The Blob: A Pictorial Showcase of the Special Effects

If you read the post before this you’d know that I had the extreme pleasure of seeing The Blob ’88 on the big screen and as I predicted… I loved it but it really opened my eye on something. I knew this even before now but somehow seeing it enlarged really made me have a strong appreciation for the special effects that the film has. I stated in a review of the film that the special effects on the Blob not only gave the monster texture and feeling but it also gave it character; it wasn’t just some gelatinous blob (like the 50’s version) but rather an organism that you could watch work things out. Even by today’s standards the special effects are so damn good that it’s amazing that none of it was CGI… eat your heart out Nightmare on Elm Street ’10. I am still marveled at how good it was that I decided to showcase some pictures showing just how real and how personified Chuck Russell and his effects team made the Blob. Hats off to everybody involved. They really outdid themselves.

Sci-Fi Spectacular 5 Coverage

Well, this past Saturday concluded what was a great edition to the Sci-Fi Spectacular event that’s held at the Music Box. Though I ran into a few buddies, I sort of did a ‘lone wolf’ thing this year… I’m not sure why but I guess it’s partly due to the fact that I had had a severe headache that morning. I almost didn’t make it but luckily I came in just as they were showing the first movie. I had to attend for two reasons, director Mick Garris was suppose to be there… the man who brought me the emotionally charged adaptation of The Stand. The other person who was going to be there was Chuck Russell who single-handedly gave me insomnia for a good 5 years of my life. I couldn’t miss out on an opportunity to meet both of them.

Day the World Ended (1955)

This was incorrectly titled It Conquered the World on the roster. I fell asleep halfway into the film because of a bad headache but I saw a majority of the film and I enjoyed it. It’s really cheesy and the audience knew it; the dialogue, the effects and the plot were all just really bad but what do you expect from Corman? I think that this movie could fare well as a remake because it could give the film a chance to really show the characters and how they cope with the end of the world. It could take the film somewhere where the 50s version couldn’t have gone.

Krull (1983)

Ah yes, for years this movie avoided me and now that I finally saw it on the big screen I can honestly say that it was okay. It’s very cheesy and the dialogue and performances are ridiculously tacky. However, despite all this… what made me enjoy it were the practical effects and set design. It’s a movie that really puts the whole idea of physical special effects being better than CGI. There were two kids (to my surprise) that sat behind me almost the entire time and apparently they think that Krull is one of the best movies of all time. I guess it’s the action that won them over but for me it was the special effects. Look for Liam Neeson in this because it might be one of his first movies.

Critters 2 (1988)

I forgot how much I love the Critters franchise and I had only seen Critters 2 about twice, ironically enough, up until recently. Our library has it but it’s so badly damaged that it’s virtually unplayable so it was a treat for me to watch a movie I use to rent out on VHS. What sold me was the Crite ball and how absurdly funny it was. Though, as I watched it I couldn’t help but notice the similarities the Crites had with the Gremlins and I think it would be really fun to explore that eventually. However, you know what made this experience even better? Mick Garris was there in person to answer a few Q&A’s about the film and his career.

He mainly elaborated on how it was like to shoot on one of the coldest days in California and how the girl, who played the model, had to walk around half-naked in icy temperatures. He told us how he had a truck pull the Critter ball down the road and how you could see, for a split second, the legs of the effects people rolling the Critter ball down the street. It was really fun to listen to him talk about Stephen King and his relationship with him and he discussed how he created Masters of Horror and how he opted for total directorial control over the series.

I obviously couldn’t pass up an opportunity for him to sign my copy of The Stand, which is still one of my all-time favorite King adaptations. Like a total nerd, I had him sign it by saying, “M-O-O-N, that spells Mick Garris.” He had a good laugh.

Side note: Is it just me or does Garris sort of have that younger James Cameron face? I think it might be the hair that makes me think this.

Naked Lunch (1991)

After the Mick Garris encounter I had a late lunch while the rest of the patrons watched Naked Lunch. I heard about it but never really saw it so you can understand how surprising it was to walk into the theater, while it was almost over, and see somebody sucking on the head-tentacles of some type of alien. Now, I must do whatever it takes to hunt this movie down because I can’t believe I had never seen it… especially since it was David Cronenberg.

Rubber (2010)

This was the Midwest theatrical premiere of the (probably) soon to-be cult classic about a car tire that goes around exploding people’s heads by means of telepathy. Yeah, and if that’s not strange and random enough… there are a group of spectators watching the whole thing night and day as though they were a live audience. It was so random that the comedy was hit or miss. I initially didn’t like it because I didn’t understand it, but as it progressed I realized that it was meant to be random and stupid and I slowly warmed up to it. Viewers beware, leave your brain at the door wit this one and if you don’t like randomness, don’t see it. I fear that many people would not like it and I’m surprise that I didn’t.

