Project: Metalbeast (1995)

Note as of 17/1/2026: Last month, Wesley Wofford himself kindly sent me several behind the scenes images of his work for this very overlooked b-movie. It's lovely to finally see these werewolf suits and sculpts clearly, and I must thank Wofford for helping out!

The makeup effects for Project Metalbeast were handled by John Carl Buechler's Makeup & Mechanical Imageries (MMi). Buechler himself acted as special makeup effects designer and supervisor, with Wesley Wofford and John Foster credited for 'key make-up and creatures'.

Also credited under 'sculptors' were David Barrett, Jason Hamer and Michael Jones. Credited under 'lab and mechanical technicians' were Tom Irvin, Tamara Coulson, Brad Hardin, Audrey Mae Goetz and Mark Weatherbe.

The first werewolf, in the opening scene set in the church, was handled by the MMI team.

Sculpts of the church werewolf torso.

The church werewolf suit's leg extensions.

Sculpts of the church werewolf hands.

The church werewolf mask.

While only seen briefly in the film, the suit was fitted with leg extensions to give a taller appearance and to make it appear the wolf was walking on its haunches. I assume the church werewolf was also fitted on a lifecast of, and worn by, Kane Hodder.

(I am unsure as to the other werewolf, briefly seen in the film's middle; according to Tom Irvin, who I reached out to when researching this article, he says it was a rental from Wayne Toth's effects shop. I will have to look into that...)

The MMI team made grisly prosthetic masks for when the character of Butler, bitten by the werewolf, starts mutating into the Metalbeast.

Sculpts of the malformed Butler masks.

Similarly to the werewolf suit, the Metalbeast suit was fitted with leg extensions to imitate walking on wolf haunches, and add to Kane Hodder's height. The suit was fitted with padding to give the appearance of musculature.

Understructure of the Metalbeast suit.

Sculpt of the Metalbeast suit and feet.

The Metalbeast sculpture was detailed to give it a properly blistered, metallic appearance.

Sculpt of the Metalbeast suit's hands.

The Metalbeast masks being sculpted.

The completed suit was given a glossy metallic paintjob. The head was fitted with animatronic mechanisms to make the face snarl and grimace.