Monsters On Screen: The X-Files (1993)

The first five seasons of The X-Files were filmed in Vancouver, and had their special makeup effects overseen by Toby Lindala; with Mike Fields providing makeup sculpting after the second season onwards. The series was conscious of its low budget, hiding the monsters with moody direction and quick cuts, meaning the show's special makeup effects mostly are seen better in behind the scenes or promotional photos.

EDIT 16/09/2024; I would like to thank Matthew Mungle of W. M. Creations Inc for kindly sharing me various behind the scenes images for the episodes 'The Gift', 'Hellbound', 'Alone', 'Daemonicus' and 'William'! They truly show these fantastic makeup jobs clearly!

The show's long running 'mythology arc' focused on Grey alien 'Colonists' taking over the Earth; as per the show's focus on suspense the Greys were barely seen in the series. Most of their few appearances are as corpses, such as in 'Gethsemane' and 'Nisei' or the fetus in 'The Erlenmeyer Flask', all realized as static dummy props.

The series low-budget in its early years meant a lot of cost-cutting had to be done; the episode 'Shapes' required a manitou (ie werewolf) suit, but the schedule and budget meant there was not enough time for Lindala's team to make one from scratch. Instead, a werewolf mask and suit was rented from Greg Cannom, with Steve Prouty applying the makeup on-set.

The manitou suit's components were a suit reused from the 1987 Werewolf series, and a mask from none other than The Howling; specifically a mask worn during the film's barn fire finale. For its X-Files appearance, the Howling mask was redressed with fur.

'The Host' introduced Flukeman, who would go on to be one of the show's most remembered 'monster of the week' foes. When designing Flukeman, Lindala recalled that he 'kept to really pale colours, like the underbelly of a fish, but with some human features in the face, (and) used urethane to give a translucent and fleshy look to the creature'. Lindala also recalled, '(We) made a suit that came down to the elbows and the knees, to allow it a little bit more of that baggy sort of worm-like look. Um, his feet cast actually in a straight-out position, but it's a neat look when you see him crawling around and he's got these sort of slipper sort of look (...) to his feet'.

The Flukeman bodysuit was uncomfortable for actor Darin Morgan to wear and led to a particularly embarrassing incident; 'The thing was incredibly heavy. I couldn't breathe, couldn't talk. There was no hole for me to urinate. Sex was completely out of the question. I decided to relieve myself when in the water because I figured Duchovny would never find out. He's never gonna watch these things'.

The water filming proved to have another benefit for Morgan, 'The mask and the rubber smelled of sulphur and the whole thing was unpleasant. I had no air through the nose, so I didn't eat, because you had to eat and breathe at the same time. It was just impossible (...) Once I was in the suit (...) I just tried to survive (...) Being underwater was actually pleasant, because it cooled everything down. It was very hot in there as well'. The water filming scenes added to further complications, as being soaked in water destroyed the suit each time, meaning Lindala and his team would have to rebuild it from scratch every time.

'Duane Barry' featured a very brief appearance of Greys abducting and experimenting on Steve Railsback; they were realized as performers in static masks and printed bodysuits, meaning there was a practical reason to have them shown so briefly and in moody lighting! Eight masks were constructed, with complimenting suits.

The demon form of Donnie Pfaster in 'Irresistible' was achieved as prosthetic makeup appliances on Nick Chinlund's face, shoulders and hands, with a paintjob over his torso to complete the look.

The Donnie demon appliances being sculpted

A gruesome prosthetic makeup was applied on Kevin Conway as the deathly apparition of Private McAlpin in 'Fresh Bones'

Makeup effects were required for the disfigured circus freaks in 'Humbug', with a lumpy tumourous prosthetic appliance worn by Alex Diakun as the Curator, covering half his face. Makeup was also applied to one of Diakun's hands as well.

The episode's monster, the underdeveloped mutant twin Leonard, was realized as a puppet, only seen in quick cuts in the episode itself.

The alien hybrids in 'Nisei' and '731' were prosthetic makeups with large craniums and sunken eye-sockets; other extras wore hastily torn Grey masks made from the sculpts used for 'Duane Barry' and 'Jose Chung's From Outer Space'. As these extras were only seen from a distance and in brief shots, there wasn't a need to have them be elaborate.

The other mutated prisoners in '731' were achieved as facial makeups given them more sallow and scabby appearances.

'Jose Chung's From Outer Space' had a sequence of military personnel disguised as Greys; these false Greys were realized as full bodysuits, the performer wearing a latex prosthetic mask sculpted with bulging eyes. The episode's comedic tone meant there was no need to hide them in moody lighting like in the aliens 'true' appearances. The moulds were also reused again as parody Grey masks in the Millennium episode 'Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me' a few years later.

The episode also had an ambitious monster suit in the form of Lord Kinbote; a tribute to Ray Harryhausen that was originally intended to be animated via stopmotion, but the show's budget did not allow this. Instead, Kinbote was realized as a performer in a suit, with the footage shot in high speed and then slowed down in post-production. The suit was bulky and tiresome to wear for the performer to wear, especially as he had to wear on stilts designed as part of the suit.

Prelimary maquette of the Lord Kinbote maquette

Toby Lindala holding a maquette of Lord Kinbote

The Lord Kinbote mask as it exists today in the X-Files Preservation Collection

The inbred Peacock brothers in 'Home' were a series of heavily stylized makeup appliances designed by Lindala; a skull-like makeup with raised cheekbones was applied on Chris Nelson Norris as Edmund, a large forehead prosthetic for John Trottier as George Peacock, and a disfigured, lumpy prosthetic with a large eye for Adrian Hughes as Sherman.

