Mask Maker
Stupid mask. We can see the zipper.
I have to get this out of the way before I can start. Mask maker, mask maker, make me a mask. Find me a find, catch me a catch. Ok, I feel much better now. I haven't watched a slasher movie in a while and decided to give a modern movie a try. It feels like most modern slashers just go through the motions and come off like Friday The 13th and Halloween rehashes. Will Mask Maker show me something new or just the same old stuff?
Mask Maker (originally and unfortunately titled Maskerade) is a 2010 horror slasher starring Nikki Deloach (Days Of Our Lives, Ringer) as Jennifer and Stephen Colletti (One Tree Hill, Kill Katie Malone) as her boyfriend Evan. Evan secretly purchased a 19th century plantation home and takes Jennifer out to see it. At first she is mad that he made such a big decision without her, but she quickly gets over it pretty quickly. They invite their friends for a house warming/fixing party. The house has a history and locals refuse to talk about it. One man, Mr. Peck (Terry Kiser, Weekend At Bernies, Friday the 13th Part VII) is particularly afraid of the house and refuses to answer questions. The group unknowingly resurrect the man who used to live at the house. He suffered from some sort of skin condition and had to stay wrapped in bandages. Though some sort of voodoo, he has come back and is an unstoppable killing machine. He goes on a killing spree of the friends, cutting off their faces and wearing them as masks (hence, Mask Maker). Jennifer discovers that Mr. Peck is connected with Mask Maker through their sordid past. Will Jennifer be able to stop Mask Maker and get out alive?
Fork you
If this feels like you've seen this movie before, you're not alone. On the surface, it's pretty much your average “College Kids Go To Murdertown”. There are plenty of slasher movie cliches, including people going off to have sex only to be killed, the silent, faceless inhuman killer, and secretive townspeople. There's the usual nudity and the killer uses an axe as his weapon of choice. The movie deserves credit with their attempt to add some voodoo/magic curse into the mix, but it's never fully explored and just left me kind of confused. Ultimately, none of the back story is important, which is a shame because it could have helped set the movie apart from other slashers. Really, its just a combination of all the good slasher tropes with a dash of originality.
The film is well shot and looks good compared to some of the lower-budget affairs that are now polluting the horror genre. The directing is fine and the acting is passable, though Terry Kiser plays a drunk the way Andy Dick plays someone normal. There are some good acts of violence, though the movie lacks the amount of blood and gore necessary to make it particularly thrilling. That's not to say there isn't plenty of stabbing and chopping, just not as much as I expected. I mean, the killer wears people's faces. You'd think that'd be incredibly gorey and violent, but not really. In fact, there is one scene where he wears one of the female friend's faces complete with long hair. It is unintentionally funny as he looks like a cross between Leatherface and Bjork.
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If you've seen a slasher movie before, you've already seen most of Mask Maker. While it's not particularly original, it still has some entertainment value. There are some good kills, though the lack of extreme blood and gore is unfortunate. The movie has it's moments and it's not a bad watch, but it could have been better.
6/10