Editorials
[Set Visit] The Gore and Ghosts of Nicolas Pesce’s Practical Effects-Heavy ‘The Grudge’
On set of the police precinct where some of supernatural happenings of The Grudge plague the unlucky detectives who stepped foot in the cursed home, we observed a scene featuring actress Andrea Riseborough’s encounter with a male ghost. Only, he doesn’t look like a typical ghost, and nothing like the kabuki style ghosts of Shimizu’s original films. Sickly, pale, with purple veins spidering out throughout his face and skull, the man stands there in the doorway, shaking as he pulls his finger up to his lips and hoarsely whispers, “Shhhhh.” If it wasn’t clear before that this reimagining would be a very different beast, this seals it.
Between takes, we sit down with the ghost himself, actor Dave Brown, who reveals his character’s name is Sam. Of his character’s background, he shares, “So Sam is the original owner of a house that has a Grudge. But what happened to here, to get him to this point, is he died. And we’re not quite sure how yet. Or at least he disappeared. He seems to be haunting anybody that comes in contact with the house.” Of his internal conflict he adds, “For me, the emotional bit is trying to play this ghost as if he’s fighting it. So for Sam, the two emotions are extreme rage and extreme sadness.” In other words, Sam is a ghost of barely contained rage, threatening to spill over any moment.
From there, it means that the iconic croaking sound that Kayako made in Shimizu’s original films will be replaced by something entirely new and different. Brown adds, “I’m trying to play it a little bit differently, almost like it comes from a sense of asphyxiation. And so it’s more of a breathing in, versus an exhale. And a struggle, and I think that’s what happens with the character of Sam, is he’s constantly struggling to breathe in this new thing. And at the same time, trying to suppress everything else. So you’ll see what that sound is in the film.”
The actor is in full makeup for his scenes, and when asked how long he spent in the makeup chair he reveals an intriguing detail, “This is stage two. Stage two takes somewhere between two and three hours.” That’s correct. As the effect of the Grudge wears on, the ghosts’ appearances will become more grotesque. Specific stages that initially start out as calm yet eerie before increasing. Brown explains, “There’s three different stages that play within each stage. Well especially stage two and three. There’s playing around a little bit with the progression of it. So, stage three is a very different beast.” As for stage three? That involves an impressive, fully articulated animatronic mask.
The special makeup effects design and puppeteering for The Grudge was created by artist Toby Lindala (Final Destination 5, Death Note, Seventh Son) and his company Lindala Schminken LSFX. Lindala and his team are having a blast working on The Grudge, showing off the various lifelike prosthetics, masks, and blood that will be used in the film. Lindala and his team have essentially been let loose to create shockingly horrific gore and ghost effects, and that excitement isn’t just contained within the special effects team.
Executive producer Schuyler Weiss elaborates on the decision to go practical, “We’ve tried to do a lot of practical work in this movie, and that’s something we’ve been really excited about, connecting it not just with Grudge and that world but connecting it with the whole legacy of horror movies and genre movies. Tony Lindala is our key effects designer, and he’s created all the ghosts, all of the gore. We’ve done it all in-camera, and it’s been ambitious in a totally different way than a big effects movie. It’s almost a much more delicate ambition to try and get all those things to work on the day. It’s exciting, we think, for the process and for the audience but it’s also great for the scene, too. Instead of the actor running around green screen chasing a pink X on a stick, we have really hideous, shocking, gruesome things happening in the scene with the other actors on the screen, everybody from the cast members to the production, also maybe the audience, are going to get why we made that such a priority.”
