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News Flash

2nd September 2010 Deborah Landis came out to visit the Prop Store a few days ago to see her most famous costume creation View

27th August 2010 The latest Prop Store Newsletter has been released. Click here for details. View

16th August 2010 Would you use a Prop Store Iphone App? Let us know here. View

13th August 2010 The latest Prop Store Newsletter has been released. Click here for details. View

11th August 2010 Kroenen's mask from Hellboy has been added to The Collection Page View

Karl Ruprecht Kroenen was born in Munich, Germany in 1897. So states the book Hellboy – The art of the movie, the fictional history also details that Kroenen was a musical prodigy who toured the capital cities of Europe before the onset of adulthood. As he grew, he developed a severe version of “Body Dismorphic Disorder” to which victims subject themselves to repeated unnecessary surgeries. Most graphically resulting in the removal of his own eyelids and lips. A more than competent mechanic, Kroenen also replaced various organs with clockwork replacements. Another consequence of his illness was the creation of filtering, air tight masks to keep germs away. In the movie it is these masks that are the signature for the character.
Kroenen became the focus of the villainy in Guillermo Del Torro’s 2004 movie Hellboy. He was almost impossible to kill and proved to be more than a match for “Big Red”. It was of course Kroenen, who was assisting Grigori Rasputin, who first conjured Hellboy into the world. In 1944 the two villains, as part of the evil “Project Ragna Rok” created the portal generator which opened the worlds and gave us Hellboy!
The mask worn by Czech actor Ladislav Beran as Kroenen changed as the movie progressed, he wears a different mask in each scene and you also get to see a number of alternate versions on his workbench. The mask in the Prop Store collection can be seen as we first meet Kroenen dressed in his full Third Reich uniform. This costume is perhaps how the character is best remembered. The mask is made from fibreglass and is leather lined. The sides are richly detailed with pipes and sockets and the straps to the rear are made of rubber.