Late Night Classics – The Supernaturals

Men in Black III, Hellboy II: The Golden Army and Fantastic Four are big time films that make-up/visual effects artist Bart J. Mixon has had a hand in. His name doesn’t jump out at you like Rob Bottin and Rick Baker, but the man is one of the best in the business. Today we go old school with Bart and look at the southern fried zombie flick The Supernaturals.

Jason Bene: The field of special make-up FX took off in the 80′s. How did you start out in the business?

Bart J. Mixon: I started out as a fan doing make-ups on myself and friends in Houston, Texas, in the ‘70’s. I was a member of a comic book club (the HCCA) and one of the other members new some very basic information on make-up effects – taking life casts with plaster, slip latex casting, etc. – so I started out doing that sort of thing – this was in 1972. My twin brother, Bret, and I made several Super 8 amateur films at this time (‘73,’74, &’77), most using make-ups and stop motion animation.

From the HCCA I learned about comic cons, and met Rick Baker at a con in Houston in 1977 (the same con Steve Johnson, Matthew Mungle, and others met Rick at). I had not really done much, but Rick gave me his address and phone number, so I kept in touch with him over the next few years.

At another con, I met Ernest Farino, who lived in Dallas at the time and did stop motion and effects animation. Soon, Ernie moved to LA and was working for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. By the end of the ‘70’s I was working with foam latex and better materials and doing a few little thing for Fred Ray and the like.

In 1981, Ernie was working on Forbidden World and heard they needed some more help in the make-up effects department. Ernie may have had some samples of my work and showed them to John Buechler – I am not sure – but in early October I was heading out to LA to work for a week on Forbidden World. On this show, in addition to John, I met guys like Steve Neil, Chris Biggs, and Mark Shostrom.

Jason Bene: You worked on low budget films from the likes of Fred Olen Ray and Roger Corman before working on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. How did The Supernaturals come about?

Bart J. Mixon: Mark and I hit it off on Forbidden World and we stayed in touch after I went back to Houston. In 1983, Mark did a show in New Mexico, and called me to assist him for the 3 or 4 weeks shoot.

In 1984, Mark called again, he had two shows he was going to do back to back, Neon Maniacs and The Supernaturals. I drove out to LA to assist him, but after about a week of life casting for Neon Maniacs that show went away, and he was not ready to start The Supernaturals yet, so I was out of a job. Fortunately, my brother had moved to LA the year before and was working for Ernie Farino doing laser animation on The Terminator. I assisted them for a short time until The Supernaturals started up.

Once Mark got the go ahead, we started up on The Supernaturals – along with Shannon Shea and Ed Ferrell – a very small but talented crew!

Jason Bene: Zombies were everywhere at the time. Did director Armand Mastroianni give you free reign as far their look, or did he have his own vision the undead?

Bart J. Mixon: You need to talk to Mark about that part of this, as it was his show. I know Mark did a nice appliance make-up that got him the job, but I have no idea how much input was given, if any at all. I seem to recall our budget got slashed in half right before we started prep, so the prosthetic approach was dropped in favor of the more affordable approach of over the head masks.

Jason Bene: Have you seen Armand’s early film He Knows You’re Alone (with a young Tom Hanks)?

Bart J. Mixon: I may have seen it years ago, but I could not say for sure. I almost worked for Armand years later on a television movie, but that did not happen.

Jason Bene: The casting was a really odd concoction. You have Grease 2 star Maxwell Caufield, Maurice Gibb from The Bee Gees and two stars from Star Trek television shows (Nichelle Nichols and LeVar Burton). Where you a fan of Star Trek? Did you have a chance to converse with them?

Bart J. Mixon: I was not a huge Star Trek fan, but of course I new who Nichols was and that was cool. This was shot in 1984, before Star Trek: The Next Generation, so I did not know Burton was.

My biggest “fan moment” was getting to work with Bobby Di Cicco – I put a forehead appliance on him with a bullet hole in it. Bobby had starred in I Wanna Hold Your Hand and 1941 so I was asking him about Robert Zemeckis – he told me he had some sci-fi comedy called Back to the Future he was trying to get off the ground!

Jason Bene: The Supernaturals won’t go down in zombie lore with Return of the Living Dead and Re-Animator, but at least it was going against the grain with its storyline, and has found a niche audience over the years.

Bart J. Mixon: I liked that it was very different from the Romero zombie films that everyone was doing at the time. I think our work turned out very well, and I wish it was shown off a little better in the final film. It was a great time working with Mark and I followed this up the following year working on A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge with him.

Jason Bene: It appears I will have to hold onto my bootleg copy for a while. It hasn’t been available on home video since its initial release in 1986. Crazy!

Bart J. Mixon: I found a DVD copy online, which was just a home made bootleg, but it’s good to have it in any form. Maybe some day it will get a real release.