Sfx

By: Mace Styx

Narrated by: Katrina Medina

Length: 19 mins

Publisher's summary

Short stories by Mace Styx:

Further examination revealed that the "model" was in fact an actual human body - stripped of its skin and preserved by a process very similar to that used by Dr. Van Hagens. Reading of this singular event, I decided to do some digging and upon examining the list of special effects artists on the film in question, stumbled across a name that struck me as familiar. Familiar, because its owner, one Rene Toubain, had also worked on a film, in which large sections of the action took place in the catacombs of Paris and in particular, in the section with the additional skulls. 

Before calling Mr. Toubain in for questioning, I decided to investigate a little further and with the help of a film student from the local university, was able to track down some further examples of his work. It turned out that Mr. Toubain was a widely respected special effects artist, having worked not only on films but on creature and horror work for television shows, museums, and even theme parks. 

A week later I was present when the "head of the beast", a highly detailed animatronic puppet head used in a famous French werewolf film, was X-rayed. Beneath the layers of fake fur and latex, the model was revealed to contain a crudely glued together central structure that had fused parts of a dog’s skull to that of a young man. A young man who, records revealed, had been missing for over a decade. 

Following his arrest and a raid of his apartment, a notebook was found in which Mr. Toubain listed every creature or cadaver he had provided or worked on during his career. Of these, around 80 percent were marked with a tick in red marker, for no apparent reason. When many of these artifacts were tracked down, it was revealed that rather than being beautifully constructed special effects, they were in fact the genuine article made to then look "less real" by the special effects expert.

©2020 Mace Styx (P)2021 Mace Styx