I love creating gruesome, gory, and Halloween-y makeup looks. So, in honor of Halloween this Thursday, let's dive into a discussion of some of my favorite character makeup looks from classic Halloween movies.
Frankenstein (1931)
Makeup Artist: Jack Pierce
Why It's Important: The makeup for Frankenstein's monster is a classic look that everyone knows, even if they haven't seen the movie. Pierce's character design became the default depiction of the character for the past eight decades. Author Mary Shelley did not provide a detailed description of her creation other than that he was an amalgamation of corpse parts and looked absolutely hideous; Pierce's square-headed, bolt-necked design solidified the creation's appearance in the public imagination, giving the character new life and inspiring all future depictions of the creation.
The Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Makeup Artist: Jack Pierce
Why It's Important: In this movie, Pierce creates a wonderful contrast to his version of Frankenstein's monster with his bride makeup. Like most brides, Pierce's bride has an elegant and glamorous look with the exception of a few stitches on her neck. The bride's towering beehive hairdo parallels her groom's high forehead while the white streaks running through her hair are reminiscent of the bolts of electricity that brought her to life.
The Wolf Man (1941)
Makeup Artist: Jack Pierce
Why It's Important: This makeup was pretty extreme for its time. The application of the look required a laborious process of applying strands of yak hair to actor Lon Chaney Jr's face, hands, and legs and could take more than 10 hours. The werewolf's clawed feet were uncomfortable rubber boots, also covered in yak hair. Like the rest of Pierce's monster designs, this look was unique, interesting to look at, and highly influential for future werewolf films.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Makeup Artist: Milicent Patrick
Why It's Important: In an industry where women are still underrepresented, it was revolutionary for Milicent Patrick to be hired as the makeup artist and designer for this movie. She was the first woman to design and create such a popular and enduring monster makeup. Tragically, Milicent's boss, Bud Westmore, fired her after she finished designing the look in order to take the credit for it. It wasn't until relatively recently that Patrick received her proper credit. Not only is this makeup incredible, but it has also inspired new films such as Guillermo Del Toro's The Shape of Water.
Dracula (1958)
Makeup Artist: Philip Leakey
Why It's Important: The Dracula makeup from this movie was so influential that it spawned the cliché Halloween vampire makeup. Leakey gave star Christopher Lee red contact lenses, a pale foundation and bloody fangs, the first time Dracula had fangs in an English-language movie. It is an essential look that has influenced every other depiction of vampires in media since. Unlike earlier versions of the story, such as 1931's Dracula starring Bela Lugosi, Leakey's version uses more makeup to tell the story. Because of the success of Leakey's design, fangs have become a necessity for every subsequent vampire look.
The Exorcist (1973)
Makeup Artist: Dick Smith
Why It's Important: The makeup worn by child star Linda Blair, after her character is possessed by Satan, is highly memorable, and even those who haven't seen the movie have a vague knowledge of the look. The look itself is extremely creepy and made creepier by the fact that it's on a little girl. It is one of Smith's masterpieces. Smith also excelled at subtle prosthetic work such as that used to make 44-year-old Max Von Sydow look like an old man. The iconic vomit scene was created with a device that Smith rigged and concealed on Linda Blair. Rick Baker's assistance to Smith during this movie helped to make Baker's career.
American Werewolf in London (1981)
Makeup Artist: Rick Baker
Why It's Important: Inspired by and an homage to Jack Pierce's Wolf Man makeup, the makeup for this movie was revolutionary. Many of the effects used had to be created for this movie. Baker used animatronics, pneumatics, advanced foam latex prosthetic techniques, and "super-stretchy urethane-elastomer flesh substitute" to create his masterpiece. Baker's innovations advanced the possibilities for SFX makeup beyond anything that had been possible before. Before this movie, nobody had ever presented well-lit on-screen transformations. This movie also marked the first time an Oscar was awarded for makeup and Baker took it home.
Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
Makeup Artist: Kathryn Fenton
Why It's Important: Amateur and professional makeup artists love to recreate Freddy Kruger's melted, burnt, and bloody makeup. Not only is it scary but it looks cool and is quite easy to replicate because it can be done using body paint, foam latex or silicone prosthetics, gelatin, liquid latex, or pretty much anything else someone is creative enough to come up with. Fenton's design is quite effective because it combines classic horror movie gore with an original twist, creating a classic horror movie look.
Beetlejuice (1988)
Makeup Artists: Ve Neill, Steve LaPort, and Robert Short
Why It's Important: Beetlejuice's eccentric hair and crazed makeup embody the essence of the character. The makeup design for the character portrayed by Michael Keaton, including electrified hair, pronounced eye circles and general air of seediness and rot, perfectly expresses the personality and chaotic nature of the character. Ve Neill's work on this movie. earned her, her first Oscar nomination and win for best makeup and hairstyling.
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Makeup Artist: Ve Neill
Why It's Important: The beauty of this look is its simplicity. The light scarring and shadowing applied to actor Johnny Depp's face serve to tell a piece of the character's story, and hint at the tragedy of his life, without requiring explicit exposition. The look's success and creepy appearance comes from the subtle lack of symmetry, lack of eyebrows, and thin scars that make Edward, played by the very good-looking Johnny Depp, look just a little "off."
Bram Stokers Dracula (1992)
Makeup Artists: Greg Cannom, Michèle Burke, and Matthew W. Mungle
Why it's important: The makeup for this version of Dracula is both graceful and terrifying. The design revamps Philip Leakey's classic Dracula makeup by incorporating historically inspired details such as Dracula's 'butt' buns, reminiscent of Elizabethan hairstyles. This historical twist helps give the characters an historical context and tell a more in-depth story about Dracula's background. The prosthetics, especially those used when star Gary Oldman tranforms into his bat form, are incredibly well designed, sculpted, and applied. Without this beautiful, ethereal, and gruesome makeup (as well as Eiko Ishioka's incredible costume design), the movie would not be able to tell the story so successfully.
Pan’s Labrynth (2006)
Makeup Artists: José Quetglás and Arjen Tuiten
Why it's important: Both the makeups for The Faun and The Pale Man are both so original and hideously elegant as to be incredibly refreshing, The Pale Man is like no other look I have ever seen. The eyeball hands are incredibly creepy because they are such an alien distortion of human anatomy. For The Faun, Quetglás and Tuiten combine traditional Greek mythological depictions of half-man, half-goat satyrs with fantastical forest imagery creating an incredible and beautiful new creature that fits seamlessly into director Guillermo del Toro's magical-realist setting. These looks are probably my all-time favorite movie makeups because of their intricacy and attention to detail.
IT (2017)
Makeup Artists: Sarah Craig and Linda Dowds
Why it's important: I personally prefer the makeup from 2017's IT to the 1990 television version because of the more advanced techniques and design. Unlike the makeup from 1990's IT, which was just exaggerated clown makeup, Craig and Dowds take it to the next level by extending Pennywise's lip makeup upward and enlarging his forehead, subtly distorting the normal shape of his head. I love how this makeup keeps the idea of clown makeup, but stylizes it. Craig and Dowds' preservation of the inspiration from clown makeup and creepy changes create a clown makeup even more terrifying than the original clown makeup.
I hope you found this list interesting and are now inspired to go create your own rendition of one of these looks. This list is not exhaustive, but I thought that 13 movies would be extra spooky for Halloween, so please comment what your favorite Halloween movie makeup is.
Resources:
https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/movie-makeup-master-dick-smith-1922-2014/19/
https://cinefex.com/blog/tag/an-american-werewolf-in-london/