[EvanCampbell]

Being a sculptor in the special effects industry for over 20 years, I thought I would make a thread to show some of the things created for films that were either never seen, or barely seen. Also maybe give some more info about a particular project. This thread may contain spoilers to some of the films. I hope that my fellow vinyl friends will find this interesting. I have to say that I really enjoy the spirited nature of those on this forum...and glad that these soundtrack releases are inspiring younger folks to discover the golden oldies.

Starting off with one of the most celebrated directors and soundtrack creators on this forum John Carpenter. Like many on here, I was deeply affected by John Carpenter's films and music as a child growing up in the eighties. So getting a chance to work on several Carpenter films in the nineties was really an awesome experience.



Village of the Damned story is about a coastal town that gets invaded by an unseen force which leaves ten women mysteriously pregnant. The women eventually give birth to a pack of strange children with special powers. In the final confrontation with the children, their true alien identity is revealed.



For the final alien transformation I sculpted three heads in different stages. Below is a photo of the final stage sculpture. The puppets were made fully mechanical and moved beautifully. In the end the heads were scrapped and an optical was superimposed over the childs face to achieve the effect.

[DISCOSUCKS...]

Evan - this is an awesome thread! Bookmarked!

You're work is fantastic....I guess it's a very bittersweet thing looking back at work that didn't make it into the movies. I personally really appreciate that you're showing it off here - please keep it coming sir!

[dahousen]

Wow thats a post! The head looks great. Thank so much for sharing!

[EvanCampbell]

Disco - Thanks so much! You're Knowledge and passion about films and music help make this forum a cool place. I will try an update each week

[EvanCampbell]

dahousen - Appreciated!

[soundtracks of fear]

Great work Evan! It looks like a lot of fun creating monsters and alike and seeing them come to life in the movies. Would love to see your creations.

[philball1974]

Fuck about! Some skills right there my friend. Now this is going to be an interesting thread!

We going to see bill murrays scalp?

[static14]

Amazing sculpt! I'll be checking this thread constantly for new stuff.

[ninjaqutie]

Wow; that is awesome! I'd buy an action figure of an entire alien in that style. I love the detail in the jaw and chin... and the furrowed brow is lovely. The color variation is top notch too.

[EvanCampbell]

Clive Barker's Lord of Illusions tells the story of NY private investigator Harry D'Amour stumbling into a world of mystery involving a famous magician, Philip Swann. D'Amour thinks that Swann could be involved in the death of a tarot card reader and be a former cult member, and as he investigates he is plunged further into a world of dark magic and the occult.



Being part of Lord of Illusions was a great opportunity to work with one of the true originals in the world of horror writing, Clive Barker. One of my assignments on the production was to create a creature for a nightmare hallucination that the lead character has in the film. This creature was based off a painting that Clive Barker did, inspired from a dream he had. He would keep what he called a "dream journal" next to his bed and often he would wake and write down ideas. The Obscenity creature (Clive Barker called it) was this human sized, clam-like octopus with tentacles that would be wrapped around a person (Linnea Quigley it was rumored) in the nightmare scene.



Clive Barker's painting design was loose enough that there was a lot of room for imagination. While sculpting it in clay, I made sure that I used my hands a lot, rather than tools to try and capture that membrane type smoothness. When Barker visited the shop to see the progress, he really liked it and was incredibly kind. I think he felt I captured the essence and organic feel of his painting. He made a drawing trying to explain something - which I later kept. The creature (pictured above) was finished, molded, poured up in silicone and fully mechanized. Unfortunately it did not end up in the finished movie and still do not know if it was ever filmed.



Above is a charred arm sculpture I made for the character Butterfield, who is severely burned after getting electrocuted. It was sculpted over a copy of the actors hand and would be worn like a glove. I was trying to get that puffy, splitting over-cooked hot dog look..and even took a blowtorch and burned parts of the sculpture to make it fried and crispy. It was made into foam and painted in ash blacks with light pink insides splitting out...quite nasty looking. Clive Barker wanted it to be more asymmetrical and just half of the hand. So I re-sculpted a different piece to be just the side of the hand and not a full glove.

[EvanCampbell]

ninjaqutie thank so much!

