Overview
- Representatives and family confirmed that Joji Tani, known as Screaming Mad George, died on February 10, 2026 after a cardiac arrest that left him unconscious and he passed away four days later.
- The family explained they delayed any public notice so they could grieve in private and they announced a memorial gathering planned for the first anniversary of his death.
- Tani built a decades‑long career as a special makeup and creature effects artist whose surreal work appeared on films such as Society, A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 and 4, Predator and Big Trouble in Little China.
- He is best known for the surreal final ‘shunting’ sequence in Society and for running S.M.G. Inc., a workshop that trained younger artists who later founded major effects houses.
- Tani spent his later years teaching and exhibiting art in Japan despite declining health, and his death removes a central mentor figure whose practical techniques continue to shape modern creature effects.