"TOOL" (1998)

Stills from Wayne Spitzer's 1998 re-imagined Dead of Night pilot, "TOOL." The edisode was envisioned as a "tiny terror on the loose" thriller along the lines of Dan Curtis's Trilogy of Terror (1975) and Don't be Afraid of the Dark (1973). Spitzer, dissapointed from the start with the prop maker's rendering of the "Tool" (which Tiner dubbed "Mecha-Kermit"), ultimately shelved the project in favor of Shadows in the Garden. "There came a point when I could tell the thing simply wasn't going to work as a straight-faced thriller," says Spitzer. "And I think you owe it to yourself as well as your crew, provided there's no contractual obligations, to say, 'I'm not going to hurt my career and the career of others by putting this out there right now.'" Spitzer, Kumpon and Gollinger may eventually complete the episode as a flat-out comedy. In the meantime folks can check out Ron Ford's TIKI, (2006) which Tiner also worked on.

Above: Obsessed mechanic Harley Mann's (Mitch Tiner) new tool has morphed into something murderous. Now it's going to fix his entire family...for good! This image has been altered from what was orininally shot to more accurately reflect Spitzer's original design.

If Harley Mann's wife (Kris Tiner) can't find a way out of their bedroom fast, she's going to get "fixed."

Harley (Mitch Tiner) learns the hard way not to reach into blind spots when there's a living tool around. Though Tiner, who also did the gore effects, was dissapointed that "TOOL" was never completed, he nonetheless got a chance to repeat them for Ron Ford's TIKI (2006). Spitzer and Kumpon had introduced the two when Ford first arrived in Spokane in 2003.