NVF Magazine / New Voices In
Film & Fiction
October - December Issue

WELCOME TO FX-101, A PAGE FOR ALL ASPIRING FX ARTISTS TO DISPLAY THEIR WORK, AN INTERVIEW, BIO/RESUMES, AND PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO POST SOMETHING HERE, SIMPLY CONTACT ME HERE db5948@gmail.com ASAP, AND I WILL RESPOND TO YOUR INQUIRY AS SOON AS I CAN.

IRON DAVE

The song is "Dirty deeds done dirt cheap", and that is one of my goals. The makeup effects, gore, robots, and other props I can provide a film are done so "dirt cheap". How? I make them from scratch. None of the prosthetics and props you will find here were purchased ready made. In most cases, I sculpted the items in clay, made the mold, and cast the final piece. Please take a few minutes and watch the demo reel below. It shows several of the movies I have worked on over the past few years. They are all Independant, low budget films made in Texas.

I have worked on the following projects: 'Sitters Four', 'ZERO ONE', 'Murder by Mistake', ‘Knight Silver’, ‘Savage Spirit’, 'Why', ‘The 15 Minute Rule’, ‘Red Victoria’, ‘Crushed’, ‘Dementia’, 'Unglued', 'Sundown', and 'Shroud'.

I was interviewed for my effects work on "Savage Spirit" by M. J. Simpson, a British movie reviewer. That interview can be found at:
www.mjsimpson.co.uk/interviews/eviljohnmays.html

Convencing wound and trama effects are my main focus. My business card attempts to get this point across. It reads:
‘I do a lot of things, but I don't do pretty’.

 YOU MAY VIEW MY PERSONAL WEBSITE HERE EVIL JOHN

                                     NVF Magazine Interview

                                                   With

                                            Evil John Mays

Greetings, Evil John. How’s it going?

Things are going well. I have 3 movies that are out right now, one in production, and 3 in post production.

By the way, I really like your ‘’dirty deeds done dirt cheap’’ method of producing your FX. I’ve always been a real fan of the old ‘’hands-on’’ approach to FX, like the masters such as Baker and Bottin. Do you really produce your FX totally from scratch?

Don’t forget Stan Winston! I wish I could have met him before he passed away. I do things from scratch.as much as I can. I do my own sculpts, make my own molds and cast the final piece. Every once in a while I can reuse a mold on a new project. I don’t have the advantage of large budgets and production crews. Most of the time it’s just me and a couple of people I trust. My plan is to give the Indy group here in the Dallas area access to the best effects possible on a micro – micro budget.

What was it that got you interested in the art of special FX?

I like monsters, pure and simple. I did lots of volunteer work for the MDA haunted houses in the 80’s in Dallas, and went from there to working with a really great guy, Lance Pope. He had a haunted house / amusement park near Dallas in the 90’s. It really was the best around. I worked there for several years doing whatever I could, and trying to learn as much as possible. Fate dealt Lance a bad hand, and he passed away a few years later. After that, I started applying my skills on independent films in the local area. I noticed that there was a kind of void in the local Indy film community. We had actors, directors, camera people, sound people, and makeup people… but when it came to the FX stuff, it usually fell to the director or writer, or whoever was available. So, I decided to step in and see if I could possibly be an asset to the final product. Regular makeup is intended to make people look good, normal, or just pretty. I don’t do pretty. I try to figure out how a wound happened, and make it as realistic as possible.

Tell me, what do you make fake blood from? I’ve heard of several different ‘’recipes,’’ one of which actually used chocolate milk.

Milk can go bad pretty quick, so you might want to use something else. I have a secret formula that has taken me two years of trial and error to come up with, which I sell. I call it Corpse Blood. I’d rather not share it here. It’s shelf stable, non-toxic, non-sticky, and does not make the actors sick. If you just need something quick and dirty, try a cup of honey, a cup of hot water, and a small bottle of red food coloring. This was my old stand by mix. The only reason I changed to the Corpse Blood mix was that the honey formula had a tendency to “ferment” into a red honey wine, i.e. Mead. Depending on the situation it’s not really that bad of a problem, is it?

I see you have done quite a bit of FX work for independent films. Good lad! Us Indies have to stick together. Tell me about the FX you did for the film Dementia. I saw the video you did, and it looked quite realistic! That tongue cutting scene had me feeling more than a tad bit queasy.

I don’t know how many people have ever sculpted a tongue, but I have. I made about 4 of them out of a gelatin mix I came up with. They look like real tongues even up close. The hand you see is actually a copy of my hand also cast in gelatin. Gelatin is great because you can melt it down and reuse it if something goes wrong.

With your experience in keeping the production costs at a minimum, have you ever thought of starting your own FX/Film company? Direct, produce, and do the FX?

That is the long-term plan if the stars align, I win the lottery, or a mysterious briefcase of cash shows up on my doorstep. For now, I plan to continue refining my skills, and try to get as many local productions completed as I can. The next big director has to come from somewhere, and with luck it will be from here.

If you had to pick one FX artist as a favorite, who would it be? And for what film? I think I’d vote for Rob Bottin’s FX for the 1982 version of The Thing.

The Thing was great, but for me it all goes back to Stan Winston and the movie Gargoyles in 1972, for which he got an Emmy. I think I was 7 at the time. I am pretty sure this is what warped my mind. Prior to this, you saw things like the 1950’s creature feature films that really look bad to the modern trained eye.

I have noticed by viewing only a handful of indie films that the FX are sometimes more realistic than some of FX on big budget films. Why do you think this is?

Low budgets MAKE you be creative. I like to think that what we do takes a bit of stage magic. We try to convince you that you saw one thing, while we actually showed you something else. Big budgets usually mean that some serious cash was spent on that one effect, and they need to keep the camera on that effect for ‘x’ number of seconds to justify the cost.

What is on the horizon for Evil John right now?

Right now I’m working on an urban crime movie called ‘Dirty Red’, which should be on DVD late this year. In May, I will be at ‘Texas Frightmare Weekend’ with a little business called ‘The Gore and More Store’. We do ‘live’ effects makeup on people. Think of it as face painting for the Manson family. I am also waiting for that mysterious briefcase of cash to show up on my doorstep.

Any last words before you leave us?

One thing really. Most Indy, real Indy, films never see a commercial release. They don’t make a ton of money, but they can be some of the best films out there. Most of the time it’s people like me who work all day to pay the bills, and do this on the side. What these films lack in budget, we try to make up for in blood, sweat and determination. So I say, be a sport and buy a copy on DVD. I’ll even sign the box on anything I worked on!