There was also this nice little interview with the star of the movie… the tire. Which is black, and my not have a specific brand. I wasn’t really paying attention to it that much because my camera cramped up on me after I took the picture.

The Blob (1988)

This is what it all boiled down to. For those of you who don’t know me, this version of The Blob is a childhood favorite because when I was 7 I saw this for the first time and it gave me nightmares subsequently for 5 years. (I thought I was macho enough to get through it but I turned the video off when the Blob began eating Paul in the office). So you can see why it was one of the best experiences I had watching it on the big screen on an actual film print. It had the grain, the scratches and the occasional audio blip that made this a very nostalgia moment for me. I still can’t believe how good the effects are and how the CGI today can’t even compare to the gritty realism that Russell and his effects team brought to the movie. But you want to know the real treat for me was? This…

Good ‘ol Chuck Russell was there answering a few Q&A’s. He was a really nice but overly excited guy. I don’t blame him, really. He elaborated on how much of a pain it was to make sure all the special effects worked and how nail biting it was since they initially thought it wouldn’t be so difficult. He talked about his relationship with Darabont and how Kevin Dillon’s performance in Platoon influenced Russell’s decision to cast him as Flagg. He talked about how he was very interested in see what Zombie would have done if they did the remake of The Blob and how he was sort of sad at the similarities between Inception and Dreamscape.

I had to have him sign it by saying one of the creepiest quotes in a horror film, “Remember Rick, the Lord will give us a sign. – Chuck Russell.” He was a good sport about it. If you want, you could read my interview I had with one of the special effects guys for the movie, right here.

Event Horizon (1997)

This was another one that always seemed to have eluded me mainly because at first I thought it looked dumb but as I begin to hear more and more about it, my interested began raising. I really enjoyed it and this was a movie that came from Paul W.S. Anderson too. I really enjoyed the set design and the idea of a haunted house in space. It was really unique in that regard because it seems like space-horror always needs an alien but this movie says, “hey, we can make a horror movie in space and have something more complex” and it succeeded.

Overall, I thought it was a great night. I saw my second favorite horror movie of all time on the big screen, I saw my Chicago horror buddies and I met two kids who have an appreciation for classic horror. I can’t wait to see what they have lined up for next time. I can cross my fingers in hopes that it would be The Thing.

Paradise Profiles: Jeff Farley (Special Effects)

So, as many of you may already know, my second favorite horror movie of all time in the 1988 remake of The Blob. A few months ago I did a video review of The Blob on the blob and Jeff Farley, who was the creature effects crew for The Blob, commented on my video. I asked him if he would do an interview through Facebook about his role in The Blob as well as his website and his other works. He agreed to and I am thrilled and pleased to bring you the longest interview that I ever had. I also want to thank Jeff Farley for agreeing to do this.

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IMDb states that your job on The Blob was 'creature effects crew.' What sort of jobs does that include?
Well, on THE BLOB, the crew was broken up into two separate units. Tony Gardner was hired to provide any makeup effects related to the bodies being "digested" and Lyle Conway was brought in (obviously because of the reputation of his work with the Henson's and the amazing "Audrey Jr." from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS) to come up with the concepts for the title creature. Since we were directly fabricating the actual "Blob" itself and puppeteering it, our title was quite naturally, Creature Effects Crew. At least that's what my crew jacket says. I recall spending quite a bit of time going to the shop in Hollywood in the mornings, working a few hours there, then driving to first unit in Valencia to work for a few hours and then diving to Simim Vally to end up at Dreamquest for the rest of the day to work on the puppet crew. I must have done this every day for a few weeks. It was nuts, but we got through it.

How was working with Shawnee Smith and Kevin Dillon?
I only worked with Shawnee and Kevin a few times on set directly. They were quite nice and professional from my recollection. But we never really talked or anything. I do remember talking with Bill Mosely Erika Eleniak and Ricky Paull Goldin though. Just stuff you do on set to relieve the boredom. I worked a few years ago with Kevin on some Sci Fi Channel film and we had a good laugh about our experiences on THE BLOB.

When we first see the blob in the meteorite, what exactly was 'the blob' made out of?
The meteorite scene was shot on location in Louisiana while I was in Italy on Empire Pictures ARENA.

The hospital scene when Meg sees her boyfriend get devoured by the blob, how exactly was that scene pulled off?
The effect were Meg's boyfriend is devoured was accomplished mostly by Tony Gardner's crew. They did it with a combination of full-scale rigs built for Donovan Leitch and miniatures. Our unit may have provided the skins that were pulled over the body at different speeds creating a unique effect. The skins or "quilts" as we called them were created by using silk bags sewed onto silk sheets. These were then dyed, airbrushed and then each bag would be injected with methocel. That, along with hot melt vinyl and other more traditional techniques, were how the Blob was created.

