Fango heard from Gene Mazza, the DecayNY FX artist who’s about to get started on special makeup for the fright feature JOB. He’ll be working alongside veteran artist John Carl Buechler on the Graymatter Films production, to be directed by John Gray.

“John and I have been acquainted for about 13 years now,” Mazza tells us. “We used to chat on message forums, and I made him a Jason mask replica way back then. When he contacted me in December about JOB, I figured I was just going to be making the [villain’s] mask for him, since the Jason replicas are what I’ve been best known for, so when he asked if I’d handle the FX work alongside Buechler—who was a definite inspiration, along with Tom Savini, Rick Baker, etc. when I was growing up—I was blown away. He sent me the script, and I thought it was great. On its surface, the film resembles a slasher flick, but it’s so much more than that and hits on multiple levels. I can’t reveal too much, because it’s got several great twists, but I will say that it has as much in common with THE CROW as it does with HALLOWEEN.”

What we do know is that the long-in-development JOB, as its title suggests, has a religious underpinning to the bloodletting; the story follows a detective pursuing a crown-of-thorns-wearing killer seeking bloody vengeance against a group of priests. And Mazza promises that when the murderer gets to work, “There’s going to be some awesome gore effects. John has given me enough leeway and trust to either kick them up a few notches or turn them upside down completely, so the kills will be elevated above conventional slasher standards. We don’t want people watching it to sit there and think, ‘OK, that guy got his throat slit.’ We want the audience to go, ‘Wow, Job f**ked that guy’s throat up!’

“Despite that, though,” he continues, “I think the story’s most intense and disturbing aspects aren’t even the kills. John and his [co-writer] brother Spencer have crafted scenes that I know will get under the viewer’s skin, and after they see it, they’re gonna want to take a shower. Gorehounds won’t be disappointed, and neither will fans of white-knuckle suspense.”

Gray has assembled a solid cast of genre veterans, including Michael Paré, Tony Todd and THE EXORCIST’s Eileen Dietz, to appear in JOB, which he has shepherded for four years now. “He has been holding out to do it his way,” Mazza says. “He could’ve gotten it done long before, but he didn’t want to compromise his vision, and I’ve got the utmost respect for him for that. They’ve assembled a great cast and a crew just as passionate and dedicated as they are, and so far, not only are we functioning as a very well-oiled unit, but we’re all excited beyond belief and having a great time to boot. As long as we maintain this level of passion and ambition—which I’m confident we will—you may very well be looking at horror's next great icon.” Keep watching this site for more on JOB as it gets into production.

---

News - Latest