Tom Savini and Stan Winston were amazing at their job. Personally CGI is best used to enhance practical effects. Takes it from looking like a puppet to something a bit more real. But too much CGI and you wind up with a cartoon. No disrespect to the two legends I mentioned above. But CGI + Practical > Just Practical. Also better than CGI as well.
I was at Tom's house last halloween. He's a total professional, absolutely dedicated to the art of horror. He personally hands out the candy on his street, full sized bars. He has a school for practical effects near Pittsburgh, and he's taught a lot of other influential creators throughout the years.
I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Savini twice at conventions and besides being a great special effects artist he is one of the most genuinely nice and interesting people I’ve ever come across. He will gladly talk about his love of universal monsters and take you through effects that he’s done. Class act.
Man, you got lucky. He must have taken his Midol for those cons. I met him when I was a teenager at a convention and he was not friendly at all. I was wondering why NO ONE was at his table until I got up there and he was very rude and dismissive. I was crushed, because I idolised his effects. Learned that it's best not to meet your heroes. Look up Tom Savini As*hole on google, you'll find a load of other people with the same experience I had. I always thought he'd be cool from interviews and appearances like this, but he was like a completely different person face to face. He's had to address his bad rep multiple times online, so maybe in the past few years he's learned to mellow out a bit, but I've never met anyone who met him as a fan and came away with a pleasant encounter.
They should have rehearsed it, and Jay should have been more interested in doing it right rather than joking about it. They applied a lot more after he complained he "missed a spot", and was waving his hand around. He should have just stfu and did what he was told rather than complicating it with his comments to get laughs.
I was in high school in 1985 and (from Tom’s wonderful book “Bizarro”) performed the arm slice trick as a demonstration speech in class. I got an A+ but had to do a follow-up speech apologizing to the class for upsetting the group. Good times😂 Thank you Mr. Savini for your truly inspiring craftsmanship ❤
Tom Savini is the GOAT of horror movie effects. CGI will never replace the gritty realism good practical effects give you. A good example is the movie "Maniac." Tom Savini did the effects for that movie and it has some of the nastiest kills.
This is priceless Letterman! Non-celebrity guest in the little NBC studio before every celebrity was queuing up to be on his show. 1980's Letterman shows are the best! Only thing that topped this was Kamarr The Discount Magician, who also set fire to Dave!
Savini is a non-celebrity? 😂 i guess you've never seen his line at a horror convention. 😏 Celebrities were curing up to be on Letterman since he started the late night show...its just that hed have more "oddball" guests in the mid 80s that would sometimes do a show and tell, like Tom is doing.
Day is the best of the trilogy. Even Romero said it. The Dawn people are like some weird online fanboy cult .. I think it's mainly about nostalgia than anything else. The make up effects were terrible in Dawn .. It's got a great opening but gets incredibly boring once they get to the mall. The Goblin soundtrack was fantastic though.
I guess Dawn is more popular cause it's more fun, as the mall scenario invokes a certain level of fantasy. In contrast, Day is depressing and the end of the world is a much more real feeling threat than in the previous film. I love them both, but Day is a notch better
I've been a fan of Tom since I saw Dawn at the drive-in in '78, still my all-time favourite zombie movie. Saw this on tv too, I was hyped for Day, saw it on opening night, my second favourite zombie movie of all time. Tom's company Callosum Studios worked on the practical effects on Terrifier 3, huge upgrade from the previous films, he also got a cameo.
I used to record every Tom Savini appearance on Letterman and watch them over and over again until the VHS tape wore out. I love seeing how these FX work!
My ex went to Pittsburgh university. She knew a girl named Amanda Frankenstein who was dating Tom. She was 100% sure that he only dated her because of her name.
DotD is my favourite Romero flick and my #1 movie of all time. I have seen it hundreds of times. I have prized memorabilia. I'm a yuuuuuge fan. :) It is for sure Savini's Magnum Opus and also a high watermark for practical horror effects generally. I was 14 when it came to video in the UK and I remember the months of anticipation. I was not disappointed. While a different beast to Dawn in just about every way; heavy on character, light on action and undeniably talky, it's superbly played all-round. I do understand why it's not everybody's cup of tea but for the young Romero fanboy in 1985 _this was it_ and 40 years on, to me it remains so :) P.S. Savini is such a nice fella. Plus this was new material for me, nice to see those effect props up close! :)
for the normies, the first head is the likeness of Greg Nicotero and this film was his first gig. He has worked on many hundreds of films and eventually executive producer, special make-up effects supervisor, and primary director on the AMC TV series The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.[
Day of the dead is my personal fave. I saw it the right way when it came out...a packed movie theater at a midnight showing on Halloween night. the movie was so oppressive, you had humans in a bunker underground almost buried alive...and above...a world of the dead. and the helicopter represented freedom
This is so badass to see the legend showing off his work. Day of the Dead is goated and will forever be my favorite, next to Shaun of the Dead and 28 weeks later
I convinced a couple people that I was depressed in high school and did the razor blade trick in our "outside area" (it was a smoking section). Some people legitimately lost their minds. Ah, the 90's...
