Iowa Dad Behind Viral Halloween Costumes Debuts the 'MonstDOOR' to Thrill Trick-or-Treaters

Mar. 15, 2025

It might look like just another decorated front door — but Greg Dietzenbach’s latest Halloween creation is a real monster.

The bottom panels morph into fuzzy purple arms, while the top panels become glowing green eyes. And at the center of the door is a purple wreath, which doubles as the MonstDOOR’s mouth.

“I really like how this one turned out!” Dietzenbach tells PEOPLE. “It looks like a Pixar movie come to life.”

Dietzenbach has a knack for creating awesome art for Halloween. In the last two years, the Iowa dad has created viral pieces such asa Zoom call costumeanda drive-in movie theater costume, which his daughter Ada wore to celebrate the holiday.

The dad tells PEOPLE that none of his kids were interested in a special costume this year, so he opted to do something for the trick-or-treaters instead.

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To make the MonstDOOR, Dietzenbach had tostart from scratch, according to his blog post. The door itself is not real, but rather designed to mimic the look “so people wouldn’t be expecting anything out of the ordinary.”

“The only thing I didn’t anticipate was that I’d have to crawl through a window to get in and out of the house,” Dietzenbach noted in the blog post, “but it’s all part of the fun.”

To operate the contraption, Dietzenbach tells PEOPLE he drops a wood panel to expose the eyes before releasing its arms and using a string tied to his shoe to move the mouth.

He says that he feels like he looks “like a one-man band” while controlling his creation.

Dietzenbach tells PEOPLE it took him about 10 days to build the MonstDOOR, with work commencing on Oct. 14.

After completing the piece on Sunday, Dietzenbach invited some friends and their children over to his home to check it out — and it was an instant hit.

“The kids LOVED it!” he tells PEOPLE, adding, “They also really enjoyed the other side of the door too.”

Dietzenbach doesn’t get to see his art in action when he’s at the helm. He tells PEOPLE that it’s the biggest difference between the MonstDOOR and his other Halloween projects.

Seeing the video of his work come to life on video, however, was a “magical” moment.

“When I saw a video of it for the first time,” he says, “I was floored!”

source: people.com