What were the hardships of that scene?
Luckily, I wasn't involved with particular scene, but I'm sure it, like most everything else was "not a walk in the park".

For the kitchen scene, how on Earth did you manage to get a guy's head down the drain?
It's funny that picked out the drain sequence because I was involved with that. Andy Workman and I were tasked with building the kitchen sink (so yes, I have done everything) and it had to work with the collapsing head that the makeup effects crew built. The understructure looked somewhat like an eggbeater with a mechanism in the center that would cause the head to collapsed and fit down the drain. It was really quite ingenious.

Now, for that theater scene, what had to have been the hardest thing you had to do?
For the theater scene there were many things to do, but I recall being involved in the scene where Frank Collison's character is on the ceiling and gets Pons Marr. It was a very difficult setup.

In the end scenes, where we finally see the full blob, are any of the movements done in stop-motion or is all puppetry?
Everything from my recollection (it has been 20 years) was achieved through good old "blood, sweat and tears". Oh, and some elbow grease and intestinal fortitude were thrown in for good measure. No CGI at that time folks! To be honest, it was all puppetry.

One scene in particular (reference point 1:26:43) it seems as though there are layers to the blob and one layer came out of another. How was that done?
This was achieved by layers of quilts with slightly varying colors being fitted together and a puppeteer would thrust out their arms inside the bags to separate them. There was not a day when the puppeteering crew would not go home covered in slime. We would wear plastic garbage bags to try to cover ourselves, but it never worked.

While on the set for The Blob, what was the hardest thing that you had to do or help with?
The most difficult project I was involved with on set was the scene where Ricky Paull Goldin and Erika Eleniak are in the car. That included many days of prep, puppeteering and special rigs. The point where the Blob covers Ricky was achieved by harnessing him into a car mounted on a gimbel and turning the car on it's side. We then got to pour five gallon buckets of slime on him. That's show business kids!

How was it like working with Chuck Russell?
Working with Chuck was an interesting experience. He is a very focused, talented and detail-oriented individual. He is also prone to fits of screaming in your face when you haven't done what he wants you to do. I had one direct experience with him on the previously mentioned sequence where I was chosen to double Ricky for the slime tests. Well, here I am lying on a board between two ladders and someone pours five gallons on slime on me. I felt this was rather absurd and laughed. Well, Mr. Russell would have none of that! He gets one inch from my face and screams at the top of his lungs "THIS THING IS ABOUT TO FUCKING KILL YOU AND YOU'RE FUCKING LAUGHING? YOU SHOULD BE SCREAMING YOUR FUCKING LUNGS OUT! CLEAN HIM UP AND LET'S DO IT AGAIN!" So I had to do it a second time so he would be satisfied. To be honest though, I saw the same thing happen to the leads and even the director of photography, Mark Irwin. So I kind of feel as though I joined some kind of weird club.

What was the best memory you had?
The above mentioned memory.

While working on Carnosaur, what was your role?
I sculpted the small scale Tyrannosaurus Rex puppet for the original. It was then used for all of the sequels.

On Alien vs. Hunter, was it difficult to not copy to heavily off of Alien and Predator?
Oh yeah, when you work for The Asylum, you try not to tarnish the good names of any classic film! They rely on having some type of hook and if it's familiarity, that's not too bad I guess.

How was working on the set of Tropic Thunder?
I never made it the set on TROPIC THUNDER. I was brought in by Ed French to sculpt and mold Jack Black's Fatties character prosthetics. The molds were then shipped from my studio to Spectral Motion where the foam was run.

After reading some of your referrals, how does it feel to be so highly regarded in your prosthetics, creature and makeup design?
To be honest, it feels a bit strange. I started out as a fan going to conventions and hanging out at Forry Ackerman's. One of my neighbors was an editor of STAR WARS.and I spent my teenage years hanging around guys like Denneis Muren, David Allen, Jim Danforth and a number of others who so generously gave their time to help myself and others out. Now, I try to give advice to anyone who is interested in this as a profession.

What got you interested in makeup and creature design effects?
I was bitten by the bug early. My earliest memories must be from when I was about 3 or 4 and seeing the Cyclops fall off the cliff in SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD and KING KONG. My brother also had an Aurora Frankenstein model kit. I knew I wanted to do special effects when I was 8 when EQUINOX was released. I recall seeing our local morning news show and Dennis and Davis were on with some of the puppets. It also turns out I grew up where the film had been shot. The Green Giant sequence was shot where my father was a member of the local archery club. I ate my lunches off the picnic tables the Green Giant stood on! How cool is that for a young monster fan? I actually started to move towards makeup effects around the time DAWN OF THE DEAD was released. That film (quite literally) "blew me away"! At that time there where so many great technical innovations happening that I felt that was the place to be. More than gore, I was interested in the artistic and technical challenges. I try to use that philosophy in all of my work.

