Yuricich also helped to enhance the more horrifying aspects of the story, which occur after the Lewis & Clark crew boards the Event Horizon. The effects wizard worked in conjunction with both Pauline Fowler's Animated Extras and Bob Keen's Image Animation, using special makeup effects and animatronics to design nightmarish visions and ghastly demises. Makeup effects coordinator Joseph Ross served as go-between for the visual effects and prosthetic sides of the production.
In fact, Yuricich orchestrated such a horrible end for Lewis & Clark emergency technician Peters (Kathleen Quinlan) that the MPAA objected. He explains, "When the young lady falls to her death from the top of the fishbowl-shaped Second Containment into the metal grating below, I suggested that it should look like one of those gags where a body falls onto a car and you suck the roof down to show the impact. When the grating cracked up on impact, it was so dynamic it caused some problems with the ratings board."
The gag was achieved using a dummy of Quinlan and a full-body prosthetic worn by the actress. "We pre-rigged the stage floor so it would crack on impact when we dropped the dummy on a wire," Yuricich says. "Then, keeping the same camera position, we replaced the dummy with Kathleen."
But the live-action element was only the beginning for Yuricich's crew: "We did a stitch-up and track in digital for the drop from the ceiling. We had to finish the Second Containment [in the computer] because even the 007 Stage, which was 65' high, wasn't large enough. Paul wanted the set to go about 10' higher, so we hung greenscreen and silly pieces of green paper between the rafters up above. Then Michelle Moen [Alien3] painted the elements for CFC to complete the ceiling. She's an oil-trained matte artist who was an assistant to my brother, [matte artist] Matthew Yuricich, before taking to the computer.
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