‘Evil Dead Burn’ Director Wants to Remake ‘The Mask’ as the Brutal Horror Comic It Was Always Meant to Be
Brad Miska | Jul 10, 2026
One of the biggest missed opportunities in comic book movie history has to be New Line Cinema‘s The Mask
Released in 1994 after sitting on the shelf while the studio waited for Jim Carrey to become a bankable star following the breakout success of Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, the film was ultimately a massive commercial hit. It earned strong reviews from critics and turned Carrey into an A-list movie star almost overnight
For fans of the original Dark Horse Comics series, however, it was a very different story
The movie transformed The Mask into a broad supernatural comedy, stripping away much of what made the comics so unforgettable. Created by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke, the original books – including The Mask and The Mask Returns – were gleefully violent, pitch-black horror comedies that followed Stanley “Stan” Ipkiss after he discovered a mysterious mask that unleashed his darkest impulses. Bodies exploded. Criminals were butchered. Blood flowed by the gallon
Now that I think about it, the closest modern comparison might be Art the Clown from Terrifier. Beneath all the cartoon slapstick and absurd humor was an unstoppable psychopath capable of unimaginable carnage. That’s the version of The Mask I’ve always wanted to see on screen
Now it sounds like someone else does, too
During a recent Reddit AMA promoting Evil Dead Burn, director Sébastien Vaniček was asked which intellectual property he’d most like to tackle if given the chance
His answer?
“I think I would dig into The Mask, but make it closer to the comic books,” he said. “The comic books are actually very, very violent and dark.”
Vaniček also spoke about his love of Kentaro Miura‘s Berserk, one of the most famously brutal manga ever created, making it pretty clear that he’s drawn to stories with uncompromising violence and dark fantasy
I think he’d be perfect
After watching what he accomplished with Infested and now Evil Dead Burn, it’s easy to imagine Vaniček embracing the splatter-punk insanity that made the original Mask comics so special. Rather than another family-friendly comedy, he’d have the chance to unleash the horrifying, blood-soaked version that comic fans have been waiting more than three decades to see
If Hollywood is serious about revisiting The Mask, I hope somebody hands Sébastien Vaniček the keys. It’s time audiences finally met the real Big Head
Tags: Sebastien VanicekThe Mask
Categorized:Comics / BooksNews
