Monster Man - Season 1

SOTA is seeing one of its busiest times - they've been contacted by Sean Cunningham, director of Friday the 13th, about a very special job. Sean and his son, Noel, are creating a new movie that features a scene where conjoined twins rip apart from each other, and Sean knows that Cleve is just the man to make two identical twins look as if they share one body. Despite the vote of confidence, Cleve knows that this assignment will be a killer. On top of the bizarre, bloody prosthetic torso they have to make for the twins, Cleve and his team also have to create a two-headed shark for the movie house, The Asylum. The producers show Cleve their original design idea, one shark head stacked on top of the other, and it's all Cleve can do to keep from laughing. He goes back to his studio and sketches out a side-by-side double shark head, which the producers, thankfully, love. Building a giant two-headed shark out of foam is not as easy as it might sound, and when the Asylum team drops by unexpectedly to see the shark still in media res, they get worried. The pressure ratchets up and Cleve and Constance must put in even more work - sometimes forgoing sleep - in order to finish the shark to the client's expectations. And they're not the only ones losing sleep. Although the Cunninghams are very happy with the conjoined torso prosthetic, they've moved the deadline from two weeks to a few days. Hill pulls an all-nighter, and still has to inject the foam latex with a special stabilizer that allows it to cure in a fraction of the time. They show up to set hours late, and because of the anatomical placement of the prosthetic, only Constance and Sonia can apply it. Cleve almost has a coronary from the time pressure and the risks of tearing the one-shot prosthetic, but it all works out and the scene is a success. And the double shark kills on camera, as well. The blood rigging, the teeth, the stellar paint job, all come together to allow the shark to destroy its prey with the appropriate amount of gore and terror. The producers are thrilled, and Cleve's team heads out for some much-deserved relaxation.

Thomas Churchill is one of the industry's up-and-comers, wooing audiences and producers with his unique directing style. He knows that SOTA are leaders in spooky monster building, and he goes to them when he wants to shoot a werewolf film entirely with practical effects - nothing computer generated. Roy thinks Constance is advanced enough to take on her first original design, so he puts her at the helm of the werewolf drawing. She's nervous and initially has some difficulty but, after an inspiration trip encounter with a vicious guard dog, she knocks it out of the park, and Tom is thrilled. Meanwhile, one of Roy's childhood heroes, Richard Elfman, is directing the sequel to his cult classic, Forbidden Zone, and he asks Cleve to design the face for the hideous character, Princess Polly. For Roy's sake as much as his own, Cleve really wants to make this design amazing. The first "Forbidden Zone" was a family effort, with Richard's brother, Danny, writing the music. Cleve and Constance find a balance of monstrous and girlish for Polly that Richard loves, and is such a work of art that it just might persuade Richard's daughter-in-law, Jenna Elfman, to take part in the fun. The big day arrives, a beautiful actress is transformed into a creepy character, and everyone's thrilled. But the werewolf build is as rocky as the Polly build was smooth, the biggest issue being that the unique fur that Cleve special ordered has not arrived. The SOTA team does everything they can do, starting with building a giant foam latex body suit for the six-foot-plus stuntman, polishing it, painting it, molding nasty, gnashing teeth...and, at last, the fur arrives, but when Thomas sees that it's grey, instead of the brown they agreed upon, he's furious. But eventually Cleve demonstrates how the fur looks over the reddish-brown body, a complementary color choice, and Tom once again trusts the master. Even with all the elements in place, the werewolf is such a monstrous build that it's down to the wire getting everything together to get to set in time. When they finally arrive, the clock is ticking and Tom is getting antsy. But when he sees the werewolf suit in action, with clicking jaws and spurting blood, he falls in love and all is forgiven. They get the shots they need, and the shoot is a success.

