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Vintage Videos: Watch Tom Savini Shoot, Burn and Stab David Letterman
Today we celebrate the 70th birthday of a makeup effects legend.
There are a small handful of artists who forever changed the face of the horror genre, and Tom Savini is undoubtedly one of them. When it comes to gory practical effects, nobody did it better than Savini, and his gruesome contributions to films like Friday the 13th, Creepshow, and Day of the Dead played no small part in each of those films becoming beloved classics.
We don’t call him the Sultan of Splatter for nothing.
In addition to his standout makeup work, Savini has of course also acted in countless films and he was even the director of the awesome 1990 remake of Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Savini can currently be seen in “From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,” a return to the franchise he helped make memorable back in 1996, and he’s also teaching the youth of America how to create monsters, rip out innards, and just generally keep the art of practical effects alive and kicking.
Back in the 1980s, at the height of the practical effects movement, Savini appeared on “Late Night With David Letterman” on three separate occasions, in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Promoting films like Creepshow 2 and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2, Savini showed off his handiwork to Letterman, and he also saw to it that the late night host was properly maimed and mutilated.
The segments were always a blast, and we invite you to revisit them today.
For all you do and have done, Mr. Savini, we thank you. Happy birthday.
We have learned the sad news this week that prolific horror author Ray Garton, who wrote nearly 70 books over the course of his career, has passed away after a battle with lung cancer.
Ray Garton was 61 years old.
Stephen King tweets, “I’m hearing that Ray Garton, horror novelist and friend, died yesterday. This is sad news, and a loss to those who enjoyed his amusing, often surreal, posts on Twitter.”
Ray Garton’s novels include Seductions, Darklings, Live Girls, Night Life, and Crucifax in the 1980s, followed in later decades by output including A Dark Place: The Story of a True Haunting, Trade Secrets, The New Neighbor, Lot Lizards, Dark Channel, Shackled, The Girl in the Basement, The Loveliest Dead, Ravenous, Bestial, and most recently, Trailer Park Noir.
Garton also wrote young adult novels under the name Joseph Locke, including the novelizations for A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Master and The Dream Child. He also wrote the novelizations for Tobe Hooper’s Invaders from Mars and Warlock, as well as several books for the Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchises.
Other young adult horror novels you may remember the name Joseph Locke from include Petrified, Kiss of Death, Game Over, 1-900-Killer, Vengeance, and Kill the Teacher’s Pet.
You can browse Ray Garton’s full bibliography over on his official website.
He wrote on his website when it launched, “Since I was eight years old, all I’ve wanted to be was a writer, and since 1984, I have been fortunate enough to spend my life writing full time. I’ve written over 60 books—novels and novellas in the horror and suspense genres, collections of short stories, movie novelizations, and TV tie-ins—with more in the works.”
“My readers have made it possible for me to indulge my love of writing and I get a tremendous amount of joy out of communicating with them,” Garton added at the time.
Ray Garton is survived by his longtime wife, Dawn.
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