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Horrify Me is a thoroughly modern practice that makes use of the most current materials, methods, lighting, and digital tech. But at the creative heart of Horrify Me is a wealth of inspiration that grew during the greatest golden age of horror ever known. Despite how modern it is, Horrify Me is very much a product of the 1980s...
Ah, the eighties. There was never a decade quite like it, nor will there ever be another. It was a decade full of golden ages, in TV, music, movies, toys, and tech. The decade also gave rise to the greatest era of horror films ever known. Film makers emerged from the American New Wave full of twisted creativity, ready to make a fast buck by shocking audiences with excessive gore, violence, and evil characters. And we fucking loved it!
INSPIRATION
Pablo Picasso once commented that all art is theft, as every artists “steals” from every other artist. Steve Jobs echoed this idea by stating that “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” The artist Adam Kurtz explained the meaning of this by claiming that to “copy” is merely to imitate, whereas to “steal” is to take inspiration. “Imitation is laziness or refusal to accept your influences. Inspiration is recognizing that influence and turning it into something new.” Finding inspiration in a piece of existing work and then using it as a starting point to create something new is basically what a lot of art is. My own work is no exception, which grew out of an overflowing well of inspiration.
I grew up as a natural arty type, always drawing scary monsters with bloody fangs, eating human heads that had their eyeballs hanging out (clearly I had a healthy imagination as a little kid), but as I got older I took art a bit more seriously. I studied fine art and design, and developed a fascination with a number of artists such as Edvard Munch, Gustav Klimt, Francis Bacon, and Zdzisław Beksiński, among others. But the artists I ended up truly admiring above all were the genius guys who made monsters and gore in the movies. Steve Johnson, Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Alec Gillis, Stan Winston, Chris Walas, and Kevin Yagher were my rock stars. For me personally, the top of the list was always Tom Savini. His work just “clicked” with me and I spent endless hours figuring out how to make myself look like one of his zombies or copying his wound effects. These guys inspired and influenced me in ways I am still beholden to, compelling me onto a journey that I have enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, to this very day.
A GOLDEN ERA OF HORROR
Modern horror started taking shape in the 1960s and 1970s after the release of Psycho, Night of the Living Dead, the Exorcist, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Before this, horror films of the classic era usually had a heavy focus on gothic fantasy, castles, and suspense. The modern horror film established itself in more contemporary settings such as modern homes, camp sites, cabins, and shopping malls, and ramped up the gore and intense violence. At the end of the 1970s two movies were released which lit the touchpaper that set the eighties horror craze ablaze! They were Dawn of the Dead in 1978 and, in particular, Halloween in 1979.
John Carpenter's Halloween proved that horror could be successful at the box office, and it gave rise to an era of horror slasher films that lasted beyond the decade. Out of this era grew a whole rogue’s gallery of iconic characters, such as Jason Voorhees, Freddy Krueger, Pinhead, Chucky, the Deadites, and countless others. The eighties became an incredibly fertile period for horror effects artists, who were creating amazing and groundbreaking effects. Werewolves transformed in new, painful, bone-stretching ways, zombies wore disgusting wounds and signs of decay as they ripped violently into living flesh, vampires became more monstrous and sexy, and demons just went balls-out batshit crazy! A healthy number of these eighties characters are still hugely beloved to this day and still dominate the horror community, which is a testament to their impressive status and staying power in the culture.
For horror fans like me, the eighties was epic. I was a teenager at the time, drunk on passion for horror films and consuming as many as I could lay my hands on. I enjoyed a misspent youth watching anything and everything, from the most mainstream Hollywood releases to the most obscure Italian exploitation flicks and even the most trashy low budget indi garbage. I loved it all. The arrival of home video played an important role in the emergence of the horror era as many obscure titles found their way into homes, which may otherwise have been swallowed by history into oblivion. I feasted my eyes on horror films like I was on a mission, consuming images of extreme gore that left beautiful scars on my creative imagination. Being a creative person by nature, I was naturally drawn to making my own simple horror makeups, scary masks, and Halloween costumes. The horror of the eighties inspired the hell out of me, and it still does to this very day.
One of the most exciting things a horror kid could see in the 1980s was the horror section at the local VHS video rental store. I spent countless hours in these places. If I didn't have enough pocket money to hire something then I'd spend time just hanging out among the boxes, reading every word on the back of every box. |
THE HORRIFY ME PORTRAITS
My more popular creations, and those which tend to attract more inspired responses, are usually those which are original, but have certain "flavours" of inspiration, such as the Freddy Krueger themed art nudes, the Hellraiser Brides, and the demonic possession portraits. It's fair to say that I do some work that could be regarded as "immitation" such as replica Freddy makeups, but even these projects inspire me to get creative and try new ideas on the established themes. Some of my creations are not based on anything specific, they are completely original, but they still carry a lot of the DNA of the eighties special effects that power my imagination.
