If you're trying to figure out how to make horror work on television, the team behind It: Welcome to Derry just showed us.
In a recent interview with Variety, VFX supervisor Daryl Sawchuk and prosthetics head Sean Sansom revealed how they pulled off the show's shocking opening sequence.
Welcome to Derry opens with a disturbing birth scene inside a car, where a demon baby emerges from between their mother's legs in a splash of blood and goo to attack the show's first doomed kid, who was unlucky enough to hitch a ride with this horrifying family.
It's the kind of sequence that could easily look cheesy or fall flat, but it works.
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Use Practical FX
There's nothing better than effects you can see in real life in the moment, as the team demonstrates.
"My approach to visual effects is always to try to get as much practical stuff as possible, and it was great that Andy and Sean feel the same," Sawchuk told Variety. "So we built a lot of practical reference for us to scan and shoot for the baby that comes out, but Sean's team also built the woman's fake legs and the birthing rig. We had a lot of fantastic practical goo and blood and all sorts of stuff that we used as a starting point and then expanded upon when we got into post."
This hybrid approach gave actors something real to react to and created authentic lighting references for the VFX team to match later.
That practical foundation matters more than you might think, especially when you're working with child actors. Physical references make the performance more believable and give directors something concrete to shape reactions around.
The collaboration between departments deserves attention, too. Sansom's prosthetics team built multiple versions of the demon baby, one with outstretched wings for flying shots on a stick, another folded up for the birthing moment.
They also constructed elaborate fake legs and a body rig for the actress, who actually knelt upright while her character appeared to be sitting.
Sawchuk talked about the challenge.
"We could have done this on a bench with no seat and maybe just a dashboard, and Sean probably would have had a lot more room to move around and do all of his puppeteering. And he would have been in every shot, and we would have had to paint him out."
Instead, because they wanted to use the volume wall for interactive lighting, they kept the car doors shut during filming.
LED volume stages—the curved LED walls that replace green screens while providing interactive lighting—have become popular since The Mandalorian.
"It allowed for those first few shots where the baby comes out to be entirely practical," he said. "We added some additional blood and guts to the scene, but the baby coming out is all Sean. It was real lighting, viscous goo, and goop and all of that stuff. And it looks great, kind of an homage to old school horror and traditional techniques, with the benefits of some new technology."
What results is a visceral and horrifying moment you almost can't believe you're seeing on TV.
Not only is it a great hook with fun, campy scares, but it sets the tone for the whole series and reintroduces viewers to Pennywise's world.
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Find Strong Collaborators
Director Andy Muschietti's involvement from the start also mattered significantly. He started storyboards himself, held concept meetings with department heads, and provided detailed designs that established the show's style.
Sansom said, "Reading any project of Andy's, I immediately know that it's not going to be easy. It's always going to be a challenge. Like Daryl said, you don't anticipate seeing everything that is described in the script, because you think that they're going to tone it down a bit for TV, but not with Andy."
This kind of pre-production planning gave both the VFX and prosthetics teams a clear roadmap.
The relationship-building aspect shouldn't be overlooked either. Sansom had worked with Andy and Barbara Muschietti on both It films, which meant he understood their aesthetic and approach.
Perhaps most importantly, both artists said that modern horror works best when practical and digital effects blend so seamlessly that audiences can't tell the difference.
When asked what viewers might assume is digital but is actually practical, Sansom said, "It's tricky, because pretty much everything we've done on the show is a crossover, where we're both involved in the scene. There's a little bit of practical and a little bit of digital. It's hard to tell. I'm not even sure that I could tell who did what—not in the first episode anyway."
Why This Approach Is Good News
Audiences are increasingly rejecting CGI-heavy anything, including horror. Viewers want real settings and real characters with real light reflecting off of them. And we have agreed here that practical effects create tangible performances because actors get to react to something real.
It also stands the test of time. Think about how John Carpenter's The Thing from 1982 still disturbs viewers, while many recent CGI-heavy horror films feel dated within just a few years.
For indie filmmakers, it's great news. As the Los Angeles Film School wrote, practical gore comes down to practice and skill more than massive budgets. Life-casting, puppet-building, and creative material use can achieve professional results without major investment.
If you're launching a horror project, take notes from this team. Invest in practical effects first and have a team you can trust.
Let us know what you thought about Welcome to Derry.
