Last week I talked a bit about the value of experimentation in the haunting industry. This week I’m going to zoom in a bit more on one of my own off-season experiments from the past week.

Hat ON.

Your Zombie Prom Date

I remember way back, when I was a wee one, when I could smear grape jelly all over my face, and everyone would just laugh, comment on how cute I was, and then clean me up with a moisty nap. At some point, though, when I entered the public school system and had to begin to conform to society’s vision of a good citizen, that type of play was, for the most part, abolished. As much as I wanted to dig my fingers into the pudding on my lunch tray, draw little ghosts onto my face with my pen, and spread the contents of my little Heinz ketchup packets around my mouth, that type of activity would have been frowned upon. So I retreated to the safety of spelling and mathematics, and over the years in school I learned quite a bit of book-stuff. I don’t regret that one bit; however, that little fanciful child within still pokes my ribs sometimes, yearning to break free. How can I provide an escape for him, allowing him to vent that pent-up energy that has accumulated (and continues to accumulate) over all these years?

Well, thankfully the Halloween and Haunted Attractions industry comes to the rescue. I can scream at the public. I can wear clothes that don’t fit. I can forget the chemistry and calculus for a bit. I can smear stuff all over myself, and it’s accepted. Case in Point: Last weekend the little wild-child inside me became enamored with the oncoming Haunt season, so I decided to run out to Spirit Halloween, buy some makeup, and use my face as a morbid canvas for the afternoon. Was there a real-world reason for me to do this? No. Was I working in a Haunt that night? No. Did I have a costume party to go to? No. Was anybody going to see it in person? No (except for my cat). I just wanted to do it. So, I bought my makeup, turned up the Halloween music, and set out to glue toilet paper all over my face. Of course, the whole time I was envisioning teachers and parents, shaking their index fingers at me, insisting that Elmer’s school glue was meant for gluing cotton balls onto lambs made out of construction paper. And toilet paper, of course, was made to be used on other parts of the body, NOT on the face. But I imagined their disapproving stares, smiled slyly, and squirted even more glue onto my face. After an hour or so of gluing, shaping, and drying, I pulled out the base makeup to fill it all in, blobbing huge gobs of brown, purple, and yellow onto my cheeks and lining my eyes, nose, and lips with black. Then I ripped parts of the toilet paper, creating areas of morbidly delightful peeling skin, filling the wounds with red base makeup. Then, of course, the blood. Ah, the blood. By now I imagined the proponents of propriety turning their heads in disgust, so I gladly pulled out globs of thick blood and smeared it into the wounds before accenting them and my chin with stage blood. Finally a quick dabbing of my teeth with black paint finished the job.

The undead Stalker

The result wasn’t perfect. The hat could have used some distressing work. And a few parts of my face needed some more makeup, but overall I was satisfied with what I had accomplished in a couple of hours. I’m still very new to the horror makeup processes, and while I’ve attended some seminars and watched numerous YouTube tutorials, I’ve found the most effective (and most enjoyable) means of learning is by experimentation. I don’t always have a plan for what I want to do. I just pull out the glue and start molding. And I take pictures so that I can study what I did and tweak my methods in the next session where needed. It’s a scientific method. It’s academia. Nothing wrong with it.

Now, I can feel the little rascal within me wriggling again. I think I’ll go make a cotton-ball-construction-paper lamb. Maybe I’ll decapitate it. The blood sticks to the cotton balls well. Lamb chops?

Take THAT Establishment.

Hat OFF.

Thriller ' A Horror Pop Classic'

In a few short weeks we as scareactors get to shine up our trusty black hauntin’-shoes, de-coagulate our fake blood, and scrape the crusty crud off of our makeup tubes. Mentally, we’re ready. Physically, perhaps not so much. So this week I’d like to share a fun way to get into nimble shape for the haunting season while perhaps fulfilling a lifelong dream that you might have.

Hat ON.