Where did you get the name 'Obscure Artifacts?'
I came up with the name Obscure Artifacts one day when I was giving some copy for Kit Builders magazine. I was doing some EQUINOX kits at the time and needed to come up with some moniker. As Lee Van Cleef said in MEAN FRANK AND CRAZY TONY, "It's a nice name, you should keep it".

Was there one time, in your whole career, where you were so frustrated with a project?
I could fill a thousand pages with all of the times I've been frustrated. But you have to get the job done and move on.

What is your favorite horror movie?
Without a doubt, EQUINOX!

For all the people who want to get into this field, what do you have to say to them?
Well, Jim Danforth gave one word of advice about getting into the business... "DON'T"! Actually, I would encourage anyone to pursue their goals, but to be aware that to achieve them, can mean some very long hours and to always try to keep improving the work you do constantly. Be satisfied with your work, but never enough that you don't grow. And just be the best person you can be. Confidence is good, but ego can get you kicked out the door.

What do you do to relax in your spare time?
Answer questions!

You can visit Jeff’s website by clicking here.
You can add Jeff as a friend by clicking here.
You can become a fan of Obscure Artifacts by clicking here.
You can visit Jeff’s IMDb page by clicking here.

REview - The Blob (1988)

So, here is another long waited review that I was meaning to do but had been delayed because of a bunch of school stuff. I decided that after making my Thing review, I should not do a review on The Blob since it was my #2 favorite horror movie of all time. As stated in the review, this movie is very close to me because is saw it in the same day as I did in The Thing and it terrified me. I hope you enjoy this review.

Paradise Profiles: Bohabb of YouTube

So, while posting videos under my previous YouTube account (Crane38x) I met a pretty cool person known has Bohabb and he created some of the best tribute videos of some of the best horror movies out there. Well, after my account was suspended and I decided to get a new one… I found him and I wanted to do a profile on him. I love his editing and I love his song choice and he truly has a heart set in horror movies. I sent him some interview questions. So, here is… Bohabb (Davis Bradley) from YouTube.

So, tell me why you began making your videos?

“I build costumes and props for the band Gwar and do other art related work when I can get it. I broke my back in 2003, moved home for a few years to get better. To kill time, I decided to teach myself how to use editing software. Pretty much all my You-tube vids were made as a fun way to learn editing. The Skeletor video is the only vid I shot myself. That video was made to test out some special effect stuff I was messing with at the time. I am currently back working for the band and on various other art related projects.”

So tell me a little about The Blob movie that you made.

“The Blob just seemed like a funny idea. The Blob "88" was made just before CGI took off and as far as a non CGI movie goes, the effects in it are top rate.(imo) It's just a matter of time till a newer version is done in CGI.(ten bucks says it'll probably blow)”



And, the Poltergeist movie, can you tell me a little about that?

“The Poltergeist video; when I was high in school, I mean when I was in High school, I was into the hardcore punk scene and the band AOD was a favorite, so I made the "Bugs" video (Starship Troopers vid) as a "homage" to that band. Through You-tube I wound up talking with the drummer and he requested I make a video for their song "Suburbia". Thus, the Poltergeist video was born......"



And, your Thing video, I’m a huge fan of that movie. Can you tell me a little about that too?

The Thing video; I used to hang out with "Krztoff" from the band "Bile" and one thing we both agreed upon was that The Thing is a kick ass movie. The part in the video where Kurt Russell says "nobody trusts anyone anymore" is actually in the song. So when I decided to make a video using The Thing, I figured that was the best song for me to use.”



So, there you have it… what inspired and what made Davis ‘Bohabb’ Bradley to make these videos. If you want to see more of his videos that are not horror related please visit his YouTube channel here.

Zombie Directing The Blob?

So, apparently, it’s official that Rob Zombie is remaking the 1950’s classic The Blob. What a terrible idea this is. Out of all the people that could fuck this movie up, why did they pick Rob Zombie? I am a huge, huge, huge fan of the original classic and an even bigger fan of the 1988 update for personal reasons. But, having Zombie write and direct this will be utterly terrible, since I am sure this will be layered with crappy CGI. In the interview he states that he doesn’t want it to be a red blob, which makes me wonder what it will be… considering The Blob is about a blob. Will it not be a blog then? If that’s the case, then it shouldn’t be considered a remake but a revision. Here is to another shitty revision from the mind of Rob Zombie.

Variety covered the entire story here. It was remade in ’88 and it was surprised that it was really good for its time but since money talks nowadays, it’s sad to see so many good horror movies fall victim to their remakes.   

Oh well, what can you do?