You've seen the iconic Halloween poster a thousand times—but did you ever notice the terrifying face hiding in plain sight? And here's the kicker: the artist had no idea he painted it.
Compass International Pictures
When you think about the promotional artwork for John Carpenter's groundbreaking 1978 horror film "Halloween" (https://www.slashfilm.com/1977539/best-movie-posters-all-time-ranked/), what comes to mind is something genuinely chilling, elegantly understated, and absolutely genius in its execution. The creative mind behind this masterpiece was Bob Gleason, a talented artist whose original poster design commanded an impressive $84,000 when it went under the hammer at auction back in 2016. According to a report published by Business Insider (https://www.insider.com/halloween-horror-movie-interesting-things-to-know-2021-10#artist-bob-gleason-accidentally-hid-an-ominous-monster-in-the-original-movie-poster-7) in 2022, Gleason revealed something fascinating in a special letter written for that auction: there's a concealed image embedded within the poster that he never deliberately placed there.
Take a closer look at the clenched fist depicted in the artwork. If you examine it carefully enough, you might start to distinguish what appears to be a grotesque face formed by the arrangement of knuckles and the pattern of veins. The second knuckle bears an uncanny resemblance to a nose, while the third and fourth knuckles could easily be interpreted as a pair of lips. Even more disturbing, the veins snaking across the hand look remarkably like worms wriggling their way out of the face's various openings—creating an image that's both nightmarish and strangely compelling.
But here's where it gets controversial... Gleason wanted everyone to know with absolute certainty: this creepy detail was never part of his original vision.
During a conversation with Fangoria Magazine (https://www.fangoria.com/halloween-1978-poster-artist-bob-gleason-on-halloween-ends-poster/) in 2022, Gleason shared the fascinating backstory of how he conceived the "Halloween" poster while employed at B.D. Fox and Friends, a graphic design company based in Santa Monica. His creative breakthrough came when he observed how the natural ridges that wrap around a pumpkin's surface could be rendered with shadows to create jagged, blade-like shapes—an aesthetic element that would work beautifully alongside an actual knife. The finished poster, as you've probably noticed, features the menacing hand of the legendary slasher villain Michael Myers (https://www.slashfilm.com/1008169/best-characters-from-the-halloween-franchise-ranked/) gripping a large, wickedly curved kitchen blade. This hand and knife seamlessly transform into a repeating visual pattern that ultimately forms the instantly recognizable face of a jack-o'-lantern.
Interestingly enough, Gleason's supervisors initially pushed back against his creative direction. They believed the poster should prominently showcase Myers' distinctive white mask as the central focal point, rather than emphasizing the knife. However, after some deliberation, his managers eventually changed their minds and gave him the green light to execute his original vision. The entire painting process took him somewhere between three to four days to complete. Fast forward 44 years, and Gleason was invited back to create the poster artwork for David Gordon Green's 2022 installment "Halloween Ends" (https://www.slashfilm.com/1950889/halloween-movies-ranked/). During the decades between these two projects, he also lent his artistic talents to creating posters for John Carpenter's atmospheric thriller "The Fog," Chuck Norris' action film "Force Vengeance," and the martial arts classic "Game of Death" starring Bruce Lee.
The nightmarish 'face' lurking in the original Halloween poster emerged purely by chance
Compass International Pictures
In his detailed auction letter, Gleason confirmed beyond any doubt that the face-like image visible in Myers' clenched fist on the "Halloween" poster was nothing more than a bizarre coincidence—a product of his subconscious mind rather than deliberate artistic choice. Here's exactly what he wrote:
"While painting the hand, my thought was to have dramatic lights and dark shapes to match the strobe stabbing effects of the pumpkin. [...] I did not consciously know I was infusing in the back of the hand a screaming monster with worms coming out of his mouth, eye, and nose. [...] [It] kind of freaks me out. I couldn't have done it better if I had tried to do that. What dark nightmares lurk in my psyche?"
Once you've spotted the monstrous face hidden within the hand, it becomes virtually impossible to look at the poster without seeing it again. Tony Moran, the actor who portrayed the unmasked, twenty-something version of Myers in Carpenter's original "Halloween," actually had some fun with this hidden detail during an appearance at a film convention (as reported by LADbible (https://www.ladbible.com/entertainment/film/halloween-michael-myers-actor-poster-hidden-face-330624-20241021)). "Do you see this hand? It's something other than a hand," he playfully challenged the audience members. "Well, I'm not going to tell you, you're going to have a look at it yourself, bro." After giving attendees time to examine the poster closely, Moran added with a knowing smile, "If you see it, don't say a word. Do not say a word."
That being said, it's entirely reasonable to accept that this unsettling detail emerged without any conscious intention on the artist's part. I personally remember hearing another theory back in the 1990s claiming that the sharp, jagged "teeth" of the pumpkin on the "Halloween" poster, when viewed in combination with the knife's shape, actually spell out two capital letter M's—supposedly representing Myers' initials. This interpretation was almost certainly another case of people finding patterns where none were deliberately placed. The truth is, most of these so-called "hidden details" discovered in movie posters are probably nothing more than the quirky, unintentional byproducts of an artist's creative process and the human tendency to find meaningful patterns in random visual information.
And this is the part most people miss... Perhaps the most notorious example of this phenomenon involves a persistent urban legend surrounding Disney's animated classic "The Little Mermaid." (https://www.slashfilm.com/1909001/the-little-mermaid-1990-vhs-cover-ban-explained/) For years, rumors circulated that a disgruntled Disney employee deliberately concealed a phallic shape within the original poster artwork for the film. Much like the "screaming monster with worms" hidden in the Halloween poster, that controversial detail was also completely unintentional—just another case of our pattern-seeking brains finding images that were never meant to be there.
So here's the question that's bound to spark debate: Do you think our subconscious minds reveal hidden truths through our creative work, or are we just really good at seeing faces and patterns where none exist? Have you ever spotted the hidden face in the Halloween poster before reading this? Drop your thoughts in the comments—do you believe these "accidents" are truly random, or is there something darker at play in the creative process?
