Monsters (1988)

After the cancellation of Tales from the Darkside, producer Richard P. Rubinstein set out to do a similar anthology series but with a greater focus on monstrous and inhuman creatures. Rubinstein was partly spurred to make the series out of frustration for how critics had appreciated his previous series; 'We felt we were not being perceived of or appreciated for our special effects capacities,' (...) 'We received a fair amount of notice (on Tales from the Darkside), particularly for our emphasis on story and acting. Yet as a company, for our theatrical motion pictures such as 'Creepshow' as well as in 'Tales,' we had done a lot of very, very good makeup and special effects.'

Rubinstein set out to create Monsters after looking at a reel of compiled special makeup effects sequences made for Darkside, and decided a show focused on monster effects majorly was the way to go; 'By network standards, we were able to bring in half-hours at a considerably lower budget, about $200,000, compared to $350,000-$400,000 for a network half-hour (...) We also sometimes can do a little horse-trading to achieve monsters of a higher calibre; we trade the chance to direct, for instance, in exchange for makeup special effects. That brings us monsters at less cost.'

Acting as the series special makeup effects consultant was veteran makeup effects artist Dick Smith with then-newer artists working under his supervision. Specific credits will be given for each episode in this entry. All episodes of Monsters started with an opening scene depicting a suburban family of monsters; Carl Fullerton and Neal Martz were responsible for the sequence's makeup effects, consisting of cyclops upper-half face prosthetics for the mother and daughter actresses, and heavier face and arm prosthetics worn by the dad's actor.

The special makeup effects in 'The Feverman' were designed by Kevin Haney, who designed a lumpy prosthetic appliance for Katie Dierlam to wear as the physical manifestation of a deadly fever. Dick Smith and Peter Montagna both were involved in applying the makeup.

'New York Honey' had a twist ending where Andrea Thompson's femme fatale was actually a giant wasp; the episode's special makeup effects were handled by John Dods. The transformation was realized as prosthetics applied on Thompson to make it appear her eyes had enlarged.

Thompson's final form was realized as a puppet, designed to have an uncanny human-like face; the puppet was small enough to be held by the performer it was 'carrying'.

The awakened dinosaur-like creature in 'Sleeping Dragon' was realized by the Chiodo Brothers as a full monster suit with mechanisms installed inside the head to make it emote.

The decayed demon in 'Rouse Him Not' was created by Mark Shostrom, with Steve Patino credited for the special mechanical effects. Unfortunately, the dark lighting and fuzzy DVD quality do not let the audience get a good glimpse of the monster at all, only being seen better in promotional photos.

The troll in 'Fool's Gold' was designed by Greg Cannom with special mechanical effects being credited to Kevin McCarthy. Sadly, again it's a case of atmospheric direction hiding the monster suit properly, and I haven't yet been able to find promotional images of the episode!

The titular alien of the episode 'Glim-Glim' was more or less a static prop more than an example of makeup effects, with David Scott Gagnon credited under 'special effects props'.

The rodent-like aliens in 'Parents from Space' were realized by Vincent Guastini as sculpted masks worn with furred bodysuits. An earlier sculpt indicates that they were originally not going to have open mouthes with sharp teeth, until it was decided to make them appear more threatening.

The mutated bloodworms in 'The Mother Instinct' were realized by John Dods and Ken Walker as large puppets, though the massive one that devours the episode's villain is shot in motion and extreme close-up, only seen better in promotional photos.

The undead Herbert Waverley in 'The Match Game' was realized by Tom Woodruff Jr. and Alec Gillis, with Woodruff also playing the zombie Herbert - doesn't the design feel a little similar to the fridge zombie they realized for the 'Korman's Kalamity' episode of Tales from the Crypt?

The living rain god statue in 'Rain Dance' was created by Michael Burnett Productions, with special mechanical effects courtesy of Kevin McCarthy; the statue costume was designed to resemble the statue prop, which I've also included a behind the scenes photo here just for completion's sake.

'All In a Day's Work' centred on a family summoning the demon 'Belphamelech', who is briefly seen at first with a frog-like face until opting for a vaguely more comforting human appearance. The mask is seen more clearly on the episode's VHS box cover.

Another demon, Dramon, appears in the episode, was realized as a puppet; the episode's creature effects were designed by Elaine Alexander and Kevin Brennan, with 'special mechanical effects' credited to Kevin McCarthy.

'Satan in the Suburbs' had Chris Noth in prosthetic makeup as the demon 'Clancy'; the prosthetic makeups were designed by Vincent Guastini.

John Dods realized the unmasked alien makeup in 'Portrait of the Artist', coming up with a monstroys face with multiple eyes under the skin of Darren McGavin's art curator.

Richard Alonzo realized the special effects makeups in 'Rerun'; the transformation of Mark Nassar into a lamprey-like demon was achieved as two prosthetic makeups that are barely seen, the first utilizing air bladders.

The final form of Nassar's demon was realized as a puppet, small enough to be held by the actor as if they were struggling against it.

Paul C. Reilly was credited for the special makeup effects of 'The Farmer's Daughter', which included the undead form of Stephanie Phillips's farm girl; this was achieved as a puppet shot in close-ups.

Michael Burnett did the special makeup effects for 'The Demons'; the alien sorcerer Arturus was achieved via Richard Moll wearing heavy prosthetics designed with a large cranium.

