Two-time Emmy Award-winning character and makeup FX artist Todd Masters, founder of MASTERSFX, is reflecting on his work as the Visual Effects Supervisor for the cult, hit horror film The Resurrected, which is marking the 30th Anniversary of its release this month.
Says Masters, “The Resurrected was Dan O’Bannon’s last film – he was a bit of a Hollywood legend having written the screenplays for Alien and Total Recall, and writing and directing The Return of the Living Dead. I was the Visual Effects Supervisor for The Resurrected, and I created the monsters, miniatures, and animation effects.”
“The Resurrected was a chance for me to explore the imagery of HP Lovecraft,” adds Masters. “The film featured a fantastic script by Brent V Friedman, was directed by Dan O’Bannon, and starred legend Christopher Sarandon in dual roles. It was quite the independent movie of its day. We extended our little FX studio’s abilities by creating an array of animatronic monsters and make-up effects, and we also put months of miniatures and visual effects work into that project, which I also supervised. We even won the coveted Fangoria “Chainsaw Award” for FX that year!"
Released theatrically during June 1991, The Resurrected (also known as "The Ancestor” and “Shatterbrain”) is a 1991 horror film directed by Dan O'Bannon, and starring John Terry, Jane Sibbett, Chris Sarandon, and Robert Romanus. It is an adaptation of the H. P. Lovecraft novella The Case of Charles Dexter Ward. Originally intended for a theatrical release, the film was shown at various film festivals before going direct to video in 1992.
Director O'Bannon and screenwriter Brent V. Friedman had developed the Lovecraft property independently of each other. Friedman's version of the script was titled “Shatterbrain.” While Friedman received sole writing credit, O'Bannon did incorporate some of his own ideas into the project. O’Bannon's original title for the film was “The Ancestor,” which was later changed to The Resurrected after being re-cut and altered by the studio for theatrical release. The film was O'Bannon's first project as a director after 1985's The Return of the Living Dead. The producers of the film were Mark Borde and Kenneth Raich.
The storyline of The Resurrected: The wife (Jane Sibbett) of Charles Dexter Ward (Chris Sarandon) enlists the help of a private detective (John Terry) to find out what her husband is up to in a remote cabin owned by his family for centuries.
Founded in 1987 by two-time Emmy® Award winner Todd Masters, MASTERSFX (MFX) is a multi-award-winning character and makeup FX company. MASTERSFX's creative teams produce a distinctive blend of practical and digital makeup FX, prosthetics and animatronics, through a process called “dMFX,” for hundreds of hit feature films, TV shows, and commercials, for nearly 35 years.
MFX is known for creating the Emmy® Award-winning cadavers for HBO’s Six Feet Under - the vampires for True Blood – the Borg from Star Trek - the babies from Look Who’s Talking -- the werewolves from the Underworld series -- Chucky from Child’s Play -- and the large Predator alien from the 2018 release The Predator, to cite just a few examples.
The company also supplies dummies and detailed FX props for studios to rent, and custom and stock temporary tattoos, as well as their unique, fast-apply prosthetic system, ProGASH.
Originally based in Hollywood, CA, the company expanded its footprint into Vancouver, BC, in the early 2000’s. From their new studio location, MFX continued to add to its impressive resume, with such “northern-boarder produced” hits as The Good Doctor, DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Snakes on a Plane, and Fringe. On April 1, 2016, MFX launched its Toronto studio, which has been continuously bustling with top projects, such as The Handmaid’s Tale, Coroner, The Umbrella Academy, The Expanse, and, most recently, the hit Seth Rogen/Evan Goldberg Netflix series, The Boys.
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