COLUMN
Tony Wash touched up the
dead side of Darcy Wood’s face Friday night in Monmouth
College’s Wells Theater.
Brush in hand, he looked like a painter working canvas.
A still-bloody jawbone rested on a nearby table, joined by the remains of carnage from some other world — grotesque grinning heads, the claw of some beast and human teeth.
Wash is a writer, director and independent-film producer who, along with Chris Patrick, formed Scotchworthy Productions two years ago. The 28-year-old would-be George Romero or John Carpenter graduated from Monmouth College in 2002 and returned to show students his feature film “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To.”
Wash was accompanied by Wood, an actress in one of his short films, and production assistant Ben Carlson.
“I loved everything horror,” Wash said. “I grew up reading ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.’ The first movie I remember being fascinated by — that my mother let me watch — was ‘The Thing from Another World.’ Then there was ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’ Those movies had a big impact on me.
“I watched the ’80s stuff and loved a lot of it. I discovered John Carpenter and he is my favorite. His first few movies are probably the most underrated work. They’re awesome.”
Wash was thinking strictly of Carpenter’s early work in the horror genre — which started with “Halloween” and was followed, in order, by “The Fog,” “The Thing,” and “Christine.”
“When I turned 15, I started to work in a video store,” Wash said. “So that gave me access to so much more. I saw ‘The Howling’ and Rob Bottin, who also did the effects on ‘The Thing,’ became a god to me.”
Wash wanted to work in movies. After he graduated from Monmouth College, he charted a determined course.
“A lot of people go out to California and raise their hand and say ‘Hi. I want to be in movies.’ I just didn’t think that would work.”
After working on some independent productions, Wash set out for Tom Savini’s special effects school in Pittsburgh in 2004.
For those who don’t know it, Pittsburgh was something of a horror-film mecca during the 1970s. George Romero produced and directed “Martin,” “Night of the Living Dead” and portions of “Dawn of the Dead” in and around the city and that’s where Savini made his first mark as a make-up man.
Savini drew on his memories of wounds he saw while stationed in Vietnam. Wash admitted he spends time with autopsy photos.
“I look at a lot of stuff. The Internet is out there,” he said. “And every time a friend of mine gets injured, I’m the guy who wants to take pictures of it.”
After spending time with Savini, Wash teamed with Patrick and jumped into the film waters as a professional effects house. The two have worked on a number of productions and are making a living creating effects for other people’s movies.
Wash said in-camera effects, made from everything from frozen Crisco to the latest in latex and silicon, beat anything generated on a computer.
“The thing about effects is that you can do stuff with the things you find in your kitchen, bathroom or garage,” he said. “The thing is, if you take the care and have attention to detail, you can use simple things to create complex effects.”
He then explained how Crisco rolled into long tubes and frozen can, with the help of fake blood and KY Jelly, be turned into exposed intestines and molded into digestive organs.
Wash said effects are something he does to pay the bills and enhance his own films.
“I consider myself a writer and director,” he said. “A director is what I want to be. That’s what I want to do. I just want to make movies.”
The carnage on the table next to him made it clear what kind of movies those will be.
Brush in hand, he looked like a painter working canvas.
A still-bloody jawbone rested on a nearby table, joined by the remains of carnage from some other world — grotesque grinning heads, the claw of some beast and human teeth.
Wash is a writer, director and independent-film producer who, along with Chris Patrick, formed Scotchworthy Productions two years ago. The 28-year-old would-be George Romero or John Carpenter graduated from Monmouth College in 2002 and returned to show students his feature film “It’s My Party and I’ll Die If I Want To.”
Wash was accompanied by Wood, an actress in one of his short films, and production assistant Ben Carlson.
“I loved everything horror,” Wash said. “I grew up reading ‘Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark.’ The first movie I remember being fascinated by — that my mother let me watch — was ‘The Thing from Another World.’ Then there was ‘Nightmare on Elm Street.’ Those movies had a big impact on me.
“I watched the ’80s stuff and loved a lot of it. I discovered John Carpenter and he is my favorite. His first few movies are probably the most underrated work. They’re awesome.”
Wash was thinking strictly of Carpenter’s early work in the horror genre — which started with “Halloween” and was followed, in order, by “The Fog,” “The Thing,” and “Christine.”
“When I turned 15, I started to work in a video store,” Wash said. “So that gave me access to so much more. I saw ‘The Howling’ and Rob Bottin, who also did the effects on ‘The Thing,’ became a god to me.”
Wash wanted to work in movies. After he graduated from Monmouth College, he charted a determined course.
“A lot of people go out to California and raise their hand and say ‘Hi. I want to be in movies.’ I just didn’t think that would work.”
After working on some independent productions, Wash set out for Tom Savini’s special effects school in Pittsburgh in 2004.
For those who don’t know it, Pittsburgh was something of a horror-film mecca during the 1970s. George Romero produced and directed “Martin,” “Night of the Living Dead” and portions of “Dawn of the Dead” in and around the city and that’s where Savini made his first mark as a make-up man.
Savini drew on his memories of wounds he saw while stationed in Vietnam. Wash admitted he spends time with autopsy photos.
“I look at a lot of stuff. The Internet is out there,” he said. “And every time a friend of mine gets injured, I’m the guy who wants to take pictures of it.”
After spending time with Savini, Wash teamed with Patrick and jumped into the film waters as a professional effects house. The two have worked on a number of productions and are making a living creating effects for other people’s movies.
Wash said in-camera effects, made from everything from frozen Crisco to the latest in latex and silicon, beat anything generated on a computer.
“The thing about effects is that you can do stuff with the things you find in your kitchen, bathroom or garage,” he said. “The thing is, if you take the care and have attention to detail, you can use simple things to create complex effects.”
He then explained how Crisco rolled into long tubes and frozen can, with the help of fake blood and KY Jelly, be turned into exposed intestines and molded into digestive organs.
Wash said effects are something he does to pay the bills and enhance his own films.
“I consider myself a writer and director,” he said. “A director is what I want to be. That’s what I want to do. I just want to make movies.”
The carnage on the table next to him made it clear what kind of movies those will be.
Darcy Wood
is transformed within a matter of 20
minutes into what would possibly be the
early stages of a zombie, with faded
skin lined with traveling veins during
Tony Wash's presentation Friday
afternoon to Monmouth College students
in Wells Theater.
Bill Gaither photo
Horror
movie mask examples, comprised of latex,
silicone and other components, sit atop
a display table Friday afternoon in
Wells Theater during Tony Wash's
presentation to Monmouth College
students.
Bill Gaither photo
Darcy Wood
is transformed within a matter of 20
minutes into what would possibly be the
early stages of a zombie, with faded
skin lined with traveling veins during
Tony Wash's presentation Friday
afternoon to Monmouth College students
in Wells Theater.
Several
horror films effects, including masks,
shrunken heads, teeth moldins and more
sit atop a display table during Tony
Wash's presentation Friday afternoon to
Monmouth College students in Wells
Theater.
From left,
Ben Carlson, Tony Wash and Darcy Wood
stand on stage Friday afternoon in Wells
Theater at Monmouth College. Wash
presented horror movie make-up
information and samples to attending
students. A 6 minute movie kicked things
off, followed by a slideshow of samples
in other productions.
