The horror bides its time revealing itself in Zach Cregger’s Weapons, now playing in theaters and at home on Digital, resulting in a wildly unpredictable journey full of surprises.
That includes the film’s shocking use of violence, sparing at first but steadily escalating into one of the most outrageous climaxes in horror. That writer/director Zach Cregger holds fast to his preference for practical effects ensures the horror in his sophomore effort is all the more effective.
Special Makeup Effects Designer Jason Collins (Unfriended, Velvet Buzzsaw, “Stan Against Evil”) of Autonomous FX and his team were responsible for bringing the savage kills and bloodletting to life on screen for Cregger’s latest.
For a film that’s been described as “batshit insane,” Collins walked Bloody Disgusting through his process on Weapons, starting with the wildly unpredictable script.
He explains, “When I first read the script and saw how fractured the story was, and the different perspectives and points of view, the first thing that came to mind was that I realized how grounded it was in reality. That was the first step.”
Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
“When we start to talk to Zach and everything, we start talking about some of the specific characters and things,” Collins continues. “The thing that I really realized that he was trying to do with the film was to ground it in reality. When the surprises hit, and the supernatural stuff hits, and the horror elements hit. They really, really hit, and they hit hard. And that was the thing. That was my brief as far as how what I was going to do, as far as the design of the makeup effects for the film. I was really taking it from a grounded perspective and not trying to go over the top. But keep things within a perspective that is really sort of believable. Really, it’s the idea and the audacity of the idea that really sells the effect much more.”
Collins uses a familiar horror classic to explain why the grounded approach was the only path for Weapons. “So, I wanted to live in that universe with Zach, and that was really the thing that we were talking about was the approach to things, of how they were going to land with an audience with regards to the universe, and how they’re fitting into the film itself. Like, this film, if you did something really crazy like The Thing or something, and do that in this film. I mean, your audience just checks out. But if it still really has an allegiance to the characters, you, as an audience member, are like ‘What the fuck?’ You just took a left, or just took a right. There were moments.
“Of course, we go over the top a little bit, because that’s to sell the point of this is what movie you’re watching now. That is what I really love, because it’s not a lot for a lot’s sake. It is just the perfect amount. And when that first big moment happens, you’re like, ‘Oh, shit! This is a horror film! Oh, this is the real deal.’ I love that. We all love all things horror. But I also love character-driven things. In this day and age, everybody’s seen everything, right? So it’s like when the characters are actually great, amazing, believable characters that you can relate to, all flawed.”
While we won’t spoil what happens in Weapons, much of the violence that transpires brutally on screen is inflicted by characters unable to control themselves, as if possessed. Collins explains the subtle look of the “possessed” characters, pointing out the sole exception of VFX in a practical effects-heavy feature.
“Again, that’s all led by our fearless leader’s act because of the idea of when the possessions happen,” Collins states. “That when you look at them you just wanna see a slight difference. It’s not in your face, but it’s just a slight difference. When we were talking about the possession stuff, you know, the idea of Graves’ disease came up, where the eyes sort of bulge out. We played around with like, okay, can we do this practically? Eventually, we decided to do that via visual effects in the film. I think that’s the only thing that really was a visual effect in the film. Everything else was really left alone and practical, but that particular thing is a really hard thing to do when you have stunts involved. When you’ve got all that blood involved, when you’ve got all those sorts of things where people are taking a topple and that kind of thing. But what I love about the effect was that it wasn’t crazy. It was just like, this guy’s out of control, that kind of thing. As far as the humor is concerned, I believe it’s the audacity of the situation, right? The heat. But because Zach just loves fucking with tone.”
Collins continues, “Barbarian set the tone for that, where it’s like, you think you’re watching this. But really, you’re watching that. Same thing with this, where it’s like the humor just isn’t like boom, boom, boom! Guys, look at this. Let’s laugh at this. It’s much more in the moment. That’s why horror has always gone along with comedy, where it’s like, you need a little reprieve, you know. Little levity. Yeah, Spielberg said that when he was making Jaws. You can’t go 90 degrees the whole film. You gotta go 90 degrees. Then you gotta give them a little humor. Then you gotta go 90 degrees. Then you gotta give them a little humor because you gotta give the audience places to rest.”
You can rest assured that the maniacal finale of Weapons was all practical. It was also the most complex effect to pull off for Collins’ team. It required “multiple stages of a body that was all mechanical, which means it’s a whole, complete fake body that has the likeness of the head on it, and everything is all controlled via cable.” Collins notes, “You have real actors running into frame, the stunt actor taking the brunt of the blow, and all those things. You have all that coverage, and then we get into our body, and our body is all mechanically released.
“So it’s a bunch of cables coming off of it that’s buried, and we just go piece by piece.”
Rent or purchase Zach Cregger’s Weapons at home on Digital now.
Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures
The post ‘Weapons’ SFX Designer Details the Effects Work for the Possessed and That Insane Finale [Interview] appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.