When I create my portraits, my mind sees eighties horror by default. It's the source code of everything I do, and whether it is a replica makeup, or an original piece, the standard that I set myself is the same standard that I grew up admiring during the 1980s. The fingerprints of eighties horror is all over my work, from the style of zombie scars to the scowl of the angry vampires, and of course the shamelessly abundant blood and gore that defined both that decade of horror and now defines most of my own work.
My personal horror journey
Not a lot of the stuff from my early years survives today but I found some examples of my childhood drawings and projects. Putting this together sure brought back some amazing memories!
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EARLY CHILDHOOD: I was so inspired by monsters and horror as a little kid. I grew up watching Hammer horror movies, buying horror comics, and drawing my own scary pictures and comics. I seemed to have a bit of creative ability as a child so I put it to use. I remember losing myself to this stuff for hours at a time.
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EARLY CHILDHOOD: While most little kids my age were playing with their toys, I was using glue, paint and cotton wool, as well as raiding my mum's makeup box, to make simple horror makeups. Eventually my mum bought me the now legendary Dekker Horror Makeup kit (which had been designed by Dick Smith). This kit introduced me to "proper" horror makeup, including the gelatine-based Flex Flesh and theatrical fake blood. I also loved buying latex Halloween masks and wearing them everywhere. I particularly loved my Wolfman mask.
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TEENAGE YEARS: My drawing improved as a got a little older and my favourite theme was always horror. I'd spend hours drawing and doodling, when I wasn't watching horror movies of course. By now it was clear that my obsession was here to stay.
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TEENAGE YEARS: It was incredibly difficult to buy decent materials for horror makeup during the 1980s. There was no internet, and hunting down suppliers was a real mission, often involving many hours in local reference libraries and going through countless issues of the Yellow Pages to find companies that sold liquid latex or greasepaint. But I was a kid with an obsession and nothing was gonna stop me doing my early horror makeups.
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TEENAGE YEARS: By a stroke of awesome luck, a Halloween mask factory opened reasonably local to me, called Morbid Masks, run by a very cool guy named Andy Blake. He was kind enough to let me hang out in the factory from time to time, showing me his new sculptures, and he even let me buy small amounts of liquid latex and clay so that I could start my own mask making. Andy was brilliant, and very generous with his knowledge. My first attempt at sculpting and making a latex mask was the cute gorilla, and I was instantly hooked! I made all kinds of horror masks, as well as gory props and models. I was now also taking art a bit more seriously and studying fine art, nude figure drawing and painting.
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EARLY 20's: By now I was entering young adulthood and actually managed to achieve a little bit of success with my latex mask making hobby - I sold a few to local fancy dress hire shops and craft stalls. There were no job opportunities for me to do this type of work, so I just did it out of love alongside my new day-job, as a junior graphic designer.
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MID 20's: I passed my A-Level in Fine Art and Design and had the opportunity to attend art school full time, but fate decided otherwise and I wasn't able to go. Not a day goes by where I don't wonder what may have come out of this, but real life often doesn't give you what you want. Instead, I continued studying by reading, and of course constantly doing things. I eventually started sculpting and painting more high end display props and busts, many years before such things were popular (these days they are common among collectors and fans but back then they were almost unheard of).
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MID 20's: More masks, more complex display models, even full costumes were now constantly pouring out of my creativity. I wasn't growing out of my childhood obsession - in fact the opposite was true, my obsession just grew and grew. Alongside this I was progressing my design skills, studying typography and graphic design, as well as doing more correspondence study in painting and drawing. At this point in my life I enjoyed nights out with my buddies downing beers, and dating girls, but these things were never my top priority and my horror obsession often competed with my social life.
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ADULT LIFE: In my 30's I quit full time employment and set up my own design and graphics business. Running this business gave me an awesome workshop and facilities which allowed me to start building and painting new display models. I made all kinds of things, including a full size R2-D2. You can see more of this work here.
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NOW: In 2014 I expanded my little business to include photography, in particular horror portraiture. It was an amazing revelation for me - it allowed me to bring my deep passion for horror together with my creative skills and my love for artistry. I get to make amazing props, create awesome makeups, and shoot artistic portraits with hundreds of incredible people. My work has also been widely published and even features in a book that you can find here.
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PASSING THE INSPIRATION ON: And so we come full circle. At the very start of this piece I wrote that I was so inspired by monsters and horror as a little kid. Watching all those horror movies, seeing the fantastic work of Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, and Tom Savini always inspired me to recreate their work or tackle a new project. I bought so many books and comics, including Fangoria magazine; in fact anything I could lay my hands on. All those years of inspiration and creativity led me to starting the Horrify Me studio. Now, my work has an audience and is inspiring others. Artists and tattooists all over the world now use my photography as their source of inspiration. I cannot think of anything more rewarding in life than to know those years of inspiration that I took are now paying forward to other fans and creatives.
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