Sleepwalkers (1992)

The special makeup effects for Sleepwalkers were by Alterian Studios, with Tony Gardner acting as project supervisor. According to the credits, Tom Hester handled creature design, with Brian Penikas, John Blake and Mike Smithson credited as sculptors.

As the werecat 'sleepwalkers' Mary and Charles Brady, Alice Krige and Brian Krauser had to wear prosthetic makeups; the first stage makeup was a brown appliance to give the performer a more 'demonic' look. Alterian designed similar appliances for Full Eclipse a year later.

The second stage transformation makeup was a facial appliance sculpted with a feline appearance. Krige recounted in an interview for Grimmfest that the prosthetics were hard to emote and talk in, due to how stiff the foam rubber was.

A scarred version of the facial appliance was also made for Krause, with a chest appliance sculpted with wounds, and finished with a paintjob with a sickly texture.

A heavier latex mask - worn with the torso appliance - was made for as Charles' wounding causes him to wither away. The mask was sculpted to have a wizened, aged appearance, with wispy hair punched in.

The actual transformations were digital effects supplied by Pacific Data Images. PDI had previously contributed similar visuals to Michael Jackson's Black-and-White music video. The car chase transformation was the most complex use of of the morphing effect.

At least one 'middle' puppet head had to have been made by Alterian for the car chase sequence, but I have to wonder if it may have been the head of one of the earlier sculpts for the creature suits, that was reused for this one shot.

When it came to the final form of the sleepwalkers, director Mick Garris wished for a furless creature, as he explained in an interview with Shivers;

'In developing the creatures' appearance, I wanted them to come across as being hairless, sleek and somewhat erotic. It was important for them to look somewhat human, while sporting a skin rather than fur. We sculpted various models before coming up with something dangerous, sexual and feline.'

Alterian had two suits sculpted and fabricated - one male and one female, to represent each of the Bradys - with heads fitted with animatronics inside that could allow them to emote.

Sources:

• Shivers #2