News

Special Effects Artist, The Guyver Director Screaming Mad George Dies at 69

The official X/Twitter account for the manager of special effects artist and musician Screaming Mad George (Jōji Tani) announced on Monday that Screaming Mad George died on February 10 earlier this year. He was 69. He is survived by his wife Miki and daughter Alice.

Screaming Mad George started out as a punk rock musician with the band The Mad, where he worked on making gory music videos and stage acts. He eventually moved to New York to study visual arts. He is known for his work on special effects on numerous iconic films, such as Predator, Big Trouble in Little China, Nightmare on Elm Street 3, and Nightmare on Elm Street 4. He began collaborating with director Brian Yuzna on his film Society in 1989, which would lead to numerous other collaborations, including Silent Night, Deadly Night 4, Bride of Re-Animator, The Dentist 2, and Faust: Love of the Damned.

Within otaku circles, he is perhaps best known for his directorial debut work as director of The Guyver, the 1991 live-action adaptation of Yoshiki Takaya's Bio-Booster Armor Guyver manga. His collaborator Brian Yuzna produced the film. George also did special effects for Tokyo: The Last War, the second live-action film based on Hiroshi Aramata's Teito Monogatari novel. He also designed the Cherubim monster in the second episode of the Spirit Warrior original video anime (OVA). He is also credited as co-translator alongside Yoko Umezawa for Blast Books' 1993 release of Hideshi Hino's Panorama of Hell book.

Source: Screaming Mad George info/manager's X/Twitter account