My Favorite (Makeup) Artist

Inspired by Man of a Thousand Faces, the biographical film about Lon Chaney, Tom Savini has got to be one of the greatest makeup artists around.


Getting has start with the 1974 film Deranged, a, well, deranged, flick based on Ed Gein, Savini really set the mark for makeup and gore in horror and thriller films. It wasn't until 1977 when he would finally get his breakthrough moment. George Romero (also a God), asked him to do the makeup effects for his movie Martin and the wrist-slashing scene was so realistically fantastic (yes, I really said that), that he became a hit on Hollywood mainstream. He expanded his gore regime to include bite-marks, flesh-tearing, a machetti-to-the-head scene and the infamous red-orange blood in Dawn of the Dead. Since then, he's worked on tons of movies, horrors and thrillers, great and, well, not-so-great. He has directed, acted and even performed as a stunt man (even for women) for many of the films he's done the effects for. He even did the makeup effects for Twisted Sisters music video "Be Chrool to your Scuel", which includes some of my favorites like the zombie-student tearing at the lips of the human he's "kissing" and another zombie-student walking around chewing on a limb. He now runs the special effects and makeup programs at the Douglas Education center up in Pennsylvania (where he was born and raised).


Tom Savini wrote many books, among them Grande Illusions: A Learn-By-Example Guide to the Art and Technique of Special Make-Up Effects from the Films of Tom Savini, a book that my dad bought when it first came out in the 1980's. At four years-old, I was allowed to glance through the book, like most four year-old girls looked at picture books of ponies and bunnies. A few years later, when my reading skills had strengthened, I read through the entire thing, learning how he created such great effects, and how horribly disappointed he was with the hue of the blood for his first zombie film (I forgive you, Tom!). With such knowledge on hand, I was able to watch some of my now favorite movies at a very young age (what five year-old girl enjoys movies like The Thing or The Howling?) and watch them objectively rather get scared and run into hiding. Thanks to him, my love for movies flurished into something it may not have been if I had missed out on those family classics. For that and more, he is my favorite artist.

Most Recent Piece of Cinematic Art

Why so serious?

Heath Ledger's scratchy voice still haunts me. In the best way possible, of course.

I've been a Batman kid for as long as I can remember. I had my own personal copy of the 1989 version starring Michael Keaton at the tender age of three, and my love has not wavered since. That being said, I think this gives me the right to admit that Val Kilmer's Batman was the lamest of all. And don't even get me started on Batman and Robin. The only thing I can say there is: There were nipples on the Batsuit. Really? Really?!

My heart remained broken for the near decade that my Caped Crusader was too ashamed to show his face on the big screen. It took a genius named Christopher Nolan to put Batman right back where he belongs.

I've got to give Nolan props: Batman Begins was something I felt the movies had been lacking since Tim Burton had his grubby little paws in the mix: that almost Gothic feeling that makes Batman really scary. What I think most fans forget is that Batman as a comic character was never the funny, goofy character that nearly murdered him in the George Clooney rendition. Nolan opens us back up to the Dark Knight as that person everyone should fear, not just for the costume, but the fact that he's just a regular guy (plus millions) with a huge chip on his shoulder. And that voice that Christian Bale uses? CHILLS!

Even for as awesome as Batman Begins turned out to be, it paled in comparison to The Dark Knight. I'll admit, I was moderately upset when I found out that Heath Ledger was attempting to take on Jack Nicholson's character. The entire time, I couldn't help wonder, "Does this kid really think he can do that role justice?" Damn, someone should have smacked me in the face. Cillian Murphy's Scarecrow has nothing on the Ledger's revamped Joker.

Bale and Ledger were absolutely brilliant together. They played off of the negative energy projected by each character flawlessly. At the end of the film, the audience is left with the perfect feeling of, "Who am I really rooting for: the anarchist (Ledger) or the physical manifestation of the omnipresent policing gaze (Bale)?"

Action packed (without the overload of CGI), amazing actors (thank GOD Maggie took the place of Katie Holmes), dialogue to die for and a great director who couldn't have portrayed my comic-book crush in a better light. Or should I say, lack-of-light?