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Rick Baker
A fan of horror movies as a child, he experimented with movie makeup effects at a young age and even worked as a lab assistant for legendary makeup artist Dick Smith; now Rick Baker, too, is widely acknowledged as one of the best in the field.
He graduated from designing puppets to working on lowbudget films like THE THING WITH TWO HEADS(1972), SCHLOCK (1973), and IT'S ALIVE! (1974) and hit the big time designing the costume for (and playing) KING KONG in 1976.
After more chores on THE INCREDIBLE MELTING MAN, IT LIVES AGAIN (both 1978), and THE HOWLING (1980), Baker won the first Academy Award ever given in the category of "Best Makeup Design" for the stunning full-body werewolf transformations in his pal John Landis' AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981). He won another Oscar for designing the endearing Sasquatch Harry in HARRY AND THE HENDERSONS (1987) and nominations for the elaborate gorilla costumes in GREYSTOKE: THE LEGEND of TARZAN, LORD OF THE APES (1984) and Eddie Murphy's and Arsenio Hall's multiple disguises in COMING TO AMERICA (1987). Baker has also worked on THE FUNHOUSE (1981), GORILLAS IN THE MIST (1988), GREMLINS 2: THE NEW BATCH (1990, which he also coproduced), and WOLF (1994), and earned a third Oscar for designing and creating the astounding Bela Lugosi makeup for Martin Landau in ED WOOD (also 1994).
He also created makeup effects for the Michael Jackson video "THRILLER" as well as his full-length video "MOONWALK" (1988) and shared an Emmy (with Stan Winston) for the marvelous aging transformation of Cicely Tyson in 1974's TV movie THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISS JANE PITTMAN. Copyright © 1994 Leonard Maltin, used by arrangement with Signet, a division of Penguin Putnam, Inc.
Patrick Lussier
Patrick Lussier, director and co-writer of Dimension's Dracula Trilogy, began working for the company in 1996 as the Film Editor of the Wes Craven directed SCREAM. From there he edited MIMIC, SCREAM 2, HALLOWEEN: H20, MUSIC OF THE HEART (for Miramax), and SCREAM 3. He directed PROPHECY 3 for Dimension in 1998 and DRACULA 2000 in 2000. Following the release of D2K, Lussier and Joel Soisson were commissioned to write a DVD sequel based on their original concept for that film. What followed was not one sequel, but two sequels. DRACULA II ASCENSION and DRACULA III LEGACY were both directed by Lussier in Romania.
Outside of the projects for Dimension, Lussier edited WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE, VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN, D3: THE MIGHTY DUCKS, the m.o.w.'s DOCTOR WHO, ADRIFT and HEADS, (the latter two earned him Gemini nominations for Best Editing), the TV series, MACGYVER, HIGHLANDER and NIGHTMARE CAFE as well as consulting on Revolution's DARKNESS FALLS and Morgan Creek's EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING.