Howling VI: The Freaks (1991)

The makeup effects for the fifth (and still not final!) Howling sequel was split between Steve Johnson's XFX and Todd Masters; Masters would handle the werewolf, while XFX would handle the rest. The werewolf suit, worn by Andre Busanoby, had specially constructed legs resembling wolf haunches, that didn't require overhead wires to suspend the performer (the technique used in Pumpkinhead) and also completely removed the need to only shoot the werewolf suit from the waist up such as in the original Howling. Masters explained;

'The legs go all the way up to the actor’s thigh and are jointed everywhere his leg is, and that carries all the way down these two-foot haunches, (..) The weight is distributed all the way down. The ankle can’t carry that weight so we redistribute it to the hamstrings. The haunches have to be exact, cast from the performer who is to wear them. They can’t be off by even a millimeter. We’ve applied for a patent on the design'.

Most of the werewolf suit footage was cut, with a transformation sequence also excised as per director Hope Perello's wishes. Perello explained his reasons; 'There was nothing wrong with them from an effects standpoint, but I never wanted to make an effects film in the first place, (...) However effective they might have been, they didn’t advance the film or the characters and I wanted this to be a character-driven film'.

Masters commented about the choice; 'That’s the old story for effects people, (...) All you can do is design it and build it. After that it’s out of your hands. You can’t control how it’s filmed or even if it’s used. If you’re going to work in this business, you just have to accept it.'

The Howling 6 suit later had most of its parts recycled by Masters' team in the Tales from the Crypt episode 'Werewolf Concerto'; once again it was Bustanoby inside the suit, this time with a new face makeup.

Note: Brendan Hughes being credited here is an error.

Johnson's XFX handled the other makeups in the film, with the price and Johnson being committed to other projects being the reasons for the split workload. One of the XFX makeups was the 'Alligator Boy' Winston portrayed Sean Sullivan. The Alligator Boy makeup was designed and sculpted by Bill Corso, in one of his first jobs for XFX.

XFX also handed the demonic form of Bruce Payne's vampire R. B. Harker, consisting of face, head and chest appliances. Johnson explained how he came up with the design; 'I always try to do something different when I’m dealing with a subject that has been portrayed so many times before, (...) The script, and the producers, wanted a real monster for the vampire. Luckily, Bruce Payne had a vision similar to mine. He wanted a very elegant and suave approach. It’s a little classic, with Nosferatu allusions mixed with a real demonic look. I was pretty pleased with it.'

Johnson also handled Harker's grisly death at the film's climax, 'Once again I was busy and the price didn't work out, so I just handled the vampire, its deterioration and the alligator boy effects. The deterioration was really neat, and I want to do it again on another movie. We made the vampire's skull out of something that wouldn't sandblast and the skin out of a material that would, then blasted it with an industrial sandblaster. It worked fairly well, but it was such a low-budget project that we didn't have time to test it properly.'

As much of a low reputation as the various Howling sequels garnered, Johnson was fairly positive on them as actual working experiences;

'I don’t do a lot of low budget work anymore. (...) The money is just too low to really do your best, and who wants to keep doing less than they are capable of. But I kind of enjoy working on the Howling pictures. I like Steve (Lane) and Bob (Pringle) and the films are low-key, low pressure. No one expects miracles from you and wants them yesterday. After doing something like The Abyss which damn near killed everybody involved, something like these films is kind of fun.'

Sources: 

• Fangoria #134 'The New Breed of Werewolf FX' by Mark Salisbury
  
• Cinefantastique Vol. 22 No. 1 (August 1991) 'Still Howling After All These Years' by John Thonen