As a child of the 80s, I grew up identifying Michael Jackson’s Thriller as my all-time favorite music video, and it remains so to this day. Killer makeup + Vincent Price + Zombies dancing in the street. It’s a perfect mashup. I always loved that zombie dance sequence, and through the years I would sit on the couch and dream of doing those moves. A few years ago, as I was watching the video, I finally discovered that I actually had legs. I wiggled my right foot. And then I wiggled my left foot. And then–wait for it–YES! I wiggled them both. I stood up, rewound the video to the beginning, and tried to dance along with the video. My confidence quickly fizzled, though, when I discovered that it’s a friggin’ hard dance to do without any instruction. Distraught but still keen to learn, I Googled “How to do the Thriller dance.” After sifting through a few useless sites and smart aleck comments of “Watch the music video,” I found one site that looked promising, THRILL THE WORLD, an entire website devoted to teaching people how to do the dance, and it’s a FANTASTIC resource. The goal of the site is to gather as many people as possible to perform the iconic dance at the same time in their respective areas of the world, and within the site are a plethora of resources for teaching and learning the dance, including dance scripts and instructional videos. If you click “Learn the Dance,” you’ll be taken to a page where you can order the DVD or view all of the videos on YouTube. The instructor breaks the dance down into manageable little chunks, creatively naming each move (e.g. shuffle, hop, stare, roar), and instructing the dancer to say (out loud) those moves when learning the steps. It works like a charm, and in a few short days you’ll be able to mentally chant those moves as you are performing the dance alongside MJ in the video.

Learn How to Monster Dance

So, if you’re looking for a fun way to loosen up for the haunting season and don’t really want to hit up the boring old gym, you can cue up the videos and rot away in your living room. Pull the shades for some spooky darkness. Put on a costume and some makeup if you’re so inclined. And remember: You don’t have to normally be a dancer to have fun with this; after all, you’re playing a zombie, so you can stumble around and screw up your moves all you want, and nobody will be any the wiser. I have zero experience in dancing, but the way the lessons are structured with the emphasis in naming each movement rather than counting, I can do the dance now at will and will likely never forget the chants. That’ll come in handy when I’m six feet under and have a sudden hankering to climb up and do an impromptu performance in the street.

Hat OFF.

CLICK HERE TO SEE FULL RULES

We also want to take a moment and give you all some exciting news. As you know we will be exhibiting at the Midwest Haunters Convention. Stop by and say hi! We will be selling our entire Tradeshow booth at the show. This is a basic 10′ x 20′ booth fully decorated and built by Screamline Studios. It comes with all hardware, wall sconces and lighting. This is going to go for a very reasonable price (which I cannot disclose until the show opens), however you must make arrangements to take it when the show ends on Sunday. Or you can pick it up from our shop in Painesville, Ohio after the show.

We will also be having many special prices on most of the items we bring. As an added bonus we will be bringing rejects (besides ourselves) and seconds to sell at crazy low prices for you bargain hunters out there.

Don’t forget! Screamline Studios wants to be your number one supplier of Slush Latex. Available sizes will be 1/2 gallon, 1 gallon and 5 gallon containers. Save on shipping and pick it up at the show. It normally goes pretty fast so come early if you need to stock up before its gone.

Thanks so much to all our friends and fans in the industry that have been so supportive over the years.

www.ScreamlineStudios.com

Limited Space is still available for our Memorial Weekend 2-day INTENSIVE CLASS and the Midwest Haunter’s Friday Pre-Con event is filling up fast as well. If you reserve the Memorial Weekend Class before May 20 you will save $20.00 off the normal price.

Now is the time to register for some GHOUL SCHOOLING… contact us at hauntedhydro@sbcglobal.net or call or text us at 419-307-6985 if you are interested in the May 23/24 class.

Visit www.midwesthauntersconvention.com to register for the Friday – June 5 class. And if you want a sneak peak at what Hauntertainer U is..tune in to Rotting Flesh Radio on Friday May 22nd Show #171 for Crazy Bob’s Next Installment of the Hauntertainer U Series on the show.

