One of the original actors who played the iconic Michael Myers villain in the very first Halloween film has revealed a hidden detail in the movie’s legendary poster.
Back in 1978, Halloween was released in the week before the autumn holiday itself, with the world introduced to the terrifying world of Michael Myers, a mental hospital patient who escapes 15 years after murdering his teenage sister on one Halloween night.
Myers, known for his terrifying mask, sets his sights on teenage babysitter Laurie Strode, played by Jamie Lee Curtis in her first ever movie role; a role that would go on to define her career through the multiple sequels to the slasher film.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest horror films of all time, it brought slashers in to the mainstream and the iconic role of the ‘final girl’, the one survivor from a villain’s murderous rampage that lives to tell the story (and pave the way for profitable sequels and franchises).
Michael Myers was played by three actors in the film, primarily Nick Castle but also Tony Moran and Will Sandin, with the latter two playing an unmasked and child version of the killer, respectively.
And it is Moran who has recently brought attention to the film’s iconic poster and its hidden imagery.
The iconic Halloween poster (Universal History Archive / UIG via Getty images)
“Do you see this hand? It’s something other than a hand,” Moran tells those getting their memorabilia signed at a recent film convention.
“Well, I’m not going to tell you, you’re going to have a look at it yourself, bro.”
After taking a closer look, Moran says: “If you see it, don’t say a word. Do not say a word.
“It’s something other than a hand, I promise you. When I show you you’re going to go ‘whaaaaat?’.”
With the crowd still unable to figure it out, Moran reveals all.
“It’s the profile of a face,” he tells them.
“There’s the eye, there’s the nose and there’s the mouth.”
After revealing it, the onlookers were left going making a universal ‘ahhhh…’ after finally clocking it.
“You’ll never not see that now, you’ll never see a hand ever again,” Moran said.
The moment was captured by TikTok user Julian Mongeon, who captioned the video with: “I can’t unsee it now.”
Reacting to the revelation, one TikTok user wrote: “I don’t see it not going to lie.”
A second said: “It’s a face, I don’t know how people never knew.”
And a third posted: “I see it now. It looks like a face screaming that is covered in a plastic bag; like something out of A Nightmare on Elm Street.“
The iconic Michael Myers character in the Halloween universe (PA Features Archive)
Others said it was more a case of pareidolia, which is where our brains impose a likeness on to an image to try and form a greater connection or understanding.This may well be the case given that Robert Gleason, the artist behind the iconic poster, admitted that he didn’t draw the face intentionally, with it something he later spotted himself in the piece. Which, if you ask us, just adds to the creepy lore surrounding the iconic film.
