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Darren Perks is an artist you may not have heard of, but we will introduce you to him because in the horror space he is one of the best in his field, and you will see that in the images below.

iHorror first became aware of Perks when we ran a small social media story on one of his pieces that depicted a brutal shark attack. We immediately thought the work was a mind’s eye view of the offscreen first kill in Jaws. Were we right? Yes and no, but we will leave that to Perks to answer below.

When you look at his work, you are immediatley stricken by how realistic it is. Every impaled corpse, every prop skeleton and every victim of torture looks like it could walk off the screen.

iHorror interviewed perks and talked about how he got started, his career and of course that shark attack piece.

iHorror: Hi Darren, we are obsessed with your work! Where did you learn to sculpt? Was that your first medium of interest?

Darren Perks: I taught myself to sculpt.  I started with things like Play-Doh and Plasticene when I was a kid, and as I got older, I started using water and oil-based clays.  The clays I use aren’t intended for firing in kilns for pottery, they are intended for molding.  Once a sculpt is molded, duplicates can be “pulled” from the molds in the applicable medium needed, i.e. – fiberglass, urethane, foam, latex, gypsum, etc.  

Your work could be considered realism but it’s also crossed with fantasy/horror. There’s a freedom to that, but fandom is watching. How do you deal with all the pressure?

The only pressure I feel is based on deadlines with extremely tight turnarounds.  I never feel pressure from how my work is perceived because I look at everything I make, as if I’m making it for myself, and I’m my own hardest critic.  In my experience, if I like the finished piece then the customer will as well.  I also understand that when you release something into the public domain, there are many points of view to contend with and you can’t please everyone.  This is why I concentrate on making sure I’m happy with it first.       

Where do your pieces go once completed?

The majority of my work is through custom contracts.  I very rarely build anything for myself, although there have been times when I’ve wanted to keep specific pieces that were built under contract.  I’ve had many clients over the years, including – Disney, Universal Studios, Sea World, etc.  There have also been many Haunted Attraction, Museum, and Escape Room clients, as well private collectors.       

You seem to love Jaws. Is there a personal story associated with that film?

In regard to Jaws, I was one of those lucky impressionable little kids who grew up in the seventies when the film was first released.  Up until that point, I had already been in love with all things cool and scary – monsters, dinosaurs, bigfoot, etc., and especially sharks!  The movie was a no brainer for me, and it also began my long-term fascination with how films are made and how the special effects are done.  After seeing “Jaws”, Special FX became my sole focus, and I sought out every FX book I could get my hands on. 

My goal was to learn Special FX in general, which I later streamlined into Makeup FX.  In 1978 my family took a trip to Florida and while visiting Orlando, we spent two days at Disney World.  Those two days were another high point that further cemented my growing passion in these unique fields.                 

How long did the lady being eaten by a shark take you? (I’m assuming that sculpt represents the movie’s first kill).

I initially made a smaller six-foot version of the shark for a different project.  One day I decided to make an additional copy for myself, but I decided to pour up one side only and enlarge it.  I added two feet with extra fiberglass and changed the head slightly.  I attached the shark to a pipe and sank it into a previously fabricated base.  It looked boring to me, so I thought about a body below it being pulled from its jaws.  I had never seen anything like that in a display, so I decided to try it.  I thought the body of a woman was more interesting and put her together, so she looked like she was being towed peacefully, while the other end of the display was graphically violent. 

The first victim in “Jaws” was probably in my subconscious, but while I was making the display, I was concentrating on the overall details.  I find that the best things happen when you work fast.  Sometimes you get “happy mistakes” otherwise known as screw-ups, but a lot of the time you end up with something cooler than what you originally planned, so if you are totally cool with your abilities and self-secure – you let the cool mistake guide you whenever they happen. 

Overly protective and purist creative types tend to want complete control and see any type of mistake as something that must be corrected.  I don’t think you can truly be free and loose enough to reach your potential, when you guard your every move.  All in all, from actual hands-on start to finish – this piece probably took approximately a week and a half to two weeks.     

Movies are scary on their own, what is your motivation for bringing them into the third dimension? 

I love movies and they’ve had a huge impact on my career, but you can’t exist within them… yet!  Unfortunately, there is no real interaction with anything two dimensional.  With three-dimensional art there is.  You can see it from every angle, and the ability exists to interact with it in real time.  This is one of the reasons that Theme Parks and Haunted Attractions, etc. are so popular, they immerse you within. 

The other cool aspect is that you can actually own a piece of three-dimensional themed art and create your own themed environment.  I have a backroom bar which I’ve built and completely themed-out with multiple displays, lighting and sound.  When we have guests over, they feel like they’ve walked into something out of an “Indiana Jones” movie or crawled inside an infested crypt!   The shark/girl display can currently be seen in a nautically themed corner of it!     

What does imagination mean to you? 

Imagination means everything, it’s the difference between living life and just passing through it.  Albert Einstein said that “Imagination is more important than knowledge.  For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution.”  I think that if you lose your sense of wonderment and imagination, life becomes mechanical, the day to day becomes something based in survival mode. 

You need both in life, but societal norms have a way of letting imagination and creativity fall by the wayside… early on.  It’s considerably harder to make a living creatively, but if you possess an iron will, a strong imagination and there is an absolutely zero chance of failure in your thought process, it’s more than possible to do what you love for your career.  I do… and I’m no Einstein!     

Can people purchase your works? Do you do commissions?

Yes, everything I make is for sale, either through existing molds from my non copywritten project work, or custom based commission.

What big thing are you working on?

 Currently we’re working on several themed projects and I’m also in pre-production on an “Archeological Horror” film which will be shot on location in the Cypress Swamps of Maryland this summer.  The title is “Petersons Site 3” and I’m looking forward to it!  The writer/director is Jay Saunders, and the executive producer is Eduardo Sanchez who co-wrote and directed the original “Blair Witch Project.”  The script has a cool moody atmospheric feel to it with some historically accurate scenes that blend a gritty procedural quality with intense horror.  “Site 3” takes place in the 1980’s “… when rubber ruled!” 

Back when horror movies relied completely on physical effects and in-camera ingenuity, before CGI and digital took over.  The Makeup FX and “all things creepy” that we’ll be supplying for this film will be old-school cool and there will be quite a few of them!  I’m looking forward to discussing “Petersons Site 3” with “iHorror” in a lot more detail as we get further into preproduction, location filming and the film’s ultimate release!

Details:

To keep up with Darren and what he is working on next you can give him a follow on Facebook HERE. For comissioned work requests or business info, email him at: [email protected]