Practical effects were a big part of director Nicolas Pesce’s vision from the outset. A huge, long-time fan of the genre, Pesce elaborates on his excitement to go practical, “It’s not the ’80’s anymore with wax, bad prosthetics; we can do things that look incredibly realistic and I think that it is just a more guttural reaction for the audience. In terms of the ghosts, I think that so much of our conception of the ghosts and the designing of the ghosts went into thinking about how do we do something practically that’s just as frightening as something you would do that you would normally be like, ‘Okay, it’s just easier to do in the effects, but let’s go there practically and see how far we can push it.’ When we get into our full-on ghost modes, we’re dealing with really elaborate animatronic prosthetics that is something that people don’t really do anymore and to me, my taste in horror lies in the more vintage stuff. There are bits and pieces that pay homage to the bigger, slightly more campy stuff of the yesteryear of horror but also stuff that’s brutally realistic. Getting to play in that world is much more my taste and things that I want to do as a director. It’s fun for me to get to play with masks and like this stuff and figure out how to shoot it and make it look as scary as possible rather than, ‘Yeah, I’ll fix it in post, I’ll make it scary don’t worry.’ I think that the end result is hopefully going to be far scarier.”
This meant Lindala had a lot of creative freedom when designing the new ghosts. “We shot really wide and we tried out some wacky ideas. What’s that little movie, The Hidden. Right? And there was some stuff that was almost reminiscent of that, right? With these crazy creatures. So, it’s this thing embodying inside and kind of like, Alien, an addition to the person. It’s latched on and these things. Tentacles coming out and wrapping heads and crazy stuff,” Lindala shares of the more eccentric design ideas, though ultimately the designs drew inspiration from the classic drama masks more representative of the strong emotions these ghosts embody, “A really strong, super sorrowful, super angry … We just did these really extreme expressions almost like Renaissance art.”
Each of the ghosts represents a different emotion, and Lindala explains of the ghosts and Sam in particular, “But, I love the fact that it’s really about capturing the emotion, right? And the fact that they’re victims as well, right? They’re tortured. So, there’s a synthetic quality to it, which is more scary. He’s kind of rage and there’s a wonderful out of control, unpredictability about him that is so frightening.” With the actor who portrays Sam on set, his makeup and masks are the focus of today’s show and tell, but Lindala makes sure that we know that’s not even the crowning glory of his designs. He shares a sneak peek of two more, one of which is monstrous, “Her abdomen is ripped open. She’s got her fetus hanging there…”
It’s not just the ghosts that team is excited about, but the really gruesome deaths as well. These ghosts don’t just whisk their victims away from beneath the bedsheets; the victims suffer violent ends. Lindala discusses one of the character’s deaths, a gnarly fall down a stairwell, “[Redacted] goes down four flights of stairs, just gets bashed to hell. And then the amount of blood and gore, we just painted walls, man.” When asked just how much blood has been involved in the process so far, Lindala grins, “I think we’re probably looking at something around 30 gallons now.”
We’re now just as excited to see what Pesce, Lindala and the crew have created for The Grudge.
After fifty years of continuous writing, Stephen King has become a genre unto himself.
The unrivaled Master of Horror made a splash in 1974 with his debut novel Carrie and has been terrifying readers ever since. Two years later, Brian De Palma brought this shocking story to the screen with an equally electrifying horror film that remains a genre classic and a prototypical example of “Good For Her” horror. This dual debut seemed to open the floodgates, unleashing endless waves of Stephen King films.
From the highs of Misery, Cujo, and The Shawshank Redemption to the schlocky fun of Cat’s Eye, Creepshow, and Children of the Corn, the last five decades have seen just about every notable horror creator take a stab at the author’s massive collection.
In recent years, this singular subgenre has begun to burst at the seams, expanding to include Stephen King-esque fare. In 2016, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer debuted Stranger Things, a sci-fi series heavily inspired by two of King’s most famous books. The Netflix series remixes Firestarter and It by following a little girl with psychic powers and an intrepid group of kids on bikes who must battle an otherworldly foe and a sinister government agency. With its clever blend of modern effects and comforting nostalgia, this gateway horror series paved the way for Andy Muschietti’s It adaptation which remains the highest grossing horror film of all time.
Four years later, Mike Flanagan would create Midnight Mass, a spiritual adaptation of King’s second novel Salem’s Lot. Published in 1975, the book sees a tiny New England town torn apart by a centuries-old vampire. Though Flanagan’s story is perhaps more tender, both iterations of the classic horror tale follow close-knit communities shaken to their core by the presence of an ancient evil.
