News
The ‘Gore Girls’ of Social Media
Recently we came across a great article by Jezebel.com in their Muse editorial section. It was a story about the “Gore Girls of Instagram” and it really got us to thinking about the future of practical gore effects in a male-dominated industry and how women are taking to social media to do tutorials on makeup that goes beyond contouring, making your lips look plumper, or eyelashes fuller.
[Editor’s Note: before you read any further, there are some images below of a graphic nature]
If I were to ask you to think of a prominent figure in gore effects, you would probably visualize a man: perhaps Tom Savini, the master of monster movie make-up.
He created the gore for the original Friday the 13th, Dawn of the Dead and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2.
His skills in making realistic head traumas, severed limbs and open wounds are a result of his career working as a combat photographer in the Vietnam War.
Having to witness the real-life visceral damage done by machines of war, Savini kept his sanity by fantasizing the victims were actually in studio make-up.
Although the atrocities of war are still happening today to our brave men and women who put their lives on the line overseas; stateside, young civilian amateurs are taking advantage of social media in order to display their talents for intricately piecing together prosthetics and detailed displays of war-like open wounds and blood splatter.
Women are quickly becoming noticed more and more in the news feed and they aren’t offering beauty tips, in fact, it’s just the opposite.
Kiana Jones is more interested in turning stomachs than turning heads through her YouTube channel, even if that means her videos are hidden because of horrified viewers.
“I had this severed fingers video from a few years ago—it had like 18 million views and I was getting hundreds and thousands of views on the video but then it went down to just 300 overnight,” Jones told Jezebel. “It got reported enough times that YouTube just took it out of the suggested videos list.”
She adds, “When it comes down to that, to me being hidden, it just feels unfair.”
The Aussie native now 28, told the publication that doing this type of art was not her original goal; she hated horror movies and didn’t understand why people would want to see such things.
But as a visual arts student in college, she participated in a zombie crawl at her university and got many compliments on her work.
From there she decided that she wanted to create effects as detailed and realistic as possible. Her over 427,000 fans on YouTube and 152,000 on Instagram seem to agree she is dong just that.
Another 28-year-old female artist Elly Suggit also has a penchant for prosthetics and taught herself how to do them when she was just a teenager.
“My family and friends were pretty creeped out by it all,” she said. “But after a few months it became the norm for me to answer the door for the postman with a full face zombie makeup on my face and no one batted an eyelid.”
iHorror did its own research and discovered Amanda Prescott an Instagram member with over 41k followers, whose makeup effects look so real that she has to provide this disclaimer:
“These are all my SFX MAKEUP, and NOT real injuries”
Prescott is yet another person of the fairer sex who is self-taught in the art of faux bodily injury. She too began the craft as a teenager.
Her work is so good that anyone trying to catfish their employer by calling in sick because of a fractured finger, or severed hand, could screen capture any of her Instagram photos and use them in their favor. It may prompt someone to call 9-1-1, but it’s still a day off work–or maybe longer.
Amanda, having just graduated from high school says she wants to take her skills into higher education.
“What I’m planning next is to go off to a four-year university to get my bachelor’s in studio arts,” she said in a 2016 interview. “While at the same time freelancing. After I receive that, I was going to go to special effects makeup school to be certified as a professional makeup artist.”
Unlike Kiana and Elly, Amanda doesn’t give many tutorials on how to replicate her work, she takes more of a “finished product” approach to social media.
But it does beg the question about young female talent and the recent popularization of them doing gore effects on social media. With computer software so readily available and somewhat inexpensive nowadays, why would production companies want to spend the extra money for practical work?
Maybe that’s the problem. Big studios are hoping to gross at the box office not gross-out the audience. They are leaving that chore to television shows and lower budget films.
We thought of a popular television series which uses practical effects in their show and came up with The Walking Dead; we wanted to see the ratio of men to women in the special effects department.
Out of the 24 “series special effects crew,” only five are women and four of those go uncredited according to IMDb.
On that same page, under the heading “Series Makeup Department” where effects wizard Greg Nicotero is credited, there are 84 people listed through the entire life of the series; only about 33 of these are women.
Nicotero has done the special effects for all 96 episodes thus far. Of those people under his management who have done 48 episodes or more, only two are women; one of those is the “contact lens designer/ painter,” the other, Donna M. Premick was a “key makeup artist” (2010-2014).
This isn’t to say that that the Walking Dead’s makeup department is sexist, it just shows that women don’t dominate the industry.
Another practical effects driven show we looked at is Starz’s Ash Vs. Evil Dead. That special effects staff has 16 people; three of those are female.
Recently, practical effects made a comeback in the low budget movie “The Void,” an homage to creature transformations via oleaginous blood and goop: Special effects wizardry there? Stefano Beninati
Social media seems to be the best place for women who love to craft graphic practical makeup.
At least there they can showcase their talents– name front-and-center–without being hidden in a list of men who share their same passion.
