.com Review For as long as they've been in existence, horror and sci-fi movies have relied on special effects and makeup to make the unreal seem real. In Men, Makeup, and Monsters: Hollywood's Masters of Illusion and FX, Fangoria editor Anthony Timpone presents profiles a dozen of today's most brilliant practitioners of the art and science of effects. Artists such as Stan Winston, Rick Baker, and Dick Smith have made everything from aliens to dinosaurs to zombies come alive on the screen, employing a staggering variety of techniques. In their conversations with Timpone, Winston and company explain how they accomplished dozens of their most notable effects, which involve the use of makeup, appliances, puppetry, robotics, CGI, animatronics, and more. Abundant photos (including a color section) show both finished products and works in progress. Men, Makeup, and Monsters is aimed not just at curious movie fans, but also at prospective practitioners of the trade. Timpone's introduction includes straightforward explanations of basic industry terminology and procedures, and gives a realistic picture of what it takes to break into this increasingly competitive business. Appendices include a glossary and a directory of makeup schools. Movie fans who routinely leave the theater asking, "How did they do that?" will find this detailed look behind the illusions absorbing, and will come away with as much admiration for the artists as for the effects they create. --Mary V. Burke Read more From Library Journal Fangoria magazine editor Timpone consolidates information that is available only in genre periodicals and "fanzines" to analyze the outfitting of zombies, bigfoot, aliens, maniacs, apes, skeletons, and other usually grotesque creations by imaginative, artistic, and technologically proficient movie makeup artists. After a foreword by writer/director Clive Barker (Hellraiser) and an introduction that pays tribute to such past masters of "monster" makeup as Lon Chaney and Jack Pierce, Timpone devotes each of his 12 chapters to an individual or team he has interviewed. Interviewees include Dick Smith (The Exorcist) Rick Baker (American Werewolf in London), Stan Winston (Aliens) Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead), Chris Walas (The Fly), and Kevin Yagler (Child's Play). The initiated will understand when, in captions, Timpone labels these fellows "fright meisters" and "gore gurus." The heavily illustrated text is crammed with quotes and detailed, generally understandable analyses of technique that may well inspire future generations of fantasy film makeup artists.?Kim R. Holston, American Institute for Chartered Propery Casualty Underwriters, Malvern, Pa.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. Read more From Booklist Fangoria magazine editor Timpone certainly has the credentials for presenting a survey of contemporary filmdom's leading special effects makeup artists--stars in a marvelously bizarre field of endeavor now enjoying a golden age. To the accompaniment of a stunning (literally) array of illustrations, he profiles a dozen masters of illusion, including Tom Savini, splattermeister for George Romero's Living Dead movies; "ape man" Rick Baker, whose work graced Greystoke and Gorillas in the Mist; and Kevin Yagher of Nightmare on Elm Street parts two, three, and four and the HBO cable series Tales from the Crypt hardly household names to casual movie fans, but, as Timpone reveals, inventors and executors of some of the finest moments in recent movie history. A directory of makeup schools, a list of all best makeup Oscar nominees, a short but satisfying glossary, and a bibliography further mark this a boffo buy for film collections, not to mention connoisseurs of the art of gore. Mike Tribby Read more About the Author Anthony Timpone is the longtime editor of Fangoria magazine. A lifelong fan of horror movies, he has appeared on such TV programs as Entertainment Tonight and Nightline as an industry spokesman for horror films. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. Read more
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