Fantastic Flesh: The Art of Makeup Efx [Review]

Zombies, aliens, and monsters -oh, my!

Oh the world of special effects makeup. You can be aged, look younger, look dead or diseased, you can even look like the opposite sex. Not to mention the gruesome effects that can be made by latex and prosthetics. I appreciate the process, but still cant will myself to watch gory movies (as discussed in my review of Tales of the Crypt: Ritual). This is very interesting considering I am an aspiring special effects makeup artist (among other things) with an aversion to gore.

This documentary into the industry of special effects was directed by Kevin VanHook. It details the great effects and techniques as well as the artists who created them. Movies such as Planet of the Apes, Chronicles of Narnia, Lord of the Rings, The Exercist, and Scream and the special effects makeup that contributed to their success is discussed. Quentin Terentino discusses the importance of special effects in his movies, most notably the Kill Bill films. Other directors and writers discuss their inspiration and reliance of makeup effects.

The style of the film is documentary and so doesn't depend on a specific formula of story telling or filming. The interviewees are faced off center and are looking away from the camera, but beyond they the style of story telling is pretty haphazard.  That is, they discuss a variety of films and styles with out drawing a correlation or connection on from the other.

I would ultimately give it 2.75 stars out of 5. I would have liked there to have been more of a method to the movies discussed. I also thought that it would have been beneficial to do a make up efx reel in high speed. Kind of like what a lot of makeover shows do. Instead, we were shown stills from movies or clips of the actual movie and not the application of the special effects makeup. It's like filming a comedy where no one laughs. At some point the mark was missed.