FEARnet brings the Master of Horror Mick Garris to television on Tuesday, February 8th with a new original series, “Post Mortem with Mick Garris.”
Airing this Tuesday, February 8, the show will be a one-on-one interview with legendary IATSE Local 706 makeup artist Rick Baker. Baker's latest film work will be unleashed February 12th in theaters everywhere when “The Wolfman” is released. Photo courtesy of FEARnet
Think "Inside the Actor's Studio" for the horror fan boy, the gore geek, as Garris takes us by the hand and delves one-on-one with the biggest names in the mix for provocative and insightful conversations.
FEARnet is a prime destination for horror, thriller and suspense and is a multi-platform movie network available on demand, online and on mobile 24/7. Each episode will feature Garris and one genre icon – unfiltered, uncensored and unscripted.
Garris is a kingmaker in the genre, serving as a producer, writer and director of sci-fi and horror. A published author, Garris’ first book, A Life in the Cinema, is a collection of short stories and a screenplay based on one of the stories which achieved widespread critical acclaim, and his short fiction has been published in numerous books and magazines. His second book, Development Hell, is Garris’ first novel.
Garris delivered one of the finest smallscreen anthologies with "Masters of Horror," a sweeping Showtime series that featured creator Garris and some of his director friends, including John Carpenter, Larry Cohen, Don Coscarelli, Joe Dante, Guillermo Del Toro, Garris, Stuart Gordon, Tobe Hooper, John Landis and Bill Malone.
Soon added to Garris' crew were more "masters" including Dario Argento, Eli Roth, David Cronenberg, Lucky McKee, Tim Sullivan, Wes Craven, Joe Lynch, William Lustig, Ernest Dickerson, Kat O’ Shea, Robert Rodriguez, James Gunn, Mary Lambert, Tom Holland, Peter Medak, Lloyd Kaufman and more.
Garris turned out two seasons of award-winning original stand-alone episodes that featured the directorial work his tight knit group, even directing "Chocolate" in the first season, and "Valerie on the Stairs" in season two.
The success of "Masters" was followed up with the critically acclaimed "Fear Itself" anthology for NBC, one of the more daring and original programs the network ever debuted.
"I'm a lifelong aficionado of the genre, and for me and my own personal taste, I know what I think makes a good story and a bad one," shared Garris in a past interview
Now, in his first episode of "Post Mortem," Garris takes his inside knowledge and expertise in the genre and dives into the crafts that make or break a good horror film: Makeup. Specifically, effects makeup and prosthetic design that creates the persona for the actor to become the monster.
Airing this Tuesday, February 10, the show will be a one-on-one interview with legendary IATSE Local 706 makeup artist Rick Baker. Baker's latest film work will be unleashed February 12th in theaters everywhere when “The Wolfman” is released.
FEARNET promises a stellar guest lineup with Garris, who hosts legends John Carpenter, Robert Englund, Tobe Hooper and Wes Craven, already scheduled to appear.
“We are thrilled to be partnered with Mick on the world’s first-ever horror-themed celebrity chat show,” said Diane Robina, President, FEARnet. “There is nobody in the business who can bring to our audience what Mick can – an unprecedented knowledge of the industry from the ground up, and a network of A-List colleagues who are happy to share with him and our viewers their experiences, stories and insights about fear-inspired entertainment.”
Garris noted, "Post Mortem is a great opportunity to sit one-on-one with icons of the horror genre, to find out what makes them tick, how and why they do what they do, and get their perspective on where we've been and where we're going in the world of fear."
The Premise:
Each 5-minute webisode will feature Garris and an esteemed guest from one of Hollywood’s fright factories facing off in a freewheeling dialogue to discuss the state of the genre film industry from the inside out.
"Post Mortem" promises to cover a wide variety of controversial and important subject matter, including: the rise and fall of torture porn; classic movie monsters vs. the new beasts on the block; suspense vs. extreme and graphic violence; rubber vs. CGI; independent horror films compared with studio style blockbusters; challenges of the scream queens; horror and politics, and international fright. The full-length interviews will appear on FEARnet on demand.
