Zombie face
You, too, can stalk the land with the look of the undead. Makeup pros at Eastern State Pen's vaunted haunted house have pointers.
Zombies are big again this year.
And if you visit "Terror Behind the Walls" - the annual scarefest at Eastern State Penitentiary - you'll see the brain-eaters lurching throughout the grounds: zombie prison guards, zombie prisoners, zombie patients in the infirmary.
"You're so gross! I love it!" makeup artist Nickki DuBan gushed to a zombie wannabe whose lips dripped dark blood. (Actually, a mixture of food coloring and chocolate syrup.)
DuBan paused, then added, "It takes a certain kind of person to work here."
The folks who do are so good that, last year, AOL City Guide named "Terror Behind the Walls," going on now until Nov. 7, the No. 1 Haunted House in America. Last month, Haunted Attraction magazine, a go-to guide for the scare industry, did a cover story on "Terror" with the subheading, "You go to jail. . . . You go to Hell."
"If you want to learn about Eastern State, come during the day. If you want to be entertained, come at night," Eastern State program director Sean Kelley said.
This year's theme is "Infirmary." It takes visitors through a prison medical wing that includes empty waiting rooms, sterilization chambers, and a morgue. 3D glasses enhance the experience at certain points.
In haunted industry terms, "Terror" is "high startle, low gore," Kelley said.
It is also high profit: More than half of the historic site's operating budget comes from the proceeds. Last year's frightfest brought in 65 percent of the budget.
"It's crucial to what we do," Kelley said.
Visitors don't see what goes into transforming normal-looking, living people into the restless, evil undead every night. Using things as mundane as oatmeal and air conditioner filters, a team of 12 makeup artists paints and preps more than 120 actors in less than three hours.
But almost anyone can re-create the looks. Here's how:
Zombie-licious
1. Mix equal parts gelatin and hot water, and stir. (If you are buying gelatin packs, one or two should be enough for one face.) Add a few teaspoons of oatmeal for texture.
2. Using a popsicle stick or spoon, apply the cooled mixture in blotches to a clean face. You're trying to achieve the effect of skin rotting away in certain places.
3. Let set. Dab latex or eyelash adhesive over oatmeal and gelatin mixture. Use a cool hair dryer to speed setting. Option: Dab on castor sealer to help the makeup blend better.
4. Dab pale blue or white makeup - eye shadow works well - over face with a stipple sponge, then blend with a makeup wedge. You can make a stipple sponge out of air conditioner filters available at any home improvement store.
5. Fill in eye sockets; "Terror" makeup director Kristen Phillips likes red or purple here because it looks "more diseased," but some people prefer black. Use darker-colored makeup to accent hollows or low areas of face, like cheekbones or pulse points, under nose and chin.
6. Dab purple on oatmeal "zombie rot." Highlight with base color and red.
7. Set with baby powder or similar translucent powder.
8. Gargle with a mixture of black food coloring and chocolate syrup. Then spit out like mouthwash, allowing some to drip on face. (Your tongue will eventually return to normal color!)
By the numbers
During the two-month run,
"Terror Behind the Walls" uses:
60 pounds of gelatin
5 gallons of latex
5 gallons of professional fake blood that is mixed with a variety of substances including chocolate syrup, peanut butter, and corn syrup
5,400 makeup wedges
870 packages of facial wipes
The old lady look (transformed into a zombie!)
1. Tear a sheet of tissue paper, the type used to stuff gift bags, into jagged 2- to 3-inch squares.
2. Paint outside edges of paper with eyelash glue or latex. Apply paper to skin, leaving it wrinkled and crumpled. Layer as you go. Avoid the eyes but don't forget the neck.
Optional: Dab latex over entire mask to help set, including lips for peeling effect. Dry with hair dryer set on cool.
3. Using an uneven sponge, dab face and neck with makeup in natural skin tone.
To morph from old lady to zombie
1. Peel open mask, tearing and leaving hanging "nasty bits."
2. Fill in gaps with red makeup, accented by black.
3. To add the look of blood smears, use one part peanut butter, one part K-Y jelly, and add red and green food coloring until you get your desired color. Or accent store-bought blood with corn syrup, cornstarch, and red food coloring.
4. Rinse mouth with black food coloring and chocolate syrup mix.
Be a burn victim
1. Combine equal parts gelatin and hot water. When the mix has cooled slightly, use a popsicle stick or spoon to apply it unevenly to the face. If desired, add a handful of cereal to create warts and bumps. Allow the gelatin to drip like melted skin.
2. With a hair dryer set on cool, help the gelatin set. Coat the gelatin with latex or it will start to shrink and harden after a few hours.
3. Fill in bare skin gaps in the gelatin mask with black makeup.
4. Blot gelatin with a dark color, like purple.
5. Blot gelatin again with blacks and reds.
6. Add finishing touches as desired, like extra-shiny blood of the peanut butter/K-Y Jelly variety.
Autopsy gone wrong
1. Phillips created a prosthetic lungs and rib cage that she glued to Timothy Regan's chest, but amateurs can do the same thing at home by cutting a piece of an existing costume and gluing it to the chest area.
2. Accent with blood mixtures described above.
Some Tools of the Trade
Knox Gelatin
Oatmeal
Makeup sponges with chunks torn out to make application uneven
Ripped-up air conditioning filters
K-Y Jelly
Cereal
Peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
Latex, available at costume stores, or eyelash adhesive
Food coloring
Chocolate syrup
Cornstarch
Castor oil
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