The mutated Eladio Buente in 'El Mundo Gira' was achieved with prosthetics applied to actor Raymond Cruz, making his cranium appear swollen; similar prosthetic makeups were applied to Jose Yenquex as his similarly mutated brother.

The camouflage mutants in 'Detour' were realized as prosthetic makeup applied to the performers body, giving it a cracked and bark-like look.

The Great Mutato, the disfigured Frankenstein's Monster-like antihero of 'The Post Modern Prometheus', was realized as a heavy prosthetic makeup, sculpted with a second face, applied to actor Chris Owens, which took several hours to apply.

The rebel aliens introduced in 'Patient X' were masks sculpted in the likeness of actor Brian Thompson (who portrayed all the disguised 'bounty hunter' aliens) but with the eyes, mouth and ears sealed shut. Toby Lindala's makeups were duplicated by John Vulich for the sixth season episode 'One Son'.

'Folie à Deux' had an insect-like monster disguised as an office director, but in the episode itself the true form was only briefly glimpsed in closeups; this was another case of the show being self-conscious of its budget limitations, as the actual suit was heavily ridiculed behind the scenes. Even director Kim Manners was worried the suit was going to ruin his directing career!

After the release of The X Files: Fight the Future, production of The X Files moved to Los Angeles; the sixth to final seasons of the show's original run would have their special makeup effects headed by Cheri Montesanto, with John Vulich's Optic Nerve Studios. In the eight season, Matthew Mungle also joined and supplied several makeup effects.

The episode 'Terms of Endearment' has a nightmare sequence where a demon snatches away a baby. What is visible are the prosthetics applied to the performer's chest and face, even if obscured by the moody lighting and flames. It should be worth noting that Vulich was also heading the special makeup effects on Angel at the time; doesn't the reptilian demon that briefly appears in the Angel episode 'Parting Gifts' - aired the same year as 'Terms of Endearment' no less - look similar in design...?

Montesanto and Vulich would finally realize their take on the Grey Colonists in 'One Son', based on a sculpture by the esteemed Burman Studio.

The budget was not viable to realize the Burmans' sculpt, so instead the Grey costumes were printed onesies and static masks, similar to how the Greys realized by Lindala's team on 'Duane Barry'. One of these masks was auctioned on HeroProp, with images showing it in more detail.

Grey prosthetics were utilized again in the episode 'The Unnatural', with simple mechanisms allowing the mouth to open and eyes to blink.

The Grey mask behind John Vulich in a behind-the-scenes documentary

The Ubermenscher in 'Arcadia' was realized as a bulky suit, covered in slop in the final episode to hide the suit's potential defects. According to David Duchovny in a Reddit AMA thread, reaction on-set to the monster was less than impressed; 'And we had a bit of a crowd watching, just because we weren’t locked up in a McMansion, and I hadn’t seen the monster, and I shot my reactions of being terrified first and girding myself to battle it, and then the poor guy came out in the monster suit, and Michael Watkins had the best line because I said “That’s not a scary looking monster” and he said “He looks like the guy who fucked Mrs. Butterworth.” (...) That was embarrassing for me to react in front of spectators at nothing as if I was terrified.'

The mutant Rob Roberts in 'Hungry' was realized as a prosthetic appliance worn on Chad Donella, covering his scalp and ears, as well as an exaggerated brow and nose; the look was completed with contact lenses and teeth prosthetics.

The returning Donnie Pfaster demon in 'Orison' was handled by Vulich's Optic Nerve Studios; Vulich's redone Donnie demon followed Lindala's original design in 'Irresistible', but now included prosthetic appliances worn over Chinlund's chest and belly as well.

The man-bat monster in 'Patience' was realized as facial and chest prosthetics applied on Jay Caputo, with latex flaps on the arms to simulate wings.

A new alien fetus was made for the episodes 'Per Manum' and 'Essence', in the form of an articulated puppet with a sculpted scaly skin texture. A dissected version of the prop was also fabricated for 'Essence'

The soul eater in 'The Gift' was realized primarily as prosthetic makeup applied on actor Michael McGrady, giving him a diseased, brutish appearance. A puppet was also constructed for the sequence where it bites and takes out a person's disease, the puppet designed to have its mouth stretch grotesquely wide.

The salamander man in 'Alone' was the work of Matthew Mungle, who sculpted a mask and foam latex suit to be worn by Jay Caputo. The suit was fitted with a prosthetic tail; a separate tail prop was also fabricated and put in the shot to imply the creature was out of sight.

The two possessed killers in 'Dæmonicus' wore sculpted demon masks; while these were meant to be masks in the episode itself, they still fell under Cheri Montesanto's duties to sculpt and apply.

Preliminary sculpts of the masks before paint was applied.

The flayed apparitions, as well as the flayed corpses, in 'Hellbound' were a very intensive job for Montesanto and Mungle; the flayed skin consisted of at least 2000 prosthetic pieces with fake veins overlaid. Montesanto said that the makeup jobs required seven makeup artists to work seven hours on each person across ten days.

The disfigured-via-alien-experiments Jeffrey Spender in 'William' was a heavy makeup job that proved to be an ordeal for actor Clive Owen to wear. According to Kim Manners in the DVD commentary for 'The Truth', the makeup took roughly six hours to apply.