We aren’t sure if we will ever see a day when we think of a woman’s name before Tom Savini’s for gore effects on a major motion picture, but these Instagram and social media “Gore Girls,” are either on their way to doing just that or making one helluva reel to get their (severed) foot in the door.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im20Vn-vVBM&feature=youtu.be
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Movies
‘The Strangers’ Invaded Coachella in Instagramable PR Stunt
Renny Harlin’s reboot of The Strangers isn’t coming out until May 17, but those murderous home invaders are making a pit stop at Coachella first.
In the latest Instagramable PR stunt, the studio behind the film decided to have the trio of masked intruders crash Coachella, a music festival that takes place for two weekends in Southern California.
This type of publicity began when Paramount did the same thing with their horror movie Smile in 2022. Their version had seemingly ordinary people in populated places look directly into a camera with an evil grin.
Harlin’s reboot is actually a trilogy with a more expansive world than that of the original.
“When setting out to remake The Strangers, we felt there was a bigger story to be told, which could be as powerful, chilling, and terrifying as the original and could really expand that world,” said producer Courtney Solomon. “Shooting this story as a trilogy allows us to create a hyperreal and terrifying character study. We’re fortunate to be joining forces with Madelaine Petsch, an amazing talent whose character is the driving force of this story.”
The movie follows a young couple (Madelaine Petsch and Froy Gutierrez) who “after their car breaks down in an eerie small town, are forced to spend the night in a remote cabin. Panic ensues as they are terrorized by three masked strangers who strike with no mercy and seemingly no motive in The Strangers: Chapter 1 the chilling first entry of this upcoming horror feature film series.”
The Strangers: Chapter 1 opens in theaters on May 17.
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Movies
‘Alien’ Returning to Theaters For a Limited Time
It’s been 45 years since Ridley Scott’s Alien hit theaters and in celebration of that milestone, it is headed back to the big screen for a limited time. And what better day to do that than Alien Day on April 26?
It also works as a primer for the upcoming Fede Alvarez sequel Alien: Romulus opening on August 16. A special feature in which both Alvarez and Scott discuss the original sci-fi classic will be shown as a part of your theater admission. Take a look at the preview of that conversation below.
Back in 1979, the original trailer for Alien was kind of terrifying. Imagine sitting in front of a CRT TV (Cathode Ray Tube) at night and suddenly Jerry Goldsmith’s haunting score begins to play as a giant chicken egg starts to crack with beams of light bursting through the shell and the word “Alien” slowly forms in slanted all caps across the screen. To a twelve-year-old, it was a scary pre-bedtime experience, especially Goldsmith’s screaming electronic musical flourishes playing over scenes of the actual movie. Let the “Is it horror or sci-fi?” debate begin.
Alien became a pop culture phenomenon, complete with kid’s toys, a graphic novel, and an Academy Award for Best Visual Effects. It also inspired dioramas in wax museums and even a frightening setpiece at Walt Disney World in the now-defunct Great Movie Ride attraction.
The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, and John Hurt. It tells the tale of a futuristic crew of blue-collar workers suddenly awakened out of stasis to investigate an undecipherable distress signal coming from a nearby moon. They investigate the source of the signal and discover it’s a warning and not a cry for help. Unbeknownst to the crew, they have brought a giant space creature back on board which they find out in one of the most iconic scenes in cinema history.
It is said that Alvarez’s sequel will pay homage to the original film’s storytelling and set design.
The Alien theatrical re-release will take place on April 26. Pre-order your tickets and find out where Alien will screen at a theater near you.
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News
Home Depot’s 12-Foot Skeleton Returns with a New Friend, Plus New Life-Size Prop from Spirit Halloween
Halloween is the greatest holiday of them all. However, every great holiday needs amazing props to go with it. Luckily for you, there are two new amazing props that have been released, which are sure to impress your neighbors and frighten any neighborhood children who are unfortunate enough to wander past your yard.
The first entry is the return of the Home Depot 12-foot skeleton prop. Home Depot has outdone themselves in the past. But this year the company is bringing bigger and better things to their Halloween prop lineup.
This year, the company unveiled its new and improved Skelly. But what is a giant skeleton without a loyal friend? Home Depot has also announced that they will release a five-foot tall skeleton dog prop to eternally keep Skelly company as he haunts your yard this spooky season.
This bony pooch will be five feet tall and seven feet long. The prop will also feature a posable mouth and LCD eyes with eight variable settings. Lance Allen, Home Depot’s merchant of decorative Holliday gear, had the following to say about this year’s lineup.
“This year we increased our realism within the animatronics category, created some impressive, licensed characters and even brought back some fan favorites. Overall, we are most proud of the quality and value we are able to bring to our customers with these pieces so they can continue to grow their collections.”
But what if giant skeletons just aren’t your thing? Well, Spirit Halloween has you covered with their giant life size Terror Dog replica. This massive prop has been ripped out of your nightmares to appear frighteningly on your lawn.
This prop weighs in at almost fifty pounds and features glowing red eyes that are sure to keep your yard safe from any toilet paper throwing hooligans. This iconic Ghostbusters nightmare is a must have for any fan of 80s horror. Or, anyone who loves all things spooky.
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