Who is Mr. Tom?
By Shelby Scott
Who is Mr. Tom? I asked myself the same question when I noticed a disturbing faceless man pop up in my Twitter feed the other day. I had to know more about mouthless, noseless, animal eyed thing staring back at me from my computer screen. My search led me to
. I was immediately taken by the world of the exorcist and the monster, Mr. Tom. As you enter the website, you are immediately met with the following video:
If you don’t have the time to watch, or you’re reading this at work (thank you for choosing 1428Elm for your procrastinating needs!) it’s incredibly well done. It begins with a woman named Helen O’Meara telling the interviewer that when her daughter was possessed she hired an exorcist named Eli Dante and his assistant Mr. Tom, and they killed her whole family. Fast forward, the interviewer is kidnapped by a cult with Italian Renaissance-esque robes while interviewing another exorcist after asking him about Eli Dante and Mr. Tom. What follows is a better storyline, and better fx, than I’ve seen in a lot of bigger budget horror movies in recent years.
Creator Michael Laicini gave me this description of our hero, Mr. Tom:
"Mr. Tom is an exorcist, who has the ability to lay his hands on somebody and take their Demon into himself. Temporarily allowing himself to become possessed. Which doesn’t help his reputation as a “monster”. He’ll use his own body as a vessel to transport the Demon home with him, where he has a ceremony he performs to trap the demon in his basement!"
The acting in the videos is superb, including that of Mr. Tom himself, David Amito. Amito, along with Laicini founded Else Films which produces the Mr. Tom series. It’s already created quite a following, their Facebook page features just a fraction of the fan art that they are sent by captivated fans. Laicini and Amito are also currently working on a feature film about Mr. Tom, and I believe it will be no time before you’re seeing this face staring back at you from a billboard.
To keep up with the Mr. Tom series, you can follow them on Facebook and Twitter @whoismrtom.