The beast surprisingly required minimal visual effects…
Renowned makeup artist Barrie Gower has discussed the labour that went into creating Stranger Things villain Vecna – the gruesome monster first introduced in the most recent season of the sci-fi Netflix show.
Gower, who has previously worked on sets from No Time To Die to Game Of Thrones, took to Instagram to reveal the behind-the-scenes antics involved in sculpting the antagonist, who is currently portrayed on the show by Sweeny Todd actor Jamie Campbell Bower.
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The designs for Vecna, who spent the majority of the fourth season on a killing spree aimed at Hawkins’ teenagers, were conceived all the way back in 2020, when showrunners the Duffer Brothers first sent Gower the early imagery of the tentacled beast.
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Surprisingly, despite the show’s $30 million per episode budget, very little of Vecna’s sculptings required CGI, with Jamie Bower spending umpteenth hours in hair and makeup to achieve the creature’s raw terror. As an apparent visual reference, Gower also shared images of Pinhead, the main antagonist in the Hellraiser horror franchise from the 1980’s.
Gower’s horror genre inspiration adds to that of the broader season, with the Duffer Brothers citing horror classics like The Nightmare on Elm Street and The Ring as visual muses behind this season’s darker tone. The first volume of Stranger Things 4 premiered on May 27, and the second, two-part volume is set to hit Netflix on July 1.
Check out more from Gower and his team below:
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