Jeffrey Combs (Re-animator, Star Trek) stars in the bizarre creature comedy sci fi thriller. After a failed TV set leads to a failed suicide attempt, depressed and reclusive Ian Folivor (Adrian DiGiovanni) begins taking life advice from The Mold (Jeffrey Combs) a fungal growth in his filthy bathroom. Director/Producer/Writer Don Thacker invited us to Chicago after seeing our work in Lt of Inishmore for Northlight Theatre in Chicago.
Don asked us to make some really cool stuff for this project. Even though he was going to incorporate 8-bit graphic VFX all through his film, he wanted the real moments to be real, practical fx in camera. Tolin served as FX Coordinator and had his producing partner Jeff Waltrowski and long time fx pal Monster Midian Crosby on set with him making the magic. Chucky Hendershot, Andrew Hosmer, Dave Hartman and Waltrowski helped in the shop ahead of time creating all of the fx.
First and foremost was The Mold. He is the lead antagonist of the movie and is literally a mold in the corner of the bathroom. He is a cable and hand controlled puppet that was built into the set and puppeteered from below and behind the wall, requiring 3 operators (Tolin, Waltrowski and Crosby). The Mold was voiced by Jefferey Combs ahead of time, so we had voice command on set that Tolin would activate each time a line was delivered live as the scene unfolded. It took a lot of practice, but we got his movements down really good. We could make the mold talk in between takes as someone on set talked, syncing to their words live! It was pretty hilarious and good practice in between takes.
The Mold was in a struggle with the TV, known as Kent, for the protagonist’s soul. The TV spoke to him through TV programming, so there are a number of shows we see in the movie. Our biggest contribution to that was the TV show Officer Zygor: Alien Cop, for which we created a bunch of cool fx makeup. We made and applied prosthetics for the hero Officer Zyogor, his nemesis Declination Jane and her sidekicks the Perterbatoids.
There are many physical special effects in the film, mostly focusing on mold growth of many varieties and decay. We created many fx props including severed arms and corpses and were allowed to get really bloody for several of the more extreme moments that Don wrote. All were tons of fun and all totally live and in camera!
FX Makeup Dept Head
Steve Tolin
Key Makeup
Midian Crosby
FX Technicians
Jeff Waltrowski
Chucky Hendershot
Dave Hartman
