Beginning with John Carpenter’s Halloween in 1978, there was a paradigm shift in the realm of the horror film. Gone were mad scientists and ageless vampires who lived in impossibly grandiose castles in eastern Europe, and picking up their baton were monsters who existed in the world of the suburbs and small towns (well, except maybe Pinhead). Basically, these were monsters that hit us close to home, and they were scarier than anything that had come before them. Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, and Freddy Kruger were all bound to a reality we were all very familiar with, and that made them terrifying. It was difficult to empathize with Dracula’s victims in the 1800s, but Jason? Terrorizing a summer camp? That hit waaaaaaay too close to home and it gave us the heebie-jeebies like nobody’s business. These movies worked, the characters clicked, and this crew of characters would become the defining faces of horror for decades. In fact, I’m pretty sure nothing has really knocked them off their collective thrones yet.
Funko has been on a roll with their ReAction series, figures constructed in the style of Kenner’s late-’70s Star Wars figures. Their take on the Univeral Monsters and the Nightmare Before Christmas crew were beautifully effective in their simplicity, and this Horror Series is another fantastic and fun collection of retro figures that actually manage to capture the spirit of these horror icons.
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Normally, the action figure format is reserved for heroes who are often depicted combating evil, but here is a series of figures 100 percent focused on the evil that needs to be dealt with in their respective movies. That is so wild to me. This collection of cinematic murderers has become so iconic that it’s perfectly normal to have a display alongside a superhero display. Seeing their faces on the figures’ cards gave me a chuckle the first time I laid eyes on them, and every single one looks awesome, especially Jason’s.
We’re only looking at five of the figures today because The Crow was already given a thorough review by the Fwoosh’s own ibentmyman-thing, and Ghostface has not yet been released, so Jason, Freddy, Michael, Pinhead, and Sam all get the spotlight today — fitting since it is Halloween, after all.
Jason and Freddy are, without a doubt, the heavy-hitters here and somehow Funko was able to naile their likenesses in this simple format. What blows me away is they even recreated the texture of Freddy’s sweater, and the paint apps on his glove and… er… flesh capture the character as well as any other version of Freddy I’ve seen in figure form.
Jason’s design is much simpler and less detailed, but that’s actually perfect because Jason’s design was originally intended to be a very simple one. His look did change from movie to movie, so I’m not positive which version this one is, but Funko nailed the hockey mask and the machete — that’s all that matters here.
Like Jason, Michael Myers may have the simplest design of them all, but there was something about that blank, expressionless mask that made him scary as hell. Funko’s figure nails that basic design well, and just like the figure’s movie counterpart, all he has to do is just stand there, motionless, holding a dagger and he looks completely menacing.
In contrast to Michael Myers, Pinhead from the Hellraiser movies has one of the busier designs we’ve ever seen in a horror icon, modern or classic. The figure is mostly successful in its attempt to recreate Clive Barker’s most famous Cenobite, but he’s lacking on key element — the pins that make him PINhead! There is nothing representative of the nails in the characters head here, just the crosshatch pattern where the nails should be. I mean, I get that it probably wasn’t feasible, but this is a big thing to have to do with out. The puzzle box, on the other hand, is fantastic, and it’s so cool that he actually comes with it. The sculpt of the box is awesome for its scale, and the paint used does a lot to highlight that. I really hope we get more Cenobites in this line to accompany Pinhead.
Sam, from Trick ‘R Treat, here is the only character that was new to me, but his design was so awesome that I had to have the figure and I made a point of it to check out his movie. He looks like a little kid wearing what looks like a cross between a child’s pajamas and a scarecrow costume, and the combination is positively endearing. He’s definitely the smallest figure of the bunch, but what he lacks in size, he makes up for in screen-accurate awesomeness. He comes with the piece of Halloween candy he uses to attack is would-be victims, which is a great piece of movie-faithful detail.
In these days of highly articulated everything, these figures are not going to be for everyone, but I can’t help but love them. I was able to secure my set at my local Barnes & Noble, but they’re available pretty much everywhere that sells action figures at this point.