Earlier this week, some of the more delightfully weird corners of the internet wept as they learned of the loss of Screaming Mad George, who passed earlier this year at the age of 69. Although he had a name befitting a rock star — and he did front his share of punk bands — George was primarily known as a special effects and makeup artist for horror movies. Once you’ve seen his work, you’ll never forget it: he designed the flying eyeball in Big Trouble in Little China, the roach transformation in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, and the MTV-era freak show in Alex Winter’s Freaked. He even dabbled in video games, designing the very odd 1998 PlayStation title ParanoiaScape. But it’s Society that made him a legend.
Born Joji Tani, George changed his name while studying at the School of Visual Arts in New York City, choosing “Screaming” for musician and actor Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and “Mad” for Mad magazine. Besides having the best pseudonym in the business, what set George apart when he entered the industry in the mid-’80s was his fine-art background, particularly his love of surrealism. He preferred to be credited as a “surrealistic” effects artist, and that tendency was never more prominent than in Brian Yuzna’s 1989 eat-the-rich horror satire.