CLICK HERE FOR THE HAUNTERTAINER FLYER

First, Rotting Flesh Radio and Costumes for Kids would like to THANK everyone who has helped and believed in this program. It is because of you that it has grown at a rapid speed. All the Haunted Attractions, Individuals, and Vendors have made this programs really sky rocket and become successful.

We thank you for that. All the names will be updated and listed on the Costumes For Kids website in the upcoming days. And we look forward to making the program grow over the next year.

Below is a link to a current press article that was written about the program and some of those involved with it currently. Thank you for the press and kind words.

http://columbiachronicle.com/spreading-a-new-holiday-spirit-to-kids-in-need/

When her twentieth wedding anniversary was approaching, Sue Davis of Vienna, Ohio, knew that she wanted to renew her wedding vows and exactly where she wanted to do it; the Haunted Mansion at Knoebels Amusement Resort in Elysburg, PA.

Sue Davis and her husband, Rick are two of the three founders of the Darkride and Funhouse Enthusiasts (DAFE), an organization devoted to the appreciation of “dark attractions,” so this came as no surprise to those that know the couple. Sue said “After seeing some of the fun things that couples have done for their weddings, I wished that Rick and I would have thought of it. Of course we couldn’t go back in time, but we could do something special and unusual for our twentieth anniversary.”

Since weddings on rollercoasters have become rather old-hat, Sue and Rick decided that they should renew their vows at one of their favorite “darkrides” the Haunted Mansion at Knoebels Amusement Resort.

They didn’t have to search far for a minister willing to do it, their friend and fellow amusement park enthusiast, the Reverend Cliff Herring had married more than 50 couples on rollercoasters. A haunted house wedding however, was something new so he jumped at the chance to preside. The couple and their entourage dressed befitting their surroundings during the park’s Halloween event, Phoenix Phall Phunfest, October 4th. Sue was in a gothic vampire dress, Rick was costumed as a Victorian undertaker and the wedding party was outfitted as vampires. Hundreds of park guests lined the midway to watch the ceremony.

Following the ceremony the wedding party boarded ride cars for a trip in the dark through the amusement ride before being whisked away in their “limousine”, a classic 1970 Cadillac hearse. Rick remarked, “The secret to a long marriage is never taking yourselves too seriously; you have to keep things interesting and do the unexpected once in a while.”

Costumes for Kids is program designed to collect new or used costumes, make-up, costumes for disabled children to give them the Halloween they deserve.

The program has officially launched this year and we are looking for haunted attractions, individuals, halloween enthusiasts and more to donate their new, unused, and gently used costumes. These costumes in return will be distributed to children who are less fortunate, and children with disabilities including hard to find costumes themes for children in wheel chairs and special needs.

All we ask is that you contact us, and ship your costumes to us so we can have them cleaned and sent to the families in need to give the children a very special Halloween every year. All sizes are acceptign from infant on up.
Don’t let the name fool you. We also accept Make-Up (unopened), Halloween favors and decor and such to bring the whole Halloween experience to these children and families. For more look at our Items Wanted or Needed page.

We will also have posters available to download that you can put up and start your own drive to help this cause. Not every child is able to celebrate Halloween as they should so let’s give them that chance to escape hard times, disabilities and special needs by bringing them some simple joy.

How To Get Involved
You can get involved with Costumes For Kids by donating items, setting up a costume drive at your local event, haunted house or school gathering. We have a variety of posters you can use to hang up, banners for your websites, flyers and more to get you started. When the time arrives for you to ship your items just send us an email and we will tell you how to get them to us. ONLY ONE PERSON? Send your children’s past items no longer in use. Every single person is needed to help Costumes For Kids.

For the Halloween 2008 Season all items should be received by October 20th to make it in time for trick or treating and Halloween for the families and children. If you are a Haunted House you can do a drive and send it to us or do a drive all season and ship it for next year. If you are interested in being a Sponsor contact us as well. We are looking for sponsors to supply wristbands, awareness, offset shipping and anything you think may help the cause.

LEARN MORE AT: COSTUMESFORKIDS.NET