Day of the Dead is one of my favourite films. I consider it a masterpiece. I even bought the special edition soundtrack on CD. There is a video called The World's End: The Making of Day of the Dead, and I highly recommend it to any Romero fans. You might find it on RUclips.
He’s so young here. Man did I want to be like him when I was a kid. My dad even let me set up a special effects shop in his shed where I made all sorts of stuff and showed the neighbor kids. Haha. Good times. But Hollywood wasn’t looking for a 10 year old SFX artist at the time. 😂
All of the Tom Savini appearances on Letterman were great, if ya haven't posted them all yet ya really should! (I know they're up elsewhere on YT of course).
This was so awesome! Back when skilled artists actually put the time, money and effort into movies. Such a shame we don’t get this kind of mastery nowadays …… well, maybe on very rare occasion
No CGI. Back when producers did BRAINSTORM to get more ideas about making the effects looks as spectacular as possible while using little or zero budget.
This is better than CGI
Real models usually are - see Yoda in Empire Strikes Back looking easily better than the prequels.
infinitely better
Hell yeah. Just more expensive, which is why they opt not to do it anymore. It’s Money > Art in the film industry.
Monks are so much better than the printing press.
Tom Savini and Stan Winston were amazing at their job. Personally CGI is best used to enhance practical effects. Takes it from looking like a puppet to something a bit more real. But too much CGI and you wind up with a cartoon.
No disrespect to the two legends I mentioned above. But CGI + Practical > Just Practical. Also better than CGI as well.
I was at Tom's house last halloween. He's a total professional, absolutely dedicated to the art of horror. He personally hands out the candy on his street, full sized bars. He has a school for practical effects near Pittsburgh, and he's taught a lot of other influential creators throughout the years.
We won’t ever get late night show content like this ever again. Tom is such a legend.
I know! It amazes me that this was show on late night tv. We need some of this energy back
Now we have Stephen Colbert dancing around with drag queens dressed up like vaccine needles
@@zachary_attackery problem?
He was the biker guy with the "crotch gun" in From Dusk Till Dawn
Haaa ! Good’un Sir….
I met him at a convention and he had the codpiece revolver on display.
wouldn't we all get that role for ourselfs..?
he was in quite a few robert rodriguez movies
Duh.
I love that Savini giggles like a little kid when he gets to show off his tricks and effects.
I’ve had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Savini twice at conventions and besides being a great special effects artist he is one of the most genuinely nice and interesting people I’ve ever come across. He will gladly talk about his love of universal monsters and take you through effects that he’s done. Class act.
Man, you got lucky. He must have taken his Midol for those cons. I met him when I was a teenager at a convention and he was not friendly at all. I was wondering why NO ONE was at his table until I got up there and he was very rude and dismissive. I was crushed, because I idolised his effects. Learned that it's best not to meet your heroes. Look up Tom Savini As*hole on google, you'll find a load of other people with the same experience I had. I always thought he'd be cool from interviews and appearances like this, but he was like a completely different person face to face. He's had to address his bad rep multiple times online, so maybe in the past few years he's learned to mellow out a bit, but I've never met anyone who met him as a fan and came away with a pleasant encounter.
13 year old me would get so excited when Tom Savini was on the show. I would have liked it to be just him for the entire hour.
After Dave gets burned, I like how Tom immediately tries to change the subject by asking if Dave wants to break a bottle over his head! 😂
He seemed embarrassed, I bet he was worried he was about to get sued. It has “Don’t cry to mom, I’ll let you hit me back!” energy 😂😂
@@patandmacmusicwell honestly, that was really bad.. I can't believe they actually did that. But good on letterman for not making a thing out of it.
They should have rehearsed it, and Jay should have been more interested in doing it right rather than joking about it. They applied a lot more after he complained he "missed a spot", and was waving his hand around. He should have just stfu and did what he was told rather than complicating it with his comments to get laughs.
@@98cents Fyi: his name was Dave, not Jay.
You can see the fire wrap around his hand lol
I love Tom Savini...such a legend! I was so happy when i saw him pop up in Terrifier 3!
How did you do that where you can click on terrifer 3?
I was in high school in 1985 and (from Tom’s wonderful book “Bizarro”) performed the arm slice trick as a demonstration speech in class. I got an A+ but had to do a follow-up speech apologizing to the class for upsetting the group.
Good times😂
Thank you Mr. Savini for your truly inspiring craftsmanship ❤
Tom Savini is the GOAT of horror movie effects. CGI will never replace the gritty realism good practical effects give you. A good example is the movie "Maniac." Tom Savini did the effects for that movie and it has some of the nastiest kills.
