Horror effects icon Tom Savini: ‘My work looks so authentic because I’ve seen the real thing’

By Thomas Hobbs

 

Savini hard at work on a Frankenstein's monster prosthetic ( Tom Savini )

 

Whether it’s Kevin Bacon unexpectedly getting an arrow through the throat while lying in bed in Friday the 13th, Ted Danson’s waterlogged walking corpse in Creepshow, or a zombie getting the top of its head sliced off by a helicopter blade in Dawn of the Dead, Tom Savini is responsible for some of horror cinema’s greatest moments.

 

Yet not everybody realises that a lot of this iconic gore was inspired by the special effects guru’s traumatic time serving as a field photographer in Vietnam.

 

“I saw some pretty horrible stuff,” the horror legend, now 73, tells me soberly.

 

“I guess Vietnam was a real lesson in anatomy.” While serving with the US military, Savini learnt details such as the way blood turns brown as it dries or how our bodies lose control of the muscles when we die. “This is the reason why my work looks so visceral and authentic,” he adds. “I am the only special effects man to have seen the real thing!”

 

Full Story: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/tom-savini-interview-horror-effects-dawn-of-the-dead-friday-the-13th-a9646331.html

I can see that giving him ideas for his work/special effects. He seems like he wants to make his work and art look as real as possible too.