Myself and Moviemaven had the chance to talk with Marnie Adam, the lead SFX/Make-up artist for one of "the" fastest moving films here on Horror-Movies.ca. - "Flesh Crawl." 

At our first interview with the directors of Flesh Crawl (Dustin Bennett and Troy Collins) this film was resting at #262 in the HM database, but only after 11 days - Flesh Crawl has busted it's way into the HM Tomb Top 100, and is currently ranked at #24 (pretty impressive).

So let jump right on into the interview with first time SFX/Make-up artist of Flesh Crawl - Marnie Adam.  *Note to readers, the "adorable question is from Moviemaven.. not the deadman (I just wanted to clarify that)*.

Q.  How about a little background on you before we get into the film? I know that you have a website where you sell some of your creations including your very creative line of "Chip" zombies that are adorable by the way. How did you get into making those?

Q.  Okay, now on to the meat of the conversation so to speak. You are doing the make up effects for the film Flesh Crawl. How did you get involved with this?

A friend of mine met Dustin and told me he was into zombies and that I should e-mail him. I e-mailed Dustin my site. He seemed to like my work and asked if I could make a couple of zombies for a film he was doing. It sounded pretty cool, so we met and started talking about make-up and he asked if I would be interested in helping. I told him I would be happy to help out and now I’m the primary make-up artist for the film. Who knew?

Q.  You are very talented and inventive. Have you always wanted to work in films?

Thank you! I have been called a lot of things and those words usually aren’t included! I have always been interested in special effects, but never pursued it except as a hobby. I saw the opportunity to work on Flesh Crawl as a great way to gain experience and try out some different make-up techniques. It has really been a blast.

Q.  Are there any films from which you have drawn inspiration for the effects in Flesh Crawl? If so, what are they?

Flesh Crawl is all Dustin and Troy. During my first meeting with Dustin, he showed me some examples of "the look" he was going for and I do my best to give that to him. We also have a concept meeting before each shoot so if there is anything special he wants, I can work on it in advance.

Q.  Do you have any heroes in the make up business? Is there someone that you would like to work with given the opportunity in the future?

Tom Savini does really cool stuff. If I ever decided to do this professionally I would like to take his Special Make-up Effects Program. I also like Michael Burnett’s work, but my favorite would have to be Dick Smith. I use many of Dick Smith’s techniques in my work, most of which are very simple and yield dramatic effects.

Q.  Did you enjoy your first film experience? Surely this is more demanding than decorating your front yard. What is it like to be in charge of something so large?

I have really enjoyed it. It has been a lot of work, but I have enjoyed the challenge. The other make-up artist is Robin and she is awesome too, but her schedule has not allowed her to be at all the shoots. I have some "regular" assistants that with a little direction have done some really nice work. I couldn’t have done it without them.

Q.  Did you find that working on a film of this size was more demanding than you expected or were you pretty well prepared for what was in store?

I was pretty well prepared. The first shoot was massive. We started really early each day and people were in and out for make-up and touch ups and "more blood, please." The next shoot was on location and that was more difficult, but after that, I had it down pat.

Q.  Were there any particular hurdles that you had to overcome in regards to any of the effects for the film?

I think Dustin had the biggest hurdle. He wanted an effect of someone shooting themselves in the head, but he knew that was how my husband died, so it took him some time to get up the nerve to ask me about it. It wasn’t a problem for me, but I could tell he was uncomfortable asking me about it. We did the effect and while I haven’t seen it on film, I think it will turn out really well.

Q.  Dustin mentioned to me that he would tell you that he had an easy shoot and you would only have to do make-up for about 6 zombies and then he would show up with like 20-30. I get a feeling this might have been a common occurrence on the set of Flesh Crawl, lol. Do you have any interesting/fun stories to tell?

UGH!!!! They say that for EVERY shoot! You simply can’t believe them. I catch on quick and do my best to be prepared for the worst. As for stories, other than our "make-up studio" for the last few shoots has been a unisex public bathroom in a warehouse? Let’s see, one of the actors needed an arm wound right away and I didn’t have any pre-made appliances left, so I quick made one for him. I forgot to put sealant on his arm and when he was done, let’s just say there was very realistic screaming and part of his hairy arm was no longer hairy.

Q.  What are some of the types of SFX can we expect to see and do you have a favorite SFX moment in Flesh Crawl?

If I told you, I’d have to kill you. Then I’d have to mummify you and use you in my next yard haunt, of course. I think my favorite part is a scene with my friend Toby, who you see as the hungry zombie in the exclusive pictures. Toby spent over 8 hours in full head make-up and appliances that night. He was a real trooper. The pics I sent are of him being made up and the zombie head I made from the make-up I peeled off his face and head. It came off in one big piece so making the fake zombie head was pretty easy.

Q.  Looking ahead, what’s next for Marnie Adam and MLA Creations?

My passion is Halloween props. I work on them all year round. I’d like to make it more than a hobby one day, but for now I am happy with expanding my yard haunt each year and working on special projects for friends. Right now I am concentrating on making more "Chip" zombies. I am hoping there will be a market for them this fall. As for make-up, if Dustin and Troy decide to do a sequel or something new, I’d like to be involved again. Maybe my make-up work in their films will lead to a paying job one day!

Q.  Would you say that you are a fan of horror films in general? If so, what do you think is the scariest film of all time?

I like horror films, primarily for their special effects. I am with Troy and Dustin when they said that many of the films today just don’t give you that creeped out feeling you get with some of the classics. Some of my favorite horror films don’t use many special effects; they tend to leave much to the imagination. I would have to say the scariest horror film for me was the Exorcist. The original Night of the Living Dead is up there too.

Q.  I see from your website that your entire family gets involved with your annual Halloween decorations as well as several friends. Did they give you any input while you were working on Flesh Crawl?

They often give me unsolicited feedback. For example, I knew I had the edible flesh right when I ripped it off my face and ate it as my son Anthony and boyfriend Lew, both looked at me with their jaws dropped and looks of disgust and told me it was the most disgusting thing they had ever seen.

Q.  If you found yourself facing the end of civilization due to zombies or anything else, what are three things you would like to have with you and who would you want by your side?

I am so boring. Of course food and water (does that count as one or two?.) A gun would be nice, but it would have to have plenty of ammo or at least be big enough that when it ran out of ammo, I could use it as a blunt force trauma weapon and a fortress that my family and I could defend if necessary. I would definitely want my family with me.

Q.  Thank you again for taking the time to do this interview, but before we leave, is there anything else you would like to say about Flesh Crawl, MLA Creations, or to the readers of Horror-Movies?

I’d like to thank Horror-Movies for giving me this forum to share about my experience with Flesh Crawl. I have read about some of the other SFX folks on other projects and never thought I’d be one of them. I am just as excited as all of you to see the final product! I’d like to thank Dustin and Troy for letting me help on this project. I’d like to thank my Ninja obsessed assistant Nate. I’d like to thank all the volunteer actors, especially, my son Anthony, and my friends Toby, Kurt, Jason and Sean. And lastly, I’d like to thank Lew, because without him I wouldn’t be able to work on this or any other project.