Brutal movie. Saw it as a little kid and it traumatized me for years
There’s something special knowing that what you’re seeing had physically existed and was photographed in front of a camera.
I remember taping this. Savini is great!
Special effects LEGEND!!! Nice guy as well. Met him and Nicotero, and both are very cool dudes.
This is priceless Letterman! Non-celebrity guest in the little NBC studio before every celebrity was queuing up to be on his show. 1980's Letterman shows are the best!
Only thing that topped this was Kamarr The Discount Magician, who also set fire to Dave!
Savini is a non-celebrity? 😂 i guess you've never seen his line at a horror convention. 😏 Celebrities were curing up to be on Letterman since he started the late night show...its just that hed have more "oddball" guests in the mid 80s that would sometimes do a show and tell, like Tom is doing.
Yes. CBS Dave was never more than 75% Dave. NBC Dave was the pure burn.
@@DanJackson1977 Beat me to it. lol
Day of the Dead is Savini’s masterwork. I also like Day more than Dawn, which is sacrilege to most horror fans.
YESSS! ABSOLUTELY!
I'm with you. As far as influence, Dawn is legitimately important, but Day is my personal favorite.
Day is the best of the trilogy. Even Romero said it. The Dawn people are like some weird online fanboy cult .. I think it's mainly about nostalgia than anything else. The make up effects were terrible in Dawn .. It's got a great opening but gets incredibly boring once they get to the mall. The Goblin soundtrack was fantastic though.
I guess Dawn is more popular cause it's more fun, as the mall scenario invokes a certain level of fantasy. In contrast, Day is depressing and the end of the world is a much more real feeling threat than in the previous film. I love them both, but Day is a notch better
I would have to agree with you. I might be biased though.
Greg Nicoteros head, the shovel zombie, & Dr Tongue!
My dad let me stay up late to watch Tom Savini on Letterman, great memories!
I've been a fan of Tom since I saw Dawn at the drive-in in '78, still my all-time favourite zombie movie. Saw this on tv too, I was hyped for Day, saw it on opening night, my second favourite zombie movie of all time.
Tom's company Callosum Studios worked on the practical effects on Terrifier 3, huge upgrade from the previous films, he also got a cameo.
Savini's zombie gore effects in Day of the Dead, cool to see in this Letterman interview, thanks!
I thought I'd watched all of Tom Savini's appearances but somehow this was one I missed. Awesome to see!
A true legend!
Never imagined I would see Dr. Tongue and Letterman in the same place.
Day of the Dead is one of the best. We
What a legend!!
Savini is an absolute master artist when it comes to practical effects. His work on Day was IS astonishing. NOTLD 90 still looks incredible too :)
Increble skills. This would no air these days.
I had no idea this happened. He's so funny, honestly. They need to have more artists, and people like this on talk shows more.
I used to record every Tom Savini appearance on Letterman and watch them over and over again until the VHS tape wore out. I love seeing how these FX work!
Honestly I love Tom Savini and his work. So many iconic things for a horror lover like me since childhood
He was always so cool in the movies. I had no idea he was the effects guy too
Wonder if Savini was nervous with how casually Letterman tosses the props/latex models?
I thought exactly the same…..months of work in each one
If I'd been around at the time of seeing this segment I would have been so hyped for the movie. Savini really perfected practical horror effects.
INCREDIBLE
Tom Savini is a real horror legend.
My ex went to Pittsburgh university. She knew a girl named Amanda Frankenstein who was dating Tom. She was 100% sure that he only dated her because of her name.
DotD is my favourite Romero flick and my #1 movie of all time. I have seen it hundreds of times. I have prized memorabilia. I'm a yuuuuuge fan. :)
It is for sure Savini's Magnum Opus and also a high watermark for practical horror effects generally. I was 14 when it came to video in the UK and I remember the months of anticipation. I was not disappointed. While a different beast to Dawn in just about every way; heavy on character, light on action and undeniably talky, it's superbly played all-round.
I do understand why it's not everybody's cup of tea but for the young Romero fanboy in 1985 _this was it_ and 40 years on, to me it remains so :)
P.S. Savini is such a nice fella. Plus this was new material for me, nice to see those effect props up close! :)
Tom Savini always gave Dave memorable and frightening moments.
for the normies, the first head is the likeness of Greg Nicotero and this film was his first gig. He has worked on many hundreds of films and eventually executive producer, special make-up effects supervisor, and primary director on the AMC TV series The Walking Dead and Fear the Walking Dead.[
I never knew I was a normie until just now.
You're not less normal for being into a specific thing.
Came here to say this. From humble beginnings
If you're the biggest subversive iconoclastic rebel on earth but you don't know the history of Greg Nicotero you're a normie.
