He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce

He Who Made Monsters: The Life and Art of Jack Pierce (2008)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Nice tribute to Universal make-up legend Jack Pierce who created some of the studios most famous works including Frankenstein's monster, the wolf man, the mummy and countless other creatures. Rick Baker, Tom Savini, Howard Berger, Bob Burns, Scott Essman, Kim Newman and Gregory Nicotero are just a few of the faces who appear and discuss the work of Pierce and why his work has had such a lasting impression on people. It was quite touching when Baker mentions that Pierce didn't have any children of his own yet these monsters pretty much were his kids and they'll never die. The documentary lasts a brief 25-minutes and mainly covers the Universal period of Pierce's career, although there's brief mention of him being let go by the studio and forced to work on poverty row. It's sad to think that when he died no one cared and no one hardly remembered him. The documentary does a great job at showing how legendary these creations were and how even though make-up is better today there still hasn't been anyone to top his work. Savini talks about the look of Karloff's mummy and how this had a major influence on a certain zombie in DAWN OF THE DEAD. Baker talks very warmly about the creation of the Frankenstein monster and everything that went into creating it. Burns even has a piece of memorabilia, which is believed to be the only known work to survive. While this documentary doesn't go into great details about Pierce's life it's at least a fitting and touching tribute.

This is the shortest of the documentaries on the DVD of the 1932 version of The Mummy that have their own pages here on this site, and the title makes it quite clear what the subject of it is. It consists of clips from the movies he created for, interviews with more recent make-up artists who've been inspired by him and behind-the-scenes stills/footage. They go into detail on the immense labor of the application of early make-up, both to the person constructing it, and the (not always) patient actor stuck in the chair for hours, the specific methods(we even get to see his apparently last and only surviving piece... sadly, much of it was undoubtedly lost simply when taken back off, and exists only on the printed film), Pierce as a human being and the deep level of respect between him and Karloff. The stories are interesting, and it is rather impressive how much of an impact he has had, even if most people do not know his name. Everyone who knows comic books knows The Joker, and the look of the character was very clearly inspired by The Man Who Laughs. And just about anyone knows the iconic monsters that he designed and built. There is some violence and disturbing content in this. I recommend this to any fan of horror. 7/10