Smoke and Mirrors: The Story of Tom Savini

Standard bio-doc. Talking heads, archival footage. After spending a half hour showing how he grew up and got in the business, it blows through his career at light speed. His movies in the 80’s (The Burning, The Prowler, either Friday the 13th, Creepshow) are breezed through in a montage, giving virtually no background or inside info. They spend a few minutes on his Night Of The Living Dead remake, but mostly to say it was when his second divorce happened, and the MPAA chopped it up. They touch on his transition to acting, but again, just a touch, enough to say “yeah, he acted”. Everything is just a touch. This doc has the depth of a commercial. Basically, this is for slobbering fanboys only. There’s not enough meat on the bone to sustain its runtime. I’m sure he’s a great guy, and for horror fans, he’s as iconic as the monsters he’s made. But this bio-doc does him no justice.