On paper, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, featuring cartoon characters from both the Disney and Warner Bros. worlds, sounds like the perfect kids film. In reality, it’s got some rather unsettling moments, including the death of the film’s antagonist, Judge Doom, which is made all the more horrific here thanks to melting crayons.
Steven Richter, whose sculpting chops we’ve featured before, first shows off his artistic skills using coloured crayons and wax to recreate Christopher Lloyd’s Judge Doom character. Richter then shows off his macabre side, by attacking the sculpture with a heat gun, which can easily hit temperatures of well over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
The results are, well, straight-up horrific. Judge Doom’s demise in the actual movie is mostly shrouded in steam as he slowly melts into a puddle of “toon acid.” But here his undoing is reminiscent of Major Toht’s grisly death scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which was accomplished on screen by special effects artists using similar techniques employed here. As with films like the 1971 version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, this one’s a good reminder that all kids films aren’t necessarily meant for all kids.
[referenced url=”https://gizmodo.com.au/2020/05/who-framed-roger-rabbit-an-oral-history/” thumb=”https://gizmodo.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/29/lthgg5qwo3zrcejxjyvg-300×169.png” title=”Who Framed Roger Rabbit: An Oral History” excerpt=”Robert Zemeckis‘ animated/live-action hybrid noir murder mystery broke boundaries of filmmaking technology and technique, and 32 years later it’s every bit as fresh, warm, and funny as it ever was. Starring Bob Hoskins as gumshoe PI Eddie Valiant on the trail of a sex scandal involving a Hollywood studio bigwig,…”]