In addition to these recent hits, 2025 was a banner year for the Master of Horror. Audiences delighted in six mainstream adaptations, including the massively popular It: Welcome to Derry which chronicles earlier cycles of the titular clown’s reign. With this boost to King’s cultural cache, it’s no surprise that we’ve begun to see more unofficial adaptations of the author’s work and horror creators who build their own unique castles in King’s creative sandbox.
So what defines a Stephen King-esque story?
For the past fifty years, the prolific author has dipped his toes in nearly every subgenre from supernatural stories and grisly gore to western fantasy and science fiction. Including his vast catalogue of short fiction, King has tackled ghosts, demons, werewolves, zombies, aliens, mutants, and self-driving cars, not to mention bizarre monsters of his own creation. But what truly unites this vast array of horror is King’s focus on relatable characters. In his 2000 memoir/instructional text On Writing, the prolific author describes the amusement he finds in writing disparate characters, placing them in horrific scenarios, then exploring the ways they try to survive.
An unofficial Stephen King adaptation may take place in the author’s native New England — bonus points if it’s set in Maine — and reference his well-known heroes and villains. But what makes the King connection unbreakable is a character-driven story about average people who band together in the face of abject terror.
Weapons Captures Small Town Stephen King
Following his 2022 shocker Barbarian, Zach Cregger returned with Weapons, a sprawling story that begins in a doomed elementary school. On an otherwise ordinary day, Justine (Julia Garner) arrives at her desk to find that all but one of her students have disappeared. As the mystery grows increasingly violent, Justine and Archer (Josh Brolin), the father of a missing boy, find their way to the home of Alex (Cary Christopher), the class’ only surviving student. In some ways reminiscent of Salem’s Lot, Weapons swings wildly through the unfortunate town, introducing us to its flawed inhabitants as we watch their lives fall apart.
Cregger’s setup nods to a pair of King short stories. Both “Suffer the Little Children” and “Here There Be Tygers” tackle monstrous presences in elementary schools, but as Weapons reaches its final act, Constant Readers may remember another Stephen King tale. Featured in his 1985 collection Skeleton Crew, “Gramma” introduces us to George, a little boy tormented by an aging witch. On an afternoon alone with his sickly grandmother, the frightened child gradually realizes that the imposing old woman has been waiting for an opportunity to cast a spell that will extend her own life by possessing his body.
Alex finds himself similarly tortured by his aunt Gladys (Amy Madigan), a garish witch who orchestrates a desperate plot to sustain her own strength. Transforming humans into mindless weapons, Gladys has taken over Alex’s family home and lured his classmates to the basement. Holding them in a comatose state, she syphons off their energy to extend her own supernatural life.
Vastly different in many ways, both “Gramma” and Weapons hinge on a sinister witch who uses horrific magical spells to sacrifice the bodies of her vulnerable prey.
Hokum Echoes The Shining and 1408
It’s nearly impossible to watch a film about a haunted hotel without thinking of King’s third novel, The Shining. This icy story follows Jack Torrance, an angry writer struggling with his sobriety and a shameful incident haunting his past. Accompanied by his wife and young son, Jack has taken a job as the winter caretaker for the Overlook, a haunted hotel situated high in the Rocky Mountains. Snowed in, Jack finds himself tormented by dangerous ghosts who amplify his greatest fears.
Damian McCarthy’s Hokum follows a similarly troubled figure. Ohm Bauman (Adam Scott) is a surly writer who travels to the Bilberry Woods Hotel in rural Ireland to spread his parents’ ashes. Haunted by his own tragic past, Ohm finds himself trapped in the honeymoon suite, a decaying room that’s been permanently closed to protect visitors from a dangerous witch trapped within its walls. Visual nods to King’s text abound with woodcut figurines and an animated clock, mirroring ominous descriptions found in King’s text.
Another terrifying sequence sees Ohm staring with horror at a closed door, the only thing separating him from the approaching witch. As the door knob slowly turns, Constant Readers remember Jack’s narrow escape from the ghostly woman in room 217. And Ohm’s popular Conquistador books directly reference King’s long-running fantasy series The Dark Tower which follows a gunslinger named Roland Deschain tasked with protecting the nexus of the universe.
