Exclusive: V/H/S/HALLOWEEN Is Oozing With Practical Effects
The V/H/S franchise has truly become a Halloween season tradition. Dating back to the 2012 horror anthology that started it all, it’s as much a staple of everyone’s favorite spooky holiday as buckets of candy and making unsexy things into sexy costumes. This year, Shudder finally leaned into that in a big, bad way with V/H/S/Halloween which, as the name implies, is a collection of tales taking place on All Hallow’s Eve. The collection of six tales is loaded down with impressive visual effects, many of them accomplished through practical means.
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Fango’s own Angel Melanson had the chance to speak with the directors behind V/H/S/Halloween following its premiere at this year’s Fantastic Fest. While speaking to the filmmakers, she asked them about the practical effects in their various segments. While some of it was aided by CGI, the team accomplished a remarkable amount of what’s seen on screen through old-school, down-and-dirty, real-world techniques.
“We had the six tits, which were a mold and were fully prosthetic” Anna Zlokovic, director of the segment Coochie Coochie Coo, told Fango of the monster at the center of her tale. “She also had some face pieces. That was I think the most challenging thing for the team to do because they had to look realistic. We also had all of the baby makeup, which were cheeks and getting rid of eyebrows, and painting on eyebrows.”
“We had tentacles, fire, smoke, pressurized blood canons. We had everything, which is crazy,” added Bryan M. Ferguson, director of Diet Phantasma, which is used as the framing segment for this particular installment of V/H/S. “A lot of favors were asked. We’re lucky enough to be working with a company called Artem in Scotland that did all of the fire effects but we were so lucky to get the guys at Millennium who did all of the effects for Toxic Avenger, which just came out. They absolutely nailed it.”
“Everything actually worked,” Ferguson added. “We only had three days to pull everything off.”
“Everything is practical,” added Paco Plaza, director of the segment Ut Supra Sic Infra. “I’d like to underline the amazing job [VFX Supervisor] Justin Martinez did. It really blew my mind. We want him in Spain because he’s really brilliant. He’s fast, he’s quick, he’s sweet. He made the impossible easy. It was great to work with him.”
Melanson also spoke with Alex Rossy Perry, Casper Kelly, Michelin Pitt-Norman and R.H Norman about their respective segments during the fest. As for how the rest of this year’s anthology shakes out? The full list of segments is as follows:
- Diet Phantasma directed by Bryan M. Ferguson
- Fun Size directed by Casper Kelly
- Home Haunt directed by Micheline Pitt-Norman and R.H. Norman
- Kid Print directed by Alex Ross Perry
- Ut Supra Sic Infra directed by Paco Plaza
- Coochie Coochie Coo directed by Anna Zlokovic
V/H/S/Halloween arrives on Shudder on October 3. Be sure to check out our full interviews with the directors both above and below.
