Richard Bachman’s amazing ‘The Shining’ mask is all kinds of terrifying

Richard Bachman has a great name, especially when the media covering you is comprised primarily of middle-aged Canadian men. Any opportunity to reference Bachman-Turner Overdrive is one most of these guys will take.

But Randy isn't the only Bachman the Dallas Stars' netminder brings to mind, especially among horror fiction fans: Richard Bachman was an early pen name for Stephen King.

Bachman's new mask, painted by artist David Gunnarsson, pays tribute to his pseudonymous namesake. It's covered in iconic scenes from my favourite movie ever, The Shining.

It's also one of the scariest masks ever. That was intentional.

Gunnarsson, from DaveArt.com:

This may be one of the most scary masks I've ever created... We wanted the mask to have the same uncomfortable feeling you have when you just wake up after a nightmare..... Richard and I made a lot of thinking and brainstorming for this artwork. It is a tribute to Stephen King, because he sometimes also use the name Richard Bachman when he writes.

To make it even more scary we decided to use only one color all over the mask, and it is all painted in a scary mix of calm paint and an uncomfortable feeling all over the mask. It is all created with old school airbrush paint mixed with oil paint tech.

Somewhat ironically, Stephen King hated Stanley Kubrick's version of "The Shining", so he might not be totally into this mask. But Kubrick would love it, since it has everything he liked, such as Jack Nicholson grimacing with his head tilted slightly, and Shelley Duvall being terrorized.

This is a serious "Shining" tribute. It features references to some of the film's more iconic scenes: Jack Torrence shivering as he chases his son through the hedge maze; Wendy Torrence screaming on the inside of the bathroom door; Danny Torrence riding his big wheel through the hallway; the twins that meet him at the end of it.

But it also features some small flourishes for the diehards, such as the pattern inside the star on the mask's left side. It's the pattern from the Overlook Hotel carpet.

Really, the only thing this mask is missing is the poster over Dick Halloran's bed. (And maybe something from the furry scene.)

Said Bachman, via IN GOAL magazine:

"The work he did surpassed all of my expectations, the attention to detail is what really makes the mask look great and turn heads," Bachman said. "The white and black also makes a statement in itself, and I am thinking of adding a gold cage to really get a cool effect. I'm not worried about the 'darkness' of the mask as the white and black calm the scary aspect. The part I like most is all the little details throughout, such as the carpet that was in the hotel in the movie inside the Stars logo."

Bachman will be competing with Kari Lehtonen for icetime in 2012-13, but a mask like this might inspire Glen Gulutuzan to let Bachman play occasionally.

We'd hate for him to become a dull boy.

Follow Harrison Mooney on Twitter @HarrisonMooney