Don Posts stuff from the 21st century may be crap, but you younger people fail to see their glory days from the 60's 70's and 80's. They made quality masks that would rival collectors masks today, meaning the quality of regular Halloween masks has declined.
But back in that time they produced amazing quality masks and they were accurate, such as their calendar masks of the Universal monsters. They were spot on for the actor's, in make up, likeness. They also produced a lot of original designs in the 70's and 80's. They were all hand made in the U.S. Thick good casting done in black and stipple painted.
Don Post was the first to produce Latex Halloween masks back in 1939, Post died in 1979 and Don Post Jr. took over. The quality of Posts masks declined in the 1990's when production shifted to China. But the masks made earlier in the U.S. were THE go to masks at the time. Don Post created the latex mask and look at how far that expanded and how many companies and independent artists have come about since then. Don Post is the biggest name in the Halloween mask hobby. Im a huge collector of Halloween masks and I own 9 of their masks. All of them are the vintage 70's originals/1998 calendar Reissues. I will say their more recent stuff is junk due to the fact they were bought out by Paper Magic Group back in 2000. That's when the quality went to junk
Edit: With out Don Post there would be no Michael Myers as we see today. Actually with out Don Post, masks would totally be non existent.
In 1939 a guy named Don Post opened up the first company to produce latex masks. Their first line of masks were based on dictators from that time, such as Hitler. They moved on to monster masks. Their masks started out as 3/4 masks then later moved to full head. It wasn't till the 60's when Post Studios success took off. Post Teamed up with Vern Langdon to produce new monster masks with the likness from the Universal films. They were sculpted by Pat Newman. The line was released as the Hollywood Horrors in 1963. A year later the line was retooled and released as the Universal Horrors. In 1966 Vern Langdon had full color professional photographs of the masks. A publisher saw them and he wanted to do something with them. Vern joked about a calendar but the publisher like the idea. A monster representing each month out of the year. That is where the nickname "Calendar masks" cam from. These masks were extremely popular and sold well. Post also released a cheaper line of the same masks. They had sculpted hair and were casted in vinyl. They were the 800 line of masks.
In the 1970's Post's contract with Universal expired. Instead of renewing it, they released their original takes on the monsters. They also released a ton of original designs along with acquiring new licenses such as Star Wars and Star Trek. The 1975 Captain Kirk mask was used in the movie Halloween. It had its facial hair removed and the face spray painted white by the make up effects artist for the film, Tommy Lee Wallace. Don Post died in 1979 and Don Post Jr. took over.
The 80's mostly brought about original designs. 1983 brought a bout a new movie that featured 3 Post masks, a witch, skull and pumpkin. The skull was an existing mask that was released in 1967. The witch was released in 1981 as Hagetha and the pumpkin was specially sculpted just for the film.
1998 saw the return of the Calendar masks, they were casted SUPER thick and were made for the collector. They were the last set of masks to be made here in the U.S.
