Howl (2015)

Originally, Paul Hyett was enlisted to realize the special makeup effects for Howl, having previously designed the special makeup for Neil Marshall's The Descent. Initially, Jon Wright was slated to direct, but when Wright left the project, Howl's producers watched Hyett's The Seasoning House and decided he would be a good fit for the project.

Hyett's first move as director was changing the werewolf designs. Hyett stated in an interview for Clout Communications, 'I changed the creature straight away, Jon wanted more rat-like feral skinny creatures, I’d always wanted to do big, muscly, massive, fuck-ugly werewolves.'

In another interview with Film4 FrightFest, Hyett stated, 'I didn't want big furry, snout ones (...) I thought, feral people that have been bitten by something and start to evolve and mutate over the years. I didn't want to go through the silver bullet, howling at the moon, full moon transformation (...) Once they're bitten, they start to transform, and they never go back'.

Howl's makeup effects were handled by Kristyan Mallett's KM Effects Ltd. Satinder Chumber was credited for key prosthetics, with Mike Burne, Steve Byrne and Rachel Coenan on makeup. Francesco Fabiani, Andy Hunt and Cesar Alonso were credited as sculptors.

The early stages of Ed Speelers' transformation were realized as prosthetic appliances placed on his face and chest; these photos are from the Facebook page of Rachel Coenen

The werewolves were realized sculpted prosthetic suits and facial appliances, with CGI added in post-production. As Hyett stated in Starburst Magazine, 'A lot of people are saying, ‘look Paul has gone old school with these practical effects’ but they’re kind of not. The actors did have prosthetic creature suits but they have lots of 3D elements.

What I did was take everything I knew from those two disciplines. You never want to do a fully CGI creature as it never looks as good so I felt lets have the suit, but I couldn’t have had the triple jointed legs without the visual effects. It’s the same with the opening of the jaw. Anything I couldn’t do with prosthetic I then employed CG.'

Sculpts of Ed Speelers' werewolf chest appliance 

 

A set of four werewolf suits were created; three female werewolf suits named 'Blonde' 'Bald' and 'Hunchback', and a larger male werewolf suit named 'Scar. Francesco Fabiani handled sculpting duties for the 'Bald' and 'Hunchback' werewolf.

The body sculpt for the Bald and Hunchback werewolf suits 

 

Sculpts of the Bald werewolf face appliance 

 

Sculpts of the Hunchback werewolf face appliance 

 

Sculpts of the hand and breast appliances 

 

According to Fabiani in direct messages, one sculpt was used for the bodies of the Bald and Hunchback werewolf suits, each being slightly modified to not be identical, with different hair completing the looks.

The 'Blond' werewolf meanwhile was sculpted primarily by Andy Hunt, and was designed with a leaner, more muscular frame.

Sculpts of the Blond werewolf's suit and face appliance 

 

Francesco Fabiani meanwhile handled sculpting for the 'Scar' werewolf suit; unlike the three female werewolf suits, the Scar suit had its face mostly overlaid with CGI, though a practical head was sculpted regardless.

Unfortunately, Fabiani says he doesn't have images of the head sculpt or mask, which is a crying shame. These behind the scenes images are the clearest so far, and they also show how the film's CGI feet VFX was also achieved.