NIGHT TERRORS

I was so excited when a friend of mine whom is making a live action horror movie approached me to try something different for a change and try my hand at concepting a night terror demon in a realistic fashion, that will hopefully still use a prosthetic version of this creature in the film. There were many rounds of sketches which eventually were distilled down into a cheaper version of the original design for budgetary reasons. Looking into the subject and the many stories of people waking up feeling held down with unexplained scratches on their skin, or a weight on their chest and hallucinating a shadowy figure appearing above them sound terrifying to say the least. The cultural differences in its folklore are quite fascinating too. The first known oil painting to be depicted of the subject is by an artist Henry Fuseli, "The Nightmare" painted in 1781, which was received with much fanfare at the time and its composition used as a starting point to lampoon political figures of the era.