SFX master Tom Savini comes out of retirement for Redd Inc. and Mary Doe

Last Updated on July 23, 2021

Tom Savini is a name that is synonymous with horror. The special effects guru has worked on such genre classics as FRIDAY THE 13TH, DAWN OF THE DEAD, DAY OF THE DEAD and CREEPSHOW. He retired from the trade nearly a decade ago. (His last special makeup effects credit is 2002’s TED BUNDY.)

Savini remains active in the industry by acting, but genre fans have been dying to see The Godfather of Gore return to the craft – and that time has come! Inside Film reports that he has come out of retirement to work on a pair of independent Australian horror flicks, REDD INC. and MARY DOE.

REDD INC. is already in post-production, so we’ll likely see some Savini splatter as early as next year. The film is directed by Daniel Krige and written by Jonathon Green and Anthony O’Connor. It stars Nicholas Hope, Kelly Paterniti, Sebastian Reid, Alan Dukes, James Mackay, Hayley McElhinney and Daniel Krige, with a cameo by Savini himself.

REDD INC is a horror revenge story that follows Annabelle – a burlesque webcam stripper – who gets abducted and ends up chained to a desk with five others in a macabre, horrific make-shift office.

Their self-appointed “boss” is escaped, wrongly-convicted serial killer Thomas Reddmann, aka Redd, demented from experimental, behaviour modification treatment. He requires Annabelle and his other “workers”, who were all participants in his trial, to find the true serial killer… or die horribly.

Fans may be even more excited for MARY DOE, as it will mark Savini’s return to the zombie genre. The picture, the first of a planned “Femme Fatale” trilogy, is currently in development and seeking investment funds. It is written and directed by Nick Nicolaou.

A twelve-day trek across the desert and the insignificant form that is Mary Doe has exhausted all life within her. Rescued from death’s door, she finds herself abandoned with five men, in a decommissioned government facility used for testing biological weapons.

Lost with no memory of who she is and no placement in this world, she finds no reason to want to win her freedom – to journey back from the dead…

Isolation breeds paranoia – no one can hide from their demons forever. As Mary unravels her past, the world she has fallen into crumbles down around her. The mutants have found their way into the bunker. She has to gather her strength and find a reason to want to live – to want to get out of this hole in the middle of nowhere.