Burnett also designed the prosthetics for the demon Arturo in the same episode, realized as Eddie Deezen in a dog-like prosthetic makeup.

Rick Lazzarini was behind the special makeup effects in 'Reaper', which included a skull-like prosthetic makeup for it's version of the Grim Reaper.

John Dods was special makeup artist on 'Museum Hearts', which was mostly devoted to the mummified druid priestess, realized as prosthetic appliances on Pamela Dean Kelly.

The Grey-like aliens in 'Habitat' were realized as puppets; John Bisson was credited for the special makeup effects.

'Bed and Boar' was yet another episode with an evil femme fatale; the twist of this one was that somehow her lovers always transformed into pig creatures, with her last husband Ted having hoofed hands and a mohawked head; the special makeup effects for this episode were performed by Vincent Guastini.

Guastini also realized the creature effects in the following episode 'Mr. Swlabr', with Eric Cheripka credited under special effects props as well; the episode revolved around a boy befriending the frog-like Swlabr creature, which for most of the episode was realized as a puppet.

By the episode's end, Swablr groes to a person's size, this time being realized as a performer in a suit.

'The Offering' revolved around a hospital ward being stalked by a creature dubbed the 'Cancer Vampire', realized by Michael Burnett Productions as a large puppet with a moving head.

Preliminary maquette for the vampiric creature

KNB EFX Group handled the creature effects in 'Far Below', which mostly went to the yeti-like creatures living in the subway; two distinct facial prosthetics were made.

John Dods realized a similar yeti-like creature in 'The Gift', based on a design by Dick Smith. Smith did the design, while Dods created the prosthetics and applied them to Carlos Lauchu, playing the beast.

'The Family Man' was a sort of riff on They Live, centering on a young boy who can see (with the help of special glasses) that his mother's new boyfriend Warren is a reptilian monster in disguise; the episode's special effects makeup were again handled by John Dods, who originally envisaged a much more grotesque appearance for Warren, with quill-like hairs and snake-like pupils.

By the time the episode was filmed, a different makeup design was used for Warren; possibly this was because it was either less intensive to apply, or perhaps to still make him seem a bit more affable and allow the actor to emote easier, but regardless the final makeup still has the slit nose and scaly texture but now had a black colouration with human eyes.

'Stressed Environment' had a group of scientists being menaced by mutated, intelligent rats; the mutant rats were realized as stopmotion puppets designed by John Dods, with Eric Cheripka credited as 'special effects props' and Arthur Jolly as 'special effects fabricator', with Mark Alfrey credited as special makeup effects assistant. The rats are a bit more furless and almost reptilian than a real rat would be; after all, they're mutants.

The special makeup effects in 'Murray's Monster' were handled by Michael Burnett Productions, and went to designing the facial prosthetics and ape-suit worn by the monstrous altar-ego of the neurotic Murray.

Vincent J. Guastini designed the special makeup effects in 'Bug House', with Joe Mecchia credited as special makeup effects assistant; their duties went to realizing the half-insect form of Robert Kerbeck's sinister lover.

Steve Johnson and Bill Corso performed the special makeup effects for 'Outpost', in particular the prosthetics applied to Tony Fields as as the bioengineered mutant.

John C, Reilly again was responsible for special effects makeup in 'The Hole', responsible for several gruesome zombie prosthetics; the skull prosthetics were reused in the episode 'A New Woman' in the same season.

'Shave and a Haircut, Two Bites' had a very different take on vampires; instead of linking them to bats or wolves, this episode linked them to leeches. The 'Master' vampire is a grotesque fleshy leech-like creature that can only drink blood through a tube, and was realized a large puppet designed and constructed by Michael Burnett Productions.

John Dods performed the special makeup effects for 'Household Gods', applying the gnome-like prosthetics to Michael J. Anderson's malevolent deity.

Jay Kushwara and Ken Brilliant realized the special makeup effects in 'Leavings', with Michael De Feo credited as special makeup effects assistant; the effects highlight was the 'patchwork people', realized as elaborate prosthetics.

'A Face for Radio' had a sinister woman carrying a grotesque creature that supposedly can 'eat' human evil - or can it? The creature puppet was designed by John Bisson with Ken Walker credited for animatronics; the puppet is mostly only seen sitting in its cage, hence the lack of shots.

Vincent J. Guastini realized the special makeup effects of 'Werewolf of Hollywood', with a wolfman-like prosthetic makeup applied to David Leary's lyncanthrope movie producer. According to Guastini on his Instagram, the inspiration partly came from a Bernie Wrightson werewolf design (was it this from one of the Swamp Thing issues?).

Guastini also devisted a female werewolf as per the original script, but a scripting change cut this out of the episode; Guastini only got as far as making a mask and animatronic ears, never utilized in the final episode.

'Talk Nice to Me' centred on a man being stalked by a woman - just not a human woman! The stalker reveals themselves to be a snake-like alien creature with thin arms and wide lips, and was realized as a puppet designed by Steve Johnson.

'Hostile Takeover' revolved around a corporate executive who uses voodoo to help get his way through the business world; when he goes too far and betrays the spirits, the local janitor Ed reveals himself as a demon. The Ed demon's true form was realized by the Chiodo Brothers, with a detailed and very inhuman head and goat-like eyes.