These movie masks are the coolest in cinematic history.
Remember when everyone was wearing masks all the time?
We’re glad we don’t have to do that anymore.
The Bane Mask in The Dark Knight Rises
We’ve all replicated the “Bane mask voice” by cupping our hands around our mouths and talking with a high-pitched British accent.
But the mask also gives Bane an aura of mystery: Does it help him breath? Does it hide scars? Bane’s mask is as enigmatic and stylish as the man who wears it.
The Ghostface Mask in the Scream Saga
The Scream Ghostface-slasher mask is somehow silly, pulpy, and menacing all at once. Its innocuous simplicity hides the dreadful killer(s) underneath.
It would be very unusual to experience a Halloween absent of this costume, built around one of the most immediately recognizable movie masks.
The Hannibal Lecter Mask in The Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal Lecter technically wears two famous movie masks in the greatest Thomas Harris adaptation, The Silence of the Lambs. The first is his terrifying muzzle, a Jason Vorhees-esque mask with bars blocking his mouth.
The second is not nearly as stylish — it’s an actual human face.
The former has certainly been more integrated into pop-culture more than the latter, but both are worth mentioning.
The Jason Mask in the Friday the 13th Films
The cinematic influence of the Jason Vorhees hockey mask is incalculable. So many films reference Jason Vorhees’ crude face-covering that it is practically expected every time a bank robbery is depicted on screen.
Fascinatingly, the mask that would become the trademark of Friday the 13th — and slasher movies in general – didn’t make it to the screen until Friday the 13th Part III, released in 1982.
The hockey mask is a cheap yet effective symbol of dread that won’t be disappearing from the zeitgeist anytime soon.
Tie: All the Eyes Wide Shut Masks
The Venetian masks that appear in the secret party sequence of Eyes Wide Shot represent exactly the kind of extravagance and costume work we expect from a Stanley Kubrick film.
They are ethereal and refined — a beautiful piece of ironic characterization designed to protect the identities of those about to become intimate. Among the most jarring and tragic movie masks.
The Darth Vader Mask
The most obvious, and inevitable choice is still a correct one for this list. Darth Vader’s masked visage is still the most awe-inspiring in the history of movie villains. It made countless other filmmakers realize great movie masks are among the most cost-effective storytelling devices.
Max’s Mask in Mad Max: Fury Road
Though he spends the majority of his time with the mask attempting to forcefully remove it, Max’s metal face protector is nonetheless visually compelling.
There is a running joke in the film world that every director Tom Hardy works with makes him cover his face. He could easily have made this list more than twice.
The Guy Fawkes Mask in V for Vendetta
The Guy Fawkes mask that V wears in V for Vendetta was infamous long before the film was released.
But the rhyming swashbuckler certainly provided it with a new flair, and turned it into one of the best movie masks of this century.
The Dread Pirate Roberts Mask in The Princess Bride
As you wish. Wesley returns to save his Princess Buttercup disguised as the Dread Pirate Roberts, and his mask allows him to find out if he’s still her true love.
Sporting a new mustache and elegant, black mask-scarf, he is skilled, debonair, and frightening, no longer the farm boy she once knew.
The Princess Bride is captivating even before the Dread Pirate Roberts arrives, but then he takes the movie into the stratosphere. With a detour through the Fire Swamp, of course.
The Mask of Zorro in The Mask of Zorro
See what we did there?
Antonio Banderas’ incarnation of Zorro is overflowing with charisma. His classic combination of black mask, large gaucho hat, and flowing cape never disappoints.
There have been many Zorros throughout cinematic history — in fact, Zorro helped inspire Batman to become a vigilante, decades ago. But Banderas’ Zorro is our favorite.
The Vanilla Sky Mask
We love the sad simplicity of Tom Cruise’s mask in Vanilla Sky, one of the most mind-blowing movies we’ve ever seen.
When the handsome David Aames (Cruise) has his face disfigured in a car crash, he takes to wearing a blank, expressionless mask to cover his scars and deformity.
The mask’s total absence of expression suggests that all life and joy has gone out of David, and maybe it has. But Vanilla Sky still has plenty of twists ahead.
The Michael Myers Mask in Halloween
Sometimes simplest is best.
Tasked with finding a suitable mask for Michael Myers, the monster of John Carpenter and Debra Hill’s horror masterpiece, production designer Tommy Lee Wallace went to a Hollywood Boulevard magic shop, where he found a Captain Kirk mask designed to look like Star Trek star William Shatner. He painted it white, changed the hair, and Michael Myers was born.
Wallace later directed Halloween III: Season of the Witch — which is all about masks. Specifically, a plot to take over people’s minds through microchipped Halloween masks.
Liked This List of the Coolest Movie Masks?
You might also like this list of 13 Silence of the Lambs Details a Normal Person Wouldn’t Notice.
Main image: The Silence of the Lambs. Orion.
Editor’s Note: Corrects main image.