Ginger Snaps Back: The Beginning (2004)

Ginger Snaps Back was filmed back-to-back with Ginger Snaps 2, and also had its makeup effects realized by KNB EFX, with particular involvement from Howard Berger, Greg Nicotero and Robert Kurtzman. The half-transformed 'Wolf Boy' was a sculpted prosthetic mask worn by child actor Stevie Mitchell. The mask was seperate to the jaws, connected to Mitchell's own face, with having an opening for the mouth.

The werewolves in Ginger Snaps Back were realized in the same fashion as the werewolf in Ginger Snaps 2; several additional 'burnt' stunt heads were also created.

The Beastmaster (1999)

The success of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys resulted in a glut of sword and sorcery television series; among them included a TV reboot of 1982's The Beastmaster. The series was filmed in Australia, with its special makeup effects handled by Australian makeup artist Jason Baird.

Baird and his team were reimagining the original film's Birdmen in the episode 'The Island'; for the most part adhering to the original William Munns design, Baird's design gives the Birdmen a slightly more dragon-like appearance, with a padded hunchback.

The Spiderwitch in 'Obsession' was realized as a performer in heavy prosthetics with an all-CGI spider body for distance shots; the prosthetic makeups are fairly impressive, and so are included here.

The title monster of 'The Minotaur' was realized as the performer in bull-like facial prosthetics, and fur applied to the rest of their body.

The ape-creatures in 'Manlinks' were performers in prosthetic makeups and wigs applied.

The cat-like Lyca in 'Mate for Life' was realized as actress Laura Vasquez in facial prosthetics and a slightly furred bodysuit.

- Behind the scenes images are from Jason Baird's archived JMB FX Studio website

Beastmaster III: The Eye of Braxus

The original Beastmaster was successful enough to spawn two sequels, the second of which, Beastmaster 3: The Eye of Braxus, had its titular demon realized by the Chiodo Brothers as a sculpted bodysuit with an animatronic head. Can't find anything in the way of behind the scenes images as of now, sadly!

The Twilight Zone (1985 & 2002)

(And also the ill-fated Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics TV movie)

The release of Twilight Zone: The Movie spurred a television revival of the original series in 1985; one thing that complicates writing about its special make-up effects is the fact there aren't really any special makeup credits on the episodes!

For the episode 'Nightcrawlers', a makeup credit was given to Jack Wilson; but was this Wilson's work, or was he just responsible for the 'normal' makeup and someone else handled this?

Another case of a strange crediting is the episode 'Teacher's Aide', where Adrienne Barbeau slowly becomes more gargoyle-like. Jack Wilson is again credited for makeup, but then IMDB has John Logan credited for special makeup effects as part of The Burman Studio?

Things get more complicated with the title monster of 'Gramma' which clearly was a special makeup effects job, but there was no credits on the episode! Jeff Farley (@obscureartifacts on Instagram) clarified to me that this was the work of James Cummins.

To quote Farley's direct message, 'From what I understand, the entire episode had been shot (or was nearly wrapped) and they were having trouble with the concept of the “Gramma” character. They planned on not showing much from what I recall being told and were using a rather large performer in an old-age makeup… I don’t know at all who did it and production realized that they were in trouble as it wasn’t working at all. They knew they needed a more extreme version and I’m not sure how James was contacted or even considered for the job. They could have had numerous bids from other places and James just happened to place the best estimate ($35,000.00 from what I recall) for the week-and-a-half’s work. James did a design as I recall… he was very good at that.

The entire creature was a suit and cable-controlled head with gloves to cover the performers hands. I was immediately placed on working on hand sculptures and then put onto something else as required. I did a little of everything. As far as crew goes; Bryan Blair, Brian Wade, Larry Odien, Dirk von Besser and myself. There may have been one or two others. The foam fabricated suit was done a few blocks from James place… all in my neighborhood and I wasn’t aware up until then. After Dirk & I made the core for the head mold, that was sent off to The Burman Studio to run & bake the foam latex pieces.'

(Farley suggested there was no 'special makeup effects' crediting due to the rushed schedule, and for the other episodes, they could not have been crediting due to budget reasons, as individual credits cost money. I would like to thank Farley for at least solving this mystery!)

Meanwhile, the demons of 'Personal Demons' were a series of latex masks; again, there is only a 'make-up artist' credit for Charlene Roberson, IMDB reveals that the masks were the work of veteran maskmaker and special makeup artist Rick Stratton.

More prosthetic demon masks were made for 'Dead Run', albeit partly obscured by the riot helmets they wore; Lance Anderson was credited for the creature makeup, making this the only episode included here with any special makeup effects credited *in the actual episode*.

Note; The first photo was provided to me by Lance Anderson via email; gloves were seemingly also fabricated for the performers playing the demonic prison guards.

The insect aliens in 'A Day in Beaumont' were realizd as masks and gloves; again, only IMDB gives a clearer picture, as again these were the work of Rick Stratton apparently.

The demon in 'Crazy as a Soup Sandwich' was realized as a prosthetic makeup, with heavyset eyes and a ridged forehead. Again, there is no actual makeup artist credit for this, so who made this?

A few years after the 1985 series finished, yet another attempt was made to revive Twilight Zone's legacy, with the 1994 pilot movie Twilight Zone: Rod Serling's Lost Classics and was a flop. Several zombie makeups, courtesy of Jim Beinke (working under Alterian) were made for it but until I find a good enough copy, there's no screenshots for now!

The series was rebooted again in 2002, but the only episode with special makeup effects work was the remake of the original series episode 'Eye of the Beholder'.

Oddly, this episode has no special makeup effects credit, but the episode's IMDB page states that the makeups were handled by Toby Lindala and Mike Fields. Due to the 2002 revival being filmed in Vancouver, this is likely.