Alright, it's time to take a look at a few of my favorite new masks that will be available for the 2010 Halloween season on our website at HalloweenAsylum.com. I expect to see these coming in during mid June. First up, and shown at the top of the page, is Mega Franky - an awesome full over the head latex mask that extends fully down onto the chest. I absolutely love this mask! The details are amazing - the jaw actually looks like steel. The muscles and veins all over the creature look extremely realistic as well. Definitely in my top five favorites for this year.
This old soul is called Wicce. This is another superbly detailed mask with fine wrinkles, coloring, and I especially love the blind eyeball! This ol' gal should give all the neighborhood trick-or-treaters the heebie jeebies! I think this makes for a fantastic mask, but also for those of you who use masks for the heads of full-body props, this would make an incredible witch! I can just picture her sitting at her cauldron stirring slowly... eye of newt, wing of bat... and just cackling the night away!
Now for you fans of clowns, or especially for those who hate clowns, I bring you Pennywise! The classic killer clown that has scared both kids and adults for years!! This clown will bring nightmares to life for both young and old. Simple, yet oh so evil. Again, nothing but the best painting details on these masks. You can't go wrong with Pennywise! Click here to see all of our Halloween masks.
Another mask that I was really impressed with is the Evil Scarecrow. There aren't a lot of really good scarecrow masks on the market and I don't know why. I think scarecrows in general are pretty creepy so why not take them one step further and really bring out the darkness within. This particular scarecrow mask features a full latex hat with what appears to be a crow's skull on the front. The eyes are rather unusual - sort of murky, but not blind... oh, definitely not blind. This scarecrow is watching... and waiting. Just dare to enter his fields and watch the terror unfold. Another great mask that has potential as a prop head as well. Truly terrifying!
And last, but not least, I have selected Fangs as a favorite. How can you not love an evil creature with so many hideous teeth? This is the type of beast you'll find hiding in the corners of your darkest dreams... or at the least in the darkest corners of a haunted house! Sure to make them jump and scream, this is a finely crafted latex mask. I really like the yellow eyes... very creepy.
I hope you enjoyed a sneak peak into my favorite masks for 2010. There will be many other new masks of course, but I wanted to highlight just a few here. Hopefully these will be on our shelves in about 2 months, so please check back to the website very soon - Halloween Asylum!
If you liked 2009's Rocking Granny, which was probably the hottest animated prop of the year, then you'll LOVE the expanded product line for 2010! We are expecting Creepy Cathy, Twitch, Buzz, Crotchety Grandpa and Twisted to arrive within the next month!
First up is Creepy Cathy. This little girl was definitely getting the most attention of everyone who walked by her at the tradeshow. Her face is very creepy, she pivots at the waist, and the screams and groans she makes caught everyone off-guard. I plan to take more photos and video of her when she arrives (very soon!). If memory serves me correctly, I'd estimate her height at around 4 feet.
Next up is Twitch. Although this zombie has been ripped in half, he's not going down without a fight! He moans and groans while lifting his head up and down and his spine wriggles back and forth... disgusting! I apologize for the short video... I thought I got a better one, but for now this will have to do! He does go on for quite a bit longer than shown and growls and groans throughout the whole movement.
Have you ever wanted a great electric chair prop, but at a reasonable price? Where let me introduce you to Buzz. He is a lifesize character, with excellent details - his eyes are bloodshot, his prison outfit is impeccable, and his sarcastic humor is a hit! He says a few phrases before and after the switch is thrown, during which he violently jerks back and forth in the chair.
Now we have Rocking Granny's hubby... Crotchety Grandpa. This is one ornery old man! He says some crotchety old man type phrases and like Granny, put him in your own rocking chair and he'll rock back and forth all night!
Lastly we have Twisted. A gruesome gal if there ever was one! While her head spins around, she moans and groans. She's straight out of the Exorcist movie.
What I like most about these props is their quality. These are not made of plastic tubes and plastic gears that are prone to breaking easily - these are made of heavy duty steel parts. And the bodies are ALL latex, not just the head or hands, but all the way from head to toe... if they have a whole body of course! These are super reliable and will run for hours and hours without fail. We have all the confidence in the world with this line and we are very happy to be able to offer this to our customers.
As promised, here's our first sneak peak at new products coming soon - this one is a line of standing and seated zombies, or ghouls if you prefer, that we will have for Halloween 2010. Expected arrival date on these is late July. First of all, let me say I was blown away when I saw these! They are full body, gruesome props - more blood and rotting flesh than you typically see in Halloween props, unless specifically made for the high-budget haunted houses. And the quality is fabulous!
There are two main styles for these ghouls - a standing version for women and men, and a seated version for both as well. Different head styles means there will be about 5 women and 3 men available in each configuration.
Both seated and standing have completely posable arms, hands, and fingers! Their fingers curl quite well around a small object, so they can easily hold something light. The only difference in seated or standing is that the legs are not bendable in the standing version. There is a solid rod that runs through the leg. Because the seated style does not have this, it cannot support it's own weight in a standing position.
But as you'll see in one pic, the seated ghoul can also be placed in a crawling position. He or she can also cross their legs. With a few of these, you can create almost any zombie scene imaginable! When I saw these, two zombie guys were seated at a bar holding a cigar, plastic gun, and a beer bottle.
These are amazing props - usually standing ghoul props have only their heads and arms visible, while their bodies are covered by clothing because their body consists only of a long pole and metal base. Not these guys and gals - full latex all around, so dress them as you please, no wires or poles to hide! Our expected retail price will be around $200 each.
Finally, after a few months I have time to blog again! The start of the new year kicked off a very busy time in our office. In early January, we began moving our office/warehouse. We are still in the same industrial complex we've been in for about 5 years now, but we made the move to a larger space... allowing us to stock even more great Halloween products than ever before! We did loads of painting, followed by tons of packing, dismantling of pallet racks AND THEN rebuilding it all in our new spot. It took almost two months to get the job completed! And at no time during the move did we ever stop shipping orders... quite the task when products were spread across two locations at some points! We are now happily settled into the new digs and it's back to business as usual.
Also in January we attended two tradeshows and had a ball seeing all of the new product offerings available for Halloween 2010. I will be posting photos of some of the new masks and props that we've ordered in the coming days. We picked up a fabulous line of new zombie props - full size, free standing zombies... awesome! There will also be many new animatronic props at very reasonable prices this year. We're talking about props that move, light up, and have sound that will retail in the $60 - $100 range! And if you loved the Rocking Granny prop from 2009, then you'll love the additions to that line of deluxe animatronics - there's a new Crotchety Grandpa, a prisoner being electrocuted, a screaming toddler, and a great half-body that squirms around and moans. This line of products will retail in the $300 - $350 range, which is amazing for these high quality, all steel and latex construction props.
I will try to have photos and videos of many of these new items up soon. We are expecting some of these to start arriving in late March or early April. Most of the others will come in during June - August. I'll keep you posted!
