Chris Walas

Chris Walas is an American film director special effects expert and makeup artist He was born in Chicago Illinois Walas rose to fame in the 1980s with effects for films such as Airplane 1980 Dragonslayer 1981 and Return of the Jedi 1983 In the film Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981 Walas created the effects for a scene where the Nazi villains faces melt from the intense heat generated by the Ark of the Covenant In 1984 Walas was credited for the design of the gremlins in the film Gremlins a film that grossed 1531 million dollars at the box office After creating the creature effects for The Fly 1986 Walas was invited to direct the sequel film The Fly II 1989 His directing debut earned about 39 million dollars at the worldwide box office His only other credit as a film director was the horror comedy The Vagrant 1992 depicting a man who believes himself stalked by a stranger The film received a limited release in 8 movie theaters In the 1990s Walas film credits for effects and makeup included such films as the black comedy Arachnophobia 1990 the science fiction film Naked Lunch 1991 the virtual realitythemed science fiction film Virtuosity 1995 and the erotic thriller Jade 1995 None of them was particularly successful Walas special effects were less in demand in the 2000s His last film credit to date was creating the angels for the horror film Dark Heaven 2002 IMDb Mini Biography By Dimos I