In addition to these thematic comparisons, Hokum bears striking resemblance to King’s terrifying short story “1408.” Collected in 2002’s Everything’s Eventual, the terrifying story follows Mike Enslin, a dejected writer who’s risen to fame penning essays about his adventures in haunted locations. Mike arrives at the Hotel Dolphin and bullies his way into the titular room, despite the manager’s dire warnings. McCarthy nods to this story with an ominously misplaced hotel room door, reminiscent of King’s entry to 1408, an unsuspecting portal that appears to move each time Mike looks away.
However, McCarthy’s most direct reference lies in a minicorder Ohm uses to capture notes. Trapped inside the dreaded honeymoon suite, this device offers well-timed messages while sitting next to a decomposing corpse. Mike records his time in 1408 with his own trusty minicorder. Described for the reader, his tape has captured the man’s slow descent into madness as the room prepares to swallow him whole. With conclusions that differ wildly in tone, both Ohm and Mike find their lives irrevocably changed by encounters with the supernatural realm.
Widow’s Bay Builds Its Own Version of Castle Rock
Katie Dippold’s Widow’s Bay has taken the idea of an unofficial King adaptation and turned it into an art form. The Apple TV series sees the residents of the titular island plagued by a curse that dates back centuries. Not only does the picturesque hamlet not accommodate wifi connections, those born on the island face certain death should they ever try to leave. Desperate to modernize the tiny town, Mayor Tom Loftis (Matthew Rhys) draws in waves of tourists just as a new cycle of terror begins.
Blending horror with deft comedy, Dippold makes cheeky references to King’s body of work. Tom warns that, “there’s something in the fog,” reminding readers of King’s 1980 novella The Mist. And Loftis’ own stay in the town’s haunted hotel sees him tormented by the ghost of a murderous clown. We even spy a vintage King hardback peeking out of a local book trade box.
In many ways Widow’s Bay feels like a new iteration of the author’s Little Tall Island, a tiny village off the coast of Maine. In addition to the 1992 novel Dolores Claiborne and a handful of harrowing short stories, this quaint fishing village is also the setting for King’s 1999 teleplay Storm of the Century. Premiering on ABC primetime, this tragic tale follows a terrified group of islanders who batten down the hatches for a dangerous Nor’easter only to find a more sinister threat lurking within.
Constant Readers may also be reminded of Castle Rock, the author’s favorite fictional town.
First introduced in the 1981 novel Cujo, the charming village becomes the star of Needful Things, King’s satire about consumerism. After several Castle Rock stories, we’re reintroduced to its residents as they gossip about the arrival of Leland Gaunt and the grand opening of his curio shop. Anything their hearts desire can be found in his varied inventory, so long as they’re willing to pay the price. Pitting cantankerous neighbors against each other, Gaunt ignites a wave of grisly violence by exploiting long-held resentments and feuds.
The town’s only defense against this supernatural threat is beleaguered sheriff Alan Pangborn. Still grieving the deaths of his wife and younger son, Alan struggles to connect with his older child and pick up the pieces of his shattered life. Also a widower, Loftis struggles to raise his own restless son and explain the strange details of his wife’s tragic death. Attempting to unravel the island’s dark secrets, Tom is aided by quirky residents including a surly fisherman named Wyck (Stephen Root) and Patricia (Kate O’Flynn), an earnest Town Hall employee. King’s own novels feature many of these proactive alliances with disparate characters combining their strengths to overcome insurmountable odds.
With Widow’s Bay renewed for a second season and Mike Flanagan’s Carrie series on the horizon, the future seems bright for new King adaptations, both spiritual and directly pulled from his catalogue. The prolific author also shows no signs of slowing down with two publications nearing release. His upcoming novel, Other Worlds Than These, is the long-awaited third Talisman book which teases direct ties to his Dark Tower world. Holly Forever will be a new installment of his crime series, offering a different kind of genre fare.
This embarrassment of riches spawning multiple worlds seems ripe for spiritual adaptation and will likely inspire horror creators for decades to come.
Kate O’Flynn, Stephen Root and Matthew Rhys in “Widow’s Bay,” now streaming on Apple TV.
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