Bird Box: What The Monsters Look Like

Bird Box is currently one of Netflix’s most popular films and personally, I think a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that the monsters within the movie carry a lot of mystery. These monsters when looked upon cause the victim to commit suicide so naturally there is a lot of speculation rife on the internet surrounding their appearance.

Whilst Star, Sandra Bullock, recently stated in an interview that they looked like giant green snake babies, Dirk Rogers, who was cast as the creature and even played it in deleted scenes, stated that this green colour was simply visual effects. Of course, this didn’t really stop the appetite that fans have in order to find out their actual design.

Luckily, Andy Bergholtz, who was a designer on the film recently posted an Instagram image and caption with the original design for the monsters as well.

On that image he stated that:

We had the unique pleasure of designing a creepy makeup for the film, although the scene ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. Keep in mind, the fatal “vision” that each character saw would most likely be different for each person (you’ll understand if you’ve seen the film), and this makeup appeared in a cut “dream/nightmare sequence” with Sandra Bullock’s character. 

Considering her pregnant state and emotional arc thru the movie, the producers felt Sandra’s nightmare would have something to do with a twisted, demonic baby creature attacking her (that’s as much as I could gather about the context of the scene anyway). I sculpted at least 3 or 4 variations on the design before it was approved, which began as a more aggressive, monstery look and was revised to be a bit more subtle in the end. I also had the pleasure of painting the finished prosthetics before sending them to set, to be worn and performed by the one and only Dirk Rogers.

In the end, I actually really liked the movie and think it was better off NOT showing the makeup. Kudos to the director for sticking to her guns on that one. Still a fun project to be a part of, thanks Howie!

What I love about this is that the design definitely ties into Sandra Bullock’s character arc and makes a lot of sense as to why it would be so terrifying for her. Of course, the film does work better without showing the creatures and it’s probably for the best that this never came to light as the internet has been in uproar about how laughable some of the aspects are.

Your Thoughts

Obviously, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the monsters and whether you think they would have worked. If you enjoyed this video then please like it and check out my breakdown of Everything We Know so far about Glass, which will be linked at the end.