn’t like a killer who uses every part of their victim?
In terms of everything else, it was pretty good. All of the characters were likable, which is hard to find in this age of horror where everyone is a stereotype. My favorite “secondary character” has to be the barn. Yes, the barn. Everyone in the movie goes to this big barn to have sex…and I mean everyone. Maybe because I’ve never been to a barn before, but I didn’t know there was such an allure to screwing in a barn. My other favorite character was the “final girl,” and I won’t spoil that for you even tho it is pretty obvious who that is.
The script was great and contained a lot of back story on the farm and its murderous inhabitant. Eh, well, maybe it had a little too much back story. The diary, and the couple, and the millions worth of items… It was a lot, but it still fit together well enough to make sense. Nothing confusing here, just a lot to deal with…like Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows II, but I loved that movie too so…
There was decent gore, but mostly head chopping and stabbing. Nothing over the top or new here, but enough to keep gore fans pleased. There was actually more sex and nudity in Mask Maker than gore, I think. Again, the barn is just so erotic apparently. Or maybe it’s just that it’s hard to have sex in a really old house because people will hear you through the walls?
Honestly, Mask Maker is a slightly above average horror film. It’s not “cinematic gold,” but it really is a solid effort to the genre. It’s nice to see Mr. Furst doing something different from his creature features that I so love. Mask Maker contains some Texas Chainsaw Massacre elements, a lot of back story, beautiful landscape and cinematography, and lots of gore and sex. I enjoyed it, but I’ll leave it up to you whether or not you should go purchase it.
