Special Effects

"There's nothing like good special effects to get an A." Guided by that standard, Senior Robert Eichen, 17, set to work on a film about drugs and violence for his high school Creative Media class in Alton, Ill. (pop. 39,700), an industrial city about 20 miles northeast of St. Louis. The film was to be only five minutes long, but four characters were to be stabbed, beaten or crushed to death.

Reasoned Eichen: "People like to see blood and guts." He took particular care setting up a sequence in which two drug pushers attack a young boy, played by Junior Ned Nilsson, 16, an honors student who was not in the class but wanted to help out.

On location in nearby Godfrey, Eichen and his fellow film makers--un-supervised by a teacher because the filming took place during vacation--taped a half-inch-thick piece of soft pine to Nilsson's chest. Then, as the 8-mm. camera whirred, a"pusher" knocked Nilsson to the ground with faked blows of a club.

Hurry Up. As Nilsson lay on his back, the other pusher repeatedly stabbed him. After each knife thrust into the board, the camera was stopped, and simulated blood (water and red food dye) was sprinkled on his chest. But one thrust split the board. Frightened, the assailant, played by Senior Dan Johnson, 17, cried out: "Ned, are you all right?" Nilsson replied: "Yeah, I think so. It doesn't feel too good. Let's hurry up." When the filming ended, he tried to get up but fell backward and passed out. His friends noticed that the simulated blood was suddenly turning darker. They ripped off his shirt and the pine board and saw a purplish hole in his chest. Rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital in Alton, Nilsson lay in a coma for nine days. Last week he died.

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