I have long said that goalies get an unfair reputation for being crazy.  The unique job description and some of our more eccentric goaltender brothers and sisters are, in my opinion, to blame. But it recently occurred to me that part of this stigma may also be the fact that two of the most iconic horror icons were often seen donning a goalie mask.  Everyone recognizes that the mask worn Friday the 13th’s Jason Voorhees is a goalie mask, but goalie gear nerds know that Silence of the Lambs’ Dr. Hannibal Lecter ALSO a wore goalie mask, made by legendary mask maker Ed Cubberly.  Here’s the story behind how these dastardly villains came to wear the facial protection of our position.

Like reminding you that it’s not “Frankenstein” but “Frankenstein’s Monster”, film affenciados are quick to point out Jason Voorhees does not appear in his iconic mask until the 3rd Friday the 13th film (Friday the 13th Part III) which was shot in 3D.  In the 1st Friday the 13th, audiences get a quick look at Jason’s uncovered (and deformed) face, while in the 2nd film he wears a burlap sack with a single eyehole. In the 3rd movie Jason is finally seen in his iconic goalie mask, a creative choice that happened by accident.  Per a story recounted on Screen Rant, in lieu of putting on full make-up for a lighting test, 3D effects supervisor Martin Jay Sadoff offered to have Richard Booker (the actor playing Jason) wear a Detroit Red Wings goalie mask he happened to have his hockey bag that day. 

During the test director Steve Miner said he liked the look of the mask and commissioned a custom one be made to better fit Booker’s face.  Per Screen Rant “once the molds were done, Terry Ballard added the red triangles in order to give it a unique appearance, along with holes and altered markings to ensure it stood out.”  While Jason’s masks would change over the years (see Jason X), his look become such a part of the cultural zeitgeist that today classic goalie masks are often referred to as “Jason Style” masks.

Jason Voorhees’ more highly intelligent compatriot Dr. Hannibal Lecter also wears a goalie mask albeit only a portion and not to hide a deformity, but rather for the protection of others. When the props department for Silence of the Lambs read the film’s script, they knew they needed to provide some kind of “human muzzle” to contain the psychotic cannibal. They tried several different types of masks, from wire cages from goalie helmets to fencing masks.

Fortuitously, the props department got their hands on the business card of Ed Cubberly. After explaining the character to him, Cubberly sketched up a design that used the lower portion of a goalie mask, adding bars to the mouth area to make it look more menacing.  To give it a more “made in jail” appearance, Cubberly suggested that the mask not be painted but rather left in its brownish green raw state.  The rest, as they say, is cinematic history. 

Note: As chance would have it, The NY Times’ Peter Baugh published an in-depth article on the mask yesterday which is very much worth a read.