LW: Favorite horror movie?

JS: Tough...Carpenter's THE THING, followed closely by DAWN OF THE DEAD.

LW: How did you get into Fx?

JS: Always loved monsters and horror flicks, started sculpting when I was about a fetus, or so. Started making masks and practicing make-up, gradually worked that in to helping local film and video makers with gore and what not. Started making trips out to L.A. to work on flicks for FULL MOON PICTURES back in 2000. I was actually doing art department stuff at first. Which then worked in to jobs doing production design, which I still do from time to time. I used these jobs, to get my foot in the door and meet people on other productions. I love doing FX, but you have to be realistic in this business. I learned a longtime ago, the more you know the more you get to do.

LW: What has been your best work(fx wise) on a film to date in your opinion?

JS: I sculpted a bunch of possession make-ups for a flick called EXORCISM. They looked pretty cool, but the movie sucks ass. GUARDIAN OF THE REALM is probably the best work to date. Really tight appliances and great gore gags. Should be out later this year.

LW: What has been your goriest movie and why?

JS: I did a bunch of gore gags for a film called BAAZAR BIZARRE. It's some pretty gruesome stuff. Made these things we called "sandbags", which is essentially a human torso minus the head, arms and legs. Lots of dismemberment. Made these great retractable hypodermic needles for the film.

LW: On your website, you had a few pages of a screenplay for a serial killer film. What happened to that?

JS: BOB may still happen. My story was loosely based on real life serial killer Bob Berdella. When I was prepping the movie in L.A. I got a call from a guy saying he was making a weird docu-drama about Berdella. He had been working on it for several months and was interested in talking to me. He was from my home town of Kansas City and was making a trip out to L.A. and we hooked up. Our ideas were about as opposite as you could get, but he was looking for someone to do the gore for his flick. He didn't have to talk me in to it very hard, I had been living in L.A. for a while and was itchin' to make a trip back home. Waiting to see his flick before I push forward with mine. The BOB script pulls no punches. I was so tired of seeing the serial killer flicks paint these sympathetic portraits of these monsters, wanting me to believe that the reason Gacy (at least in the movie GACY) killed and buried twenty some odd young men under the crawl space of his house, was because his dad was mean to him on a fishing trip? Give me a break. I wanted to paint a very unflinching look at the subject, something that the viewer will not enjoy, but not have their intelligence insulted either.

LW: What are some of your upcoming films?

JS: This year I will finally make good on my threat to direct again. My buddy Trent Haaga and myself are going to do something this summer, but I want to do something, a little more intimate (a nice way of saying no-budget) before then, maybe in the spring. Down and dirty, like back in the Full Moon days. I did FX for a slasher flick called THE SHUNNED, that is filming as we speak. Got a couple of other things working too, but it's still too early to even mention. Hopefully 2004 will shape up to be a BRUTAL year!!!