20 Things You Didn't Know About Halloween (1978)
6. The Mask That Never Was
Michael Myers wears a clown mask and costume in the opening scene of the film for a reason: as an adult, he was meant to wear an Emmett Kelly smiling clown mask made by Don Post, but that was rejected in favour of the famous adapted William Shatner Captain Kirk mask from Star Trek, which looked far more terrifying.
It is hard to imagine whether Halloween and its sequels would have been as effective with the clown mask in place of the classic mask that The Shape wears. Perhaps the best way to tell is to view the number of slasher films that used the clown mask technique which emerged after Halloween, such as the 1980 film, Terror Train, which also starred Jamie Lee Curtis.
The Halloween filmmakers would, however, toy with the clown mask idea in both Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers (1988) and Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers (1989), whilst masks by Don Post Studios were central to the plot of the non-Michael Myers film, Halloween III: Season of the Witch (1982).