TOM SAVINI
Sultan of splatter…
Savini’s fascination with movie make-up began at the age of 12 after watching Lon Chaney biopic Man Of A Thousand Faces (1957). “It’s not enough for me to say the movie sparked my interest in make-up,” he recalls. “Something more happened to me. I flipped out.” Two years later he landed his first ‘job’, being paid in chocolate milkshakes to create monster make-up for a travelling horror show touring local theatres.
Pioneering new make-up techniques for increasingly gory slashers like Friday The 13th, Maniac and The Burning (“There’s no precedent for doing this stuff. The fun was inventing how to do it”), Savini quickly became a poster boy for the Fangoria generation. However, the visceral authenticity those fans celebrated had a traumatic origin in the real-world horrors Savini witnessed first-hand as a combat photographer during the Vietnam War.
Despite missing out on Night Of The Living Dead, Savini finally crossed paths with fellow Pittsburgh native George A. Romero on vampire film Martin (1978), forming a fast friendship. Subsequent team-ups included Dawn Of The Dead, Knightriders, Creepshow, Day Of The Dead, Monkey Shines and Two Evil Eyes.
As the first undergraduate ever offered a full fellowship in Carnegie-Mellon University’s acting and directing program, it’s hardly surprising that Savini also carved out a career in front of the camera. As well as appearances in films for which he produced FX, Savini’s standout roles include playing opposite Ed Harris in Knightriders and an unforgettable turn as the crotch-gun-toting biker ‘Sex Machine’ in From Dusk Till Dawn.
Officially’ retired from special effects, Savini continues to act, and even helmed a surprisingly effective 1990 remake of Night Of The Living Dead – despite his claims that the finished film only represents about 40 per cent of what he originally had planned. Since 2000, he has also been passing on his knowledge to other aspiring FX artists through the Tom Savini Special Make-Up Effects Program. Anton van Beek