According to the crew, the backbone of special effects was, in fact, lube and condoms. Which, given the erotic nature of the film, is quite fitting. The crew actively sought out condoms because they were made out of latex. Lube made things look wet (and stay wet) under the camera lights. According to the crew, they were mortified whenever they'd have to make a run to a shop to load up on what surely looked like a king's ransom of orgy supplies. As for the birthing sequence, the SFX gang actually used a step up from lube, they used methylcellulose, the food thickener/SFX mainstay. "We would pump up methylcellulose by the gallon" recalls Keen. You can see the pump in action early in the sequence, as pools of clear goop ooze up from the floorboards. The thick, snot-like strands coating Frank's in-progress body are also likely methylcellulose. When Frank's "arm stumps" erupt from the pools of ooze, those are two animatronics. "We built lots and lots of puppet rigs," stresses Keen. The forming flesh effect itself where bone, muscle, and tendons reconstitute Frank's skinless body was accomplished with wax and reverse photography. The team constructed models of body parts out of different waxes with different melting points, layering them as needed. Burned and filmed in reverse, the effect is that of re-forming flesh. This required a multitude of stages as well as close-up appliances to show the growth of Frank's hands and organs. The crew also used colored thread for Frank's veins, which when pulled and played in reverse, looks like conscious, slime mold-like sinew, puppet rigs also featured in the "reverse melt" parts of the sequence. Wires were used to pull away pieces of Frank apart bit by bit, mimicking, in reverse, the in-film demise of the character himself. "The sequence involves a whole bunch of ideas merged into one, and I don't think that's been done before," emphasizes Keen.

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