Background:
Steven Spielberg hired Garris as Story Editor on the Amazing Stories series for NBC, where Garris wrote/co-wrote 10 of the 44 episodes presented. He went on to write or co-author numerous feature films, including *Batteries Not Included, The Fly II and Hocus Pocus, among others. He made his directorial debut on Amazing Stories, and went on to direct episodes of Tales From the Crypt, Freddy’s Nightmares and The Others, the high-profile (and ratings smash) mini-series The Stand, and numerous made-for-television movies, including Desperation, Lost in Oz, Psycho IV: The Beginning and Host.
Monsters and Critics caught up with Mick Garris once again, and was thrilled he was taking on the craft of makeup for his debut episode of "Post Mortem."
Continuing the theme of Horror make up, you interviewed effects makeup artist and creature designer Rick Baker in the first Post Mortem, tell me your thoughts on the Baker style, his shop and what signature creations of his that have knocked your socks off as a horror fan?
Mick Garris: I've known Rick since I was a receptionist for the original Star Wars. He's always been most interested in making monsters, rather than in gore effects and the like. I love that he's all about design and creatures and believable biology. American Werewolf, of course, is a masterpiece, as are all of his gorillas.
He's a terrific sculptor and painter, and that's what shows in his work. It's founded in imaginative reality, if that makes sense. And of course, he and his crew made up me and my wife, Cynthia, for Michael Jackson's Thriller.
Oscar winning KNB EFX and their two creatives, Howard Berger and Greg Nicotero, give me their greatest monster hits and opinion of their horror work.
Mick Garris: Of course, I love the work we've done together. Though I was knocked out by their work with Romero and Raimi, in particular - nobody does zombies better - revisit Evil Dead 2 and their stuff in George's films for a quick reminder.
I was thrilled to be able to work closely with them for the first time on Riding the Bullet. It wasn't a big makeup show, but the stages they did on David Arquette were really masterful, as well as their iconic image of Death himself.
Their Ron Perlman makeups in Desperation were great, but really, all the stuff they were called on to do on Masters of Horror were above and beyond the call of duty, and budget. Their Pro-Life demon for Carpenter's episode was spectacular.
Todd Masters has done amazing work, even the film Leprechaun 2 He did some clever things with horror makeup. Have you appreciated any of his work as a prosthetic artist?
Mick Garris: Well his Slither stuff was a total blast... but I'm glad I'm not Michael Rooker; that couldn't have been fun for an actor to endure.
Of course, I know him first from Tales from the Crypt. He and his guys worked on my "Whirlpool" episode.
Three time Oscar winner Greg Cannom's work has been legendary too. The Legend of Emily Rose, and Watchmen along with a million other films, many horror, any favorites of Greg's work?
Mick Garris: I met Greg through Rick Baker on Thriller. He was just starting out then, but my very favorite work of his was Dracula.
The many stages of the vampire are quite remarkable, and amazingly realistic onscreen, without the benefit of any CGI.
The man who was the Godfather to many of these men, the late great John Chambers did groundbreaking prosthetic work in Planet of the Apes. Did that film and the makeup effects impact you as a filmmaker at all?
Mick Garris: Of course. I wanted to be a makeup artist when I was in junior high school.
I wanted to make monsters, was a faithful reader of Famous Monsters in its heyday; it's not something I just do for a living. It's something I love.
I studied the Jack Pierce stuff, and was fascinated by how the Westmore name was on every Universal horror movie during my Wonder years.
Okay, worst ever horror film makeups or creature creations; what are some of the cheesiest makeup effects monsters?
Mick Garris: Well, nothing beats the ridiculous creature in The Giant Claw, but that's the only charm in that movie. The Paul Blaisdell monsters in the cheapies in the fifties and sixties were inept and cheesier than a bowl of nachos, but you could tell that at least he tried.
Ed Wood shows that sort of no-budget moviemaking with great affection. And when you're a kid, a monster's a monster, they're all fantastic.
Even the Tabonga, the walking tree monster in From Hell It Came.
Hey, when you're raised on this stuff, it can't help but bend you a bit!
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