So what the hell is a Shock Monster anyway? Here’s a little back story on this fiend:

The Shock Monster was an old Topstone mask that was advertised in the rag Famous Monsters of Filmland. Essentially a generic zombie mask, it was supposedly named as such to cash in on the then popularity of Shock! Theater.

He was notorious for looking totally badass in the magazine,

and looking totally less badass when he arrived at your door.

Now, while this mask is pretty awesome and horrifying in its own right, I could imagine being pretty disappointed if I was expecting something akin to the former, particularly if I was a 10 year old and I’d been waiting for this thing for a few weeks.

Over the years many people have re-sculpted the Shock Monster to better capture the essence of its original ad, or to put their own spin on it. One of my favorite incarnation of Shock was created by a buddy of mine named Adam Dougherty. Recently, he displayed it at 2012’s Monsterpalooza convention in Burbank, CA. It’s 7 and a 1/2 feet tall, totally badass, and not at all disappointing.