If you ever get to wondering just how and where the designs for various creatures in the movies come from it might be time to dig a little deeper into the film lore and find out just who’s behind some of the most iconic characters in pop culture since there are those that live for creating new and exciting or horrifying creatures and their effects. While they might not always be the person that designs the creature there are plenty of people such as Chris Walas that create the effects that said creatures are given and make them even more impressive. The special effects and makeup that he’s been responsible for over the course of his career has been insanely impressive, and while a lot of people don’t take the time to figure out who’s responsible for such additions to the movies it’s still important to back up and recognize real skill now and then since without the contributions that Chris and many others have made, some of the effects that people have enjoyed in the movies might not have existed. It’s easy to say that someone else would have been brought in, but it’s even easier to give credit where it’s due since Chris and many that share his profession are able to work wonders at times, and there are moments when said effects might be a little simpler than people might realize.
One movie that he’s been lauded for is The Fly, that is to say, the remake with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Anyone that remembers this movie knows that it went heavy on the gore since the transformation of Goldblum’s character was anything but gentle as he started to deteriorate in ways that lent themselves heavily to the skills of those like Walas as each time he came on screen after his accident he was becoming a little less human, the transformation taking more and more of him as he continued to morph into a giant fly/humanoid hybrid that could spit acid, leap incredible distances, and was insanely strong. It was disgusting without a doubt and it was disturbing to watch, but when one steps back to admire the handiwork it’s not hard to be impressed with what Walas helped to do with the character since from conception to completion the process ended up being one of the more disturbing moments in horror movies at that time. Even to this day, people remember the movie in a manner that makes them shudder slightly because it was that incredibly uncomfortable but also that well done. This actually paved the way for Walas to take on his directorial debut with The Fly II, though as one can guess this didn’t really go over that well with audiences since the second movie was kind of a copy of the first but from the point of view of the main character’s son, who grew up and matured far quicker than normal, and was in search of a way to halt his rapid aging and become a regular human being. All in all, it wasn’t the worst movie in the world and the effects were still pretty cool, it just didn’t measure up to the initial movie.
Walas also had a lot to do with making the Gremlins, which many people are still enamored of since Gizmo and his ill-tempered, green-skinned cousins have been fun to watch for quite a while. One thing we never did get to see though is what happens when a Mogwai is subjected to bright light for too long. Obviously they reproduce when splashed with water, and this tends to bring out Gizmo’s dark side, which manifests in the offspring apparently. But is that how it always happens? The appearance of the Gremlins and Gizmo was easily cemented into the public consciousness since between the cuteness factor and the overall disgusting nature of the Gremlins it was seen that people couldn’t help but fall in love with the story. While Gremlins II didn’t really strike the same chord with the public it’s still remembered for the hilarity and overall attempt that was made. One could say that sequels are kind of doomed from the start and have to fight for attention, but some sequels just don’t live up to the example set by the first movie, and this was kind of the case with Gremlins II.
He was also involved in the scene near the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark when the three men standing in front of the ark suffered as they looked upon the spirits that escaped the holy relic. Walas actually created the false heads that would run and melt under the intense heat, and explode not long after. That scene was pretty disturbing to a lot of people, but it was also easy to remember thanks to the genius of the person that helped to come up with it.
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