Stop calling people 'Normies' .. there's nothing more obnoxious than that kind of thing. I mean how old are you? 12?
Day of the dead is my personal fave. I saw it the right way when it came out...a packed movie theater at a midnight showing on Halloween night. the movie was so oppressive, you had humans in a bunker underground almost buried alive...and above...a world of the dead. and the helicopter represented freedom
It's Romero's best 'Dead' movie. Dawn is so overrated by the fanboys.
10:07 Thats what i call a bloody magic trick
This is special effects. This man has seen things as a photographer that would make most of us sick. Awesome professional and nicest guy.
practical effects are the best
Dave. You are a national treasure. I have all the feels for you.
0:48 Kinda surprised David didn't make a joke at how much it resembled Chris Elliot.
"The Head that Lives Under the Stairs".
Yes totally😂 it looks exactly like him wtf
This is so badass to see the legend showing off his work. Day of the Dead is goated and will forever be my favorite, next to Shaun of the Dead and 28 weeks later
This is what was called Movie Magic, and CGI killed it.
They work better together with CGI enhancing the practical effects.
I convinced a couple people that I was depressed in high school and did the razor blade trick in our "outside area" (it was a smoking section). Some people legitimately lost their minds.
Ah, the 90's...
I love, love this! ❤
Practical effects are always better than CGI. Tom is always great, and in several of the movies himself.
dave had the coolest tv show ever - this type of content is like 40 years ahead of it's time
This is classic. Bits like this were great with Dave.
I love how Tom Savini is such a cool guy and has fun even when things don't go as planned.
Day of the Dead is one of my favourite films. I consider it a masterpiece. I even bought the special edition soundtrack on CD. There is a video called The World's End: The Making of Day of the Dead, and I highly recommend it to any Romero fans. You might find it on RUclips.
I got to meet Tom a few times at horror cons. Cool dude!
Can you imagine a late night host doing anything like this today?
He’s so young here. Man did I want to be like him when I was a kid. My dad even let me set up a special effects shop in his shed where I made all sorts of stuff and showed the neighbor kids. Haha. Good times. But Hollywood wasn’t looking for a 10 year old SFX artist at the time. 😂
CHRIS ELLIOTT. That first one is totally Chris.
I love this
All of the Tom Savini appearances on Letterman were great, if ya haven't posted them all yet ya really should! (I know they're up elsewhere on YT of course).
He is so brilliant!!!
10:05 Dave, ya should have sold that lol
Tom is a legend
This was so awesome! Back when skilled artists actually put the time, money and effort into movies. Such a shame we don’t get this kind of mastery nowadays …… well, maybe on very rare occasion
Romero autographed my DVD of Day of the Dead! Also the first prosthetic is of his assistant Greg Nicotero, who went on to produce The Walking Dead 🤍🤍🤍
Dave did not appreciate the talent that was on display in front of him.
Greg Nicoteros head… amazing.
Practical effects beat cgi EVERY TIME 🙏 or sometimes a combination, for certain things.
I love practical effects...yhey bunches of them in Beetlejuice Beetlejuice
2 Legends!
Tom plays a guy being interviewed in Terrifier 3
Tom Savini. Horror Legend.
That was great 😀
😲 Awesomeness!! 👊😊😆✊ 🍊🍁🍊
RIP GEORGE A ROMERO 😔🍁🍊🍁
Efx royalty the great Tom Savini. From Pennsylvania also awesome
Plot twist: some of them aren't props...
miss this stuff
It's nice to see that tongue zombie up close. It was really hard to make out in the film.
Cue the Foreshadowing/Irony Alarm: Dave holds a human heart in his hands.
The zombie with its jaw blown apart was affectionately knowns as "Dr. Tongue" on set.
Did he ever come back on the show? Dave seemed genuinely annoyed after the fire stunt.
Tim Savini is a legend
Dave should have waxed his hand and forearm before the fire segment 😂
What's a "garden tractor" Dave?
Hes a legend
Letterman’s humor was so ahead of his time
Day of The Dead, still the best zombie movie made.
Something I thought I'd like to do when i was a kid was be a movie set artist.
Nice!!!
The human heart is the size of anyone's fist.
This guy is the definition of they don't make em like they used to.
The original Day of the Dead is the greatest Zombie Movie ever made and George Romero himself agreed.
All the severed heads looked like Chris Elliott.
Tom savini is a genius.
The master .
I was worried savini had died. I just listened Tom him on a podcast
No CGI. Back when producers did BRAINSTORM to get more ideas about making the effects looks as spectacular as possible while using little or zero budget.
Better than Terrifier 3 effects
Tom Savini is so cool
Brilliant movie. Seen it so many times, even have the trivia memorized for it.
The effects on Day of the Dead were so convincing that I got nauseous and nearly puked! 🤢 No CGI has ever done that to me.
Such a great segment. The full one was better
It's shocking to this day