It all started one dark rainy October night in 1995 when my parents were out, the TV set was mine for the night and a little flick called “Halloween” was on… 

Little did I know back then that this very night and this very movie would literally shape my life and soul - all I knew was that it was love at first sight that evening…and that I wanted and needed to be a part of the Halloween world in some way.

As a teen I would come home from school every afternoon and spend the rest of the day diving into the world of 70s and 80s horror until the early morning hours, exploring the world of horror through online message boards and forums where I met and made friends with other people sharing my passion - which by then had turned into an obsession - finding out that I’m not the only weird kid out there. As I delved deeper into the topic of mask making and special effects make up, admiring Rick Baker, Dick Smith, Tom Savini, Howard Berger and the like - and even getting in contact with these masters of their craft, I wanted to create masks that were just as realistic and terrifying as the ones in the movies. Finally, in 2005, I bought my first bucket of latex… and the rest is history. :)

I even wrote my thesis about one of the greatest horror films of all time - the 1922 German silent classic “Nosferatu”, in which Max Schreck delivers an outstanding creepy performance as Count Orlok. As a nod to him, I added “von Schreck” as my screen name.

To this day I make and collect mask, new and vintage, and even have the honor to call several iconic screen-used masks from films such as Scream 2 and Halloween 6 my own. I blame that fateful dark and stormy October night in 1995 for all of this, and wouldn't change one bit. Happy Halloween!