[EvanCampbell]

Thanks for the compliment Phil!

Actually I am selling Bill Murray's scalp on eBay

MEGA - RARE - Bill Murray's Blood Filled scalp Mint $500.00

[phantomnoir]

This is amazing. You should publish all of this in a book. I would definitely buy it.

[EvanCampbell]

A demonic force has chosen Freddy Krueger as its portal to the real world. Wes Craven tries to convince Heather to play the part of Nancy one last time and trap the evil trying to enter the world. This is the basic premise of Wes Craven's New Nightmare. It was the fifth installment to the elm street series and I felt lucky to get a chance to work on it, especially since it was being directed by Wes Craven.



This was the second or third film I worked on after moving to California from NY. Shortly after production started, late one evening, I woke to being literally thrown across the room and the sound of the building cracking around me. We had a huge earthquake. There is nothing like feeling your way through pitch black hallways and trying to push opened crush metal doors while the building jumps up and down and crackles. After living in my car for a few days in a supermarket parking lot, I found a new place to live. Production resumed a week or so later and Wes Craven incorporated the earthquake into the movie as one of the signs of the evil force entering the world.



One of my tasks on the film was to make a demonic version of Freddy. Since there was not concrete designs, it was kind of left to finding it in the clay sculpture. My basic thought was to keep the Freddy look but maybe bulk it up more and angle it out with horns and all that. The head sculpture was finished, approved and poured up in silicone with limited movement. It is revealed at the end of the movie when Freddy is burned alive and turns into the evil entity. The scene moves so fast and is covered with a morph effect that you really can't see what it looks like. Like often with this kind of work, we spend a long time creating these things and they are barely seen. Below is close up look at the demon Freddy.

[EvanCampbell]

stactic - Thanks...I will try to keep it interesting.

[EvanCampbell]

phantomnoir - Thanks a lot. I thought about it but I imagine all the copyright stuff would be difficult to deal with.

[soundtracks of fear]

Wow! Evan that is great! Love Lord of Illusion and all the Freddy films. The attention to detail is immense.

[EvanCampbell]

Dagar - It is cool to get such nice feedback...I appreciate it! I feel lucky to have any of these opportunities and to work with such interesting people. To be fair, like many things there is a flip side. Trying to be an artist in what is basically a business environment...and art done by committee...can be very difficult. That being said the good outweighs the bad.

[tonyandrewgiles]

@evan - This is just outstanding!

You are one talented soul brother, please keep these updates coming

[EvanCampbell]

The resort town of Snowfield, Colorado is under attack by an evil spirit that almost wipes out the entire population, possessing a number of those it kills. Two visiting sisters make this chilling discovery along with the town sheriff and his partner. As the locals continue to fall victim to the demonic presence, it is up to this small group of strangers to try and survive and defeat this evil force.



Phantoms was a movie scripted by horror author Dean Koontz from his own novel. One of my assignment on the film was to sculpt a Butterfly-like moth that attacks and kills one of the police officers early in the story. The design I worked from for the flying insect looked more like a skinny mosquito, rather than the original book covers moth. Often times when trying to create a creature like this, it is just based off a mixture of different existing anatomies. I remember studying lobster tails at the supermarket one night during the time I was sculpting this creature and putting a little of that into it. In the end it was a bit of mix and match to get the final look. Once the sculpture was completed, it was molded and poured up in a flexible foam latex. It was mechanized by one of the great mechanical guys in our business so it really came to life when operated.



Connected to the back of the bug, there is a rod hidden behind the wings, that carries many of the cables to operate it. The wings were remote control and moved quite fast. When filming this scene, they filmed at a slower rate of speed so that when projected normally, the wing movement appeared much faster. Found a clip on youtube.

[video]http://youtu.be/Y1hoMJSi9Us[/video]

[deafmetal]

Excellent thread. I love seeing behind the scenes creature effects.

[EvanCampbell]

tonyandrewg, Dagar - Thanks...glad you guys are digging this stuff!

[static14]

Really amazing work.

[philball1974]

Evan this is really cool stuff. What an awesome job you have!!

[NathanLurker]

This is great Evan. I remember liking Phantoms, I should watch it again.