S2E6: “How NOT To Make A (Monster) Movie”

Welcome to our Halloween podcast – How NOT To Make A (Monster) Movie. One of the masters of movie make up special effects is our very good friend Todd Masters. We’re sure you remember Todd vividly from Season One of The How NOT To Make A Movie Podcast. Todd became Tales From The Crypt’s permanent in-house effects guy starting season four. He created the monsters in Demon Knight – now considered a classic horror movie. And, when our talented but inexperienced special effects team in Vancouver began to crash and burn, Todd was the reinforcement we sent to save the day. Todd Masters really is a movie monster master.

If you like monster movies – if you like special effects period – you’ll enjoy the hell out of this conversation. For starters, we talk a fair amount of “Tales From The Crypt”. How could we not? Todd talks about some of his very favorite make up effects from Crypt. One he’s especially proud of? Steve Buscemi’s squished eyeball in the “Forever Ambergris” episode.

Of High Stakes & Butt Steaks

Sometimes it can be “murder” getting a make up special effect to work right. Great effects take time and money – which, unfortunately, one doesn’t always have in the heat of production battle. There’s a very real “seat of the pants” element to makeup special effects – even great ones. The stakes are always high.

We’ll also talk about working with directors like William Friedkin, Bob Hoskins, Walter Hill, Bob Zemeckis, Larry Wilson, Gary Fleder and the under-appreciated but incredibly talented Bill Malone.

Where do these ideas come from? What makes otherwise normal people obsess on depicting gore so it looks utterly real? To that end, we’ll talk how Todd crafted some of Crypt’s most exquisitely gory effects – like the squished eyeball, the tattoo that comes to life in “On A Dead Man’s Chest” and the “butt steak” from “What’s Cookin”.

Todd will also talk a little about his work on “Yellowjackets”.

Ultimately, this is a conversation between old friends, talking shop. And monsters. Enjoy!