Seems like everybody these days wants some kind of monstrous bug. Tony Randel, director of Hellraiser II, is interested in hiring SOTA to create a biomechanical cockroach-like creature, but he has no design, which means Cleve and his team will have to cram six weeks of work into two weeks. Meanwhile, indie rising star Petro Papahadjopoulos wants SOTA to create an exploding demon ant - talk about a dream job! Petro will hire them on a test basis - if he likes their work, he'll bring them on for the full movie. Cleve tries to farm out various parts of the cockroach to different team members, but when the pieces come together, it's a disaster. They have to throw out all their work and start over from a cohesive design, costing them tons of hours of productivity. They get an idea together, but it's missing that buggy je ne sais quoi, so Cleve takes the more skittish team members on a nighttime field trip to a house filled with creepy, crawly cockroaches. Seeing how the bugs move, and how the team reacts, fills Cleve with inspiration. But with only a few days left before shooting, Roy is praying every minute that Cleve will finish up in time. The ant is coming along more smoothly - Petro loves the design, and Roy is able to pitch in and hollow out the bodies so that the explosive charges can be laid in. Constance and Hill butt heads over how to assemble the giant bug, but ultimately work together to make it happen in time for the test explosion. 3...2...1...boom! It's a hit, and Roy can breathe a sigh of relief that this project was a success. As for the biomechanical cockroach...a new twist was added when SOTA got the script and saw that the creature must have tentacles. Roy is sweating bullets, while Cleve is giddy at the thought of building such an abomination of nature. Tony drops by to check on their progress two days before the shoot, and when he sees the assemblage of parts, rather than a complete creature, he flips out. Cleve, however, is unfazed. He knows that all the elements are there, it's just a matter of putting them together properly. Using a motley collection of spare parts, including hairdressing tools and misplaced tubing, he and his team construct a hideous insectoid antagonist. It has nasty legs. It has tentacles. It has glowing tendons. It has personality. The SOTA team deliver the creature to set, and everyone helps to animate it using hands and rods in an elaborate puppetry dance. It's terrifying, it works, and Tony is thrilled. Another crisis has been averted.

Constance really gets to sink her teeth into a project of her own when art director Josh Separzedeh comes to SOTA looking for a special effect makeup for an upcoming film, Pretties For You. He hooks Cleve in by saying that, if they get the makeup for the movie poster right, the film might hire SOTA to do all of the makeup for the film. Constance is in her wheelhouse when it comes to facial appliances - she makes a spooky, sultry zombie fighter that scares the bejeezus out of everyone, and looks great on camera. The rest of the studio is busy fighting the good fight against the CG behemoth. Director Mike Mendez has laid out a challenge for them: Build a giant, flesh-eating spider that looks better in practical effects than it would in the computer-generated world, and he'll use it in his film, Mega-Spider. The team is hesitant to start without the final designs from the film's art team, but because they only have a week to build two spiders, shooting webs, a projectile vomit system, and a melting head, they decide to get to work right away. If they can pull this off, it'll be a huge win for practical effects. But it seems the CG world has it in for them: The final designs are way different from the original designs the SOTA team received, meaning they have to scrap all their work and start over. And when they finally get their little spider to set, it doesn't operate the way Mike thought it would. The CG world won this round. SOTA redoubles their efforts and kicks butt on the giant spider head. They even get it to set on time! And when the vomit effect isn't quite as projectile as it should be, Cleve rigs an ingenious fix using Red Vines to make the trajectory more aerial. The cascade of flesh-melting spider vomit is now magnificent. Practical may yet win the day. The final test on Mega-Spider is the melting head. Hill and the rest of the team have built a three-layer gelatin head, modeled after an actor in the film, that will yield to the heat of blowtorches and look as if it's being melted by spider bile. The effect is hideously smooth, and Mike is thrilled that so many of the effects in his movie will be practical. The SOTA team are thrilled to once again make movie magic.

Roy knows that Cleve is a family man, but when the monster maker misses two client meetings because he's having Manicure Mondays with Sonia and the girls, Roy is inches away from firing him. SOTA's mountain of work this week includes a multi-part build for a '50s camp-style alien movie, directed by Jason "Wee Man" Acuna of Jackass fame, as well as a pair of 12-foot foam boots for the premiere of the Dreamworks movie, Puss in Boots. Cleve gives the bulk of the work to Constance, which totally gets her hackles up and makes her take revenge by hiding her dad's computer. The studio explodes into chaos as father and daughter fight, with a little help from mom, but finally the computer is found and everyone gets back to work. Jason comes in to get a life cast for his alien head, and Constance is mollified by getting to work with such a fun star. Cleve also forgets about the feud when he realizes how much work he has to do to get the boots ready for the premiere, and later in the week, when Cleve and Constance collaborate on building the alien head, it proves to be good bonding time, and the two move past their differences. The Dreamworks folks drop by, and everyone's on edge, hoping that such a big client will dig their work, and though they have some reservations due to the fact that there's such a short time frame in which to do so much, but the reps like what they see. When they tell Roy that it has to be done by Saturday night instead of the originally-planned Sunday morning, Cleve nearly has a heart attack. But, he works through the night and the following day, and manages to knock it out. On to the next challenge: The alien head for Jason's film is complete and gorgeous, but when they get to set, they learn that it's not going on Wee Man, after all, but on his stunt man, who has a completely different head shape. They carve out the inside to make it work, and the scene goes perfectly. Next comes the shot where the alien slits Jason's throat, and Hill has trouble with the fake blood, which is meant to flow profusely. It's too thick, but after an on-the-spot thinning method, the murder scene flows as smoothly as the fake red stuff. Finally, Constance comes in to do Jason's transitional make up. The alien will peel off Jason's face to discover that he, too, is an alien, and Constance's handiwork will make both the fake human face look real, and the transitional alien face look convincing. She achieves both with aplomb, and another day is won for old school creepy creature making. Plus, the SOTA team is that much closer as a family for the challenges they've been through.

SOTA has been around the block a few times, and one of the iconic pieces they've created along the way is Devo's red energy dome hats. Now, Devo is back to collaborate with them on a video for their new song, "Monster Man." They want Roy to helm it, and Cleve to build the pieces - a giant lizard monster, space suits for the band members, and a superhero to battle the monster. After meeting with the band, it's decided that the lizard monster will have more of a Gorgo feel than a Godzilla feel, which could be tough to match with the hero, who will be an homage to the Japanese TV character, Ultraman. But most exciting of all is the fact that Cleve will get to play the giant monster! Back at the studio, Cleve feels overwhelmed at the amount of work that is going into this job, so he calls in his friend and colleague, costumer Cole Porter, to help on the suit. Cole's reception is mixed - Constance is miffed that Cleve farmed out her job to an outsider, and when the seams of the neoprene suit rip in the first fitting, she's totally stumped as to why her dad called this man in. But, Cole pulls it together and turns out a great suit, and his good humor at the laughs he gets for wearing thong underwear eases some of the tension. With Roy spending so much time prepping to direct the video, Cindy has to take over as whip-cracker. She doesn't want to let Cleve get away with his usual shenanigans of saving all the work to the very last minute. The stakes are higher not only because it's a client as big as Devo, but also because it's her husband's artistic progress she's looking out for. But of course, Cleve will be Cleve, and not only does he miss the rehearsal the night before the shoot, but is also late to set on the day of. When the monster man finally makes his debut appearance in his giant monster suit, the effect is stunning. The spines, the teeth, the black eyes - it fills everyone with glee. They begin shooting, but before long, Cleve is overwhelmed and having trouble breathing, and falls to the ground. He's incoherent and oxygen-deprived, and Sonia is furious at Roy and Cindy for pushing him so hard. Cleve gets out of the suit and makes some modifications to it so he can breathe, then gets back to work. They're able to shoot the rest of the campy, sci-fi inspired, building-smashing video. The guys from Devo are so excited about the artwork Cleve and Roy have brought to the project, they almost don't want to take off their silver masks!