Thursday, March 22, 2012

Monster Man

SyFy followed the second season of its make-up effects contest show with a new series - Monster Man. This is about a firm that does custom make-up efects. After the high bar set by Face-Off, this show is a bit of a disappointment.

The pilot followed the same formula as other shows about fabricators (American Restoration, Sons of Guns). The staff takes on two projects. There is a lot of drama about making deadlines and finally the big reveal. In this case the reveal is to the director who commissioned the work.

This time they did a werewolf and an "ugly" mask to go on a pretty dancer. The werewolf suit was the big project. It apparently took weeks to do. It was fairly basic - a muscle suit, painted and covered with hair and a mask. The mask's jaws could open and close but it could not change its expression. Apparently it was only used for a few shots taking place in some woods at night. There was also a lot of blood and guts.

The first season of Face-Off had its own werewolf as well as a steam punk Red Riding Hood. A small team led by one of the finalists had three days to do both figures and they were a lot better than this one.

I suspect that most of the contestants from Face-Off could have done a better "ugly" mask, too.

Oh well, the next season of Face-Off is already filming.

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