MIKE HILL: MAKER OF MONSTERS

This episode combines two of the DDG’s favorite things: the genre character sculptures of artist Mike Hill and our combined love for werewolves in the movies! And just in time to release this episode on his birthday, so Happy Birthday, Mike!

Mike Hill is an English artist and sculptor who is literally a monster maker. His life-size figures of movie characters including Lon Chaney as The Wolf Man, Boris Karloff as the Frankenstein creature and many more have been featured displays on horror conventions and are prized collectibles by genre devotees including Guillermo del Toro.

The painstaking attention to detail and character Mike puts into his life-size figures brilliantly capture the likeness of his famous film subjects as well as those iconic movie moments that reside indelibly in the minds of monster kids like us. We discuss with Mike how he accomplishes sculpting and recreating these characters from classic films like FRANKENSTEIN, THE CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF, recently I WAS A TEENAGE WEREWOLF at Monsterpalooza, plus Mike’s stunning adaptation of the classic Aurora Wolf Man model kit in life-size form! Hill is also famous for his realistic figures of real world monster makers including Ray Harryhausen and Jack Pierce.

The DDG and Mike also delve once again into a favorite topic of film werewolves, a subject that launched Hill’s fascination with genre films, model making and art. A lively discussion ensues about how the underlying concept of dual personalities and repressed human impulses has remained a relevant theme in genre movies and literature for over a century.

Enjoy our howling good Damn Dirty Geeks podcast with artist Mike Hill and be sure to visit our website for a photo gallery of Mike’s sculptures to fully appreciate his amazing talents and love for monsters!

If you’re a fan of werewolves too, be sure to check out the DDG’s episode devoted to lycanthropes in film, literature and pop culture as well.