Makeup artists are often the unsung heroes of horror movies. From classic monsters to modern terrors, you won't believe what these creepy characters look like behind their masks.
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00:00Makeup artists are often the unsung heroes of horror movies. From classic monsters to
00:05modern terrors, you won't believe what these creepy characters look like behind their masks.
00:11Although writer Clive Barker didn't name the lead Cenobite Pinhead in his novel The Hellbound
00:17Heart, the character's distinctive appearance earned him the nickname that stuck throughout
00:22the Hellraiser series. Ever since Barker adapted his own story to the screen in 1987, English
00:28actor Doug Bradley has become synonymous with the soul-harvesting Pinhead.
00:32We have such sights to show you.
00:39Bradley is part of a special group of horror actors who have played their haunting characters
00:44at least six times in a row. He's accompanied by Tobin Bell as Jigsaw, Warwick Davis as
00:50the Leprechaun, Brad Dourif as Chucky, Christopher Lee as Dracula, and Robert Englund as Freddy
00:56But he's also developed a somewhat complicated relationship with the franchise. Bradley opted
01:01not to return for 2011's Hellraiser Revelations, and the saga seems to have moved on without
01:07him. 2018's Hellraiser Judgment marked the second installment to feature a different
01:13actor under the makeup, and 2022's Hellraiser Reboot changed things up by casting Pinhead
01:18as a woman. Still, Bradley will always be Pinhead to us, and we have to think that the
01:23majority of franchise fans agree.
01:26Tobe Hooper's 1974 horror flick The Texas Chainsaw Massacre spawned several kooky and
01:31bizarre sequels, but the original is notable for how much it stood out from other genre
01:36entries from the era. Heavily inspired by the horrific true story of Ed Gein, Leatherface
01:41got his name from his revolting headpiece made of human skin. While plenty of people
01:46have picked up the chainsaw since, we'll always remember Gunnar Hansen for his original — and
01:51only — portrayal of the role. Hansen set the standard for how to properly play a chainsaw-wielding
01:57maniac, utilizing mannerisms that have been repeated time and time again in the character's
02:02other appearances. Fans of the B-movie Mosquito will also recognize Hansen as one of its main
02:08characters, who actually uses a chainsaw to fight off enormous blood-sucking bugs.
02:13Hansen turned down a number of later opportunities to play terrifying bad guys, opting instead
02:18to focus on his passion for writing. Eventually, Hansen returned to Hollywood