Slashers are doing it for themselves in the superior fan-short Halloween: Mask of Evil, directed by Michael Brandon Wright and written by Wright and Cole Gray. Michael Myers (Cole Gray) is driving through the deserts of New Mexico, running over a pumpkin during the opening titles. There is a news report on the car radio about another slaughter at a Goodwill. Meanwhile, Mark (Michael Brandon Wright) is driving his baby daughter Sophie (Violet Laine Wright) back home.
His buddy Dean (Cole Gray) calls him up, letting him know he found a clown mask for Sophie for Halloween at the Goodwill. While on the phone, Dean almost runs into the back of a car stopped in the middle of the street. Dean curses at the car, which is being driven by Myers. At the Goodwill, Anthony (Anthony Bates) and Josh (Joshua Gutierrez) are ending their shift after loading in a box of donations from Haddonfield, Illinois. They are brutally murdered by Myers, who then tears through the donation box, not finding what he was looking for.
That is when Dean gives Mark the clown mask he found. Inside the mask, in a child-like scrawl, is written Myers. Dean theorizes that maybe it was owned by Michael Myers himself. Dean then does a dead-on Donald Pleasance impression: “He had the blackest eyes, the devil’s eyes.” Meanwhile, Myers isn’t going to stop until he finds that clown mask…
“Michael Myers is driving through the deserts of New Mexico, running over a pumpkin…”
Halloween: Mask of Evil is almost like a Halloween sequel in pill form, except here it is crushed up and snorted. It does a full three acts, each around five minutes apiece, giving you the feeling of a whole movie in record time. And it’s a pretty damn good Halloween sequel at that. It even manages a big surprise at the end, which is definitely not the norm of this franchise. There is even a reference to Thorn, the ancient order of Druids that played a pivotal role in the 1995 installment Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers. I remember watching that sequel in the cheap seats at Toledo, stoned out of my mind while huffing poppers.
Even with party favors, that was a tough movie to get through. Halloween: Mask of Evil goes down with ease, like a fat sack of Halloween candy. It has a very impressive look for a fan movie. The camerawork is clean while the editing is crackerjack. It also actually gets scary in places, surprising places. The fact that this Michael Myers exists in the same universe as the one that shows him in movies is played with nicely. Also, they knew where to put that hard-driving music that makes any Halloween sequel hum. Wright and Cole have a lot to be proud of here. If you are a Michael Myers fan, then Halloween: Mask of Evil is definitely going to be your bag.
"…goes down with ease, like a fat sack of Halloween candy."
