TULSA - Some of us crave horror films, but for others, watching those flicks leaves us with nightmares.
But special effects artist Tate Steinsiek has been living his dream of creating darkness for 13 years.
Every mask has its own personality. Each prop is sculpted differently. They all take work and lots of it.
"When I was a kid, I had more of a kinship with monsters than I did with people," he said.
"I was just a little weirdo running around the woods all by myself," said Steinsiek. "You know playing with my dogs and pretending I had all these monster friends."
Inside his 160-square-foot blue shed, is a wall with a shelf filled with action figures. On the other wall, is their arch enemies. Both sides it seems, watch over the workshop.
"I create prosthetics, props, anytime something other than human needs to happen or if you have an actor that needs to be aged or reversed aged," he said.
"You know, I handle all of the things that don't happen in nature."
Steinsiek said part of his inspiration came from the King of Pop.
"My parents got me Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'," he said. "And I saw the behind the scenes where Rick Baker was creating all the prosthetics and I'm like, 'That's what I'm going to do.'"
He grew up right here in Green Country, but moved to New York City to pursue his career.
"I was on a show called Face Off and ever since that show aired, it's completely changed my career," the special effects artist said.
After Steinsiek's time on the famous SyFy show, more opportunities fell into his lap. He worked on movies like The Amazing Spiderman and Sharknado. Plus, he's also done a few television shows, including Law & Order and Saturday Night Live. Currently, Steinsiek is working on the Puppet Master reboot.
"I'm re-designing all the puppets, doing all of the gore and trauma effects," he said.
He moved back to Tulsa three years ago with plans to bring work here. Steinsiek says he'll soon direct a story by author Clive Barker.
"We're looking at like an early 2017 production and I would love to shoot it here," he said. "Oklahoma has so many amazing locations and just really great things to offer a film production."
In his 13 years in the business, he has molded and sculpted more than 100 characters, including a certain 2 Works for You Reporter.
Now back from the big city, Steinsiek wants to bring the big screen to small town USA.
"From the little weird kid covered in ketchup pretending it's blood to actually being back on set and shooting a film here, it would be a nice full circle and I would love to see that happen."
Check out Steinsiek's website to see more of his work.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere.
Download our free app for Apple and Android and Kindle devices.
Sign up for newsletters emailed to your inbox. Select from these options: Breaking News, Severe Weather, School Closings, Daily Headlines and Daily Forecasts.
