Japanese special effects whiz, born in 1956 in Osaka. Real name: Joji Tani. He specializes in bizarre, surreal, fleshy special effects and claims surrealist artist Salvador Dali as a primary influence, which would explain an awful lot.
After moving to New York City in the late 1970s, George attended the School of Visual Arts and formed a band called The Mad, which he described as "shock performance punk funk". The Mad (which went through an unknown number of name changes) performed at CBGBs and included everything from short films and animation to pantomines. Early performances of the band ended with George gutting and castrating himself onstage, all thanks to the magic of special effects.
George's work in special effects led him to special effects guru Rick Baker, who encouraged him to move to Hollywood and work in the film industry. He formed Screaming Mad George, Inc. in 1986 and worked on films like "A Nightmare on Elm Street 4", "Bride of Re-Animator", "The Guyver" (which he also directed), "Freaked", "Necronomicon", "Tales from the Hood", "Wishmaster", "Progeny", "Faust", "Minority Report", and "Destiny", but the movie that still seems most typical of George's style is 1988's "Society", a way-freaky flick about a bunch of high-class swingers whose stomach-churning orgies feature lots of flesh merging together in ways that biology never intended. George's effects had body parts swapping and twisting around, people getting glued together on a cellular level, the (infamous? hilarious? I'm not sure) "butt-head" scene, and lots and lots and lots of slime. The film wasn't generally considered too outstanding, but George's hallucinatory, surreal, gooey effects are still considered some of the best and most disturbing that the '80s had to offer.
In addition to movies, George has also worked on a huge number of music videos (including, among others, Marilyn Manson, Eminem, Tenacious D, Missy Elliot, Beck, Ozzy Osbourne, the Ramones, 'N Sync, and Shania Twain). He also works on commercials, oil paintings, and even supervised the interior design of a (probably really weird) nightclub in Tokyo.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com) and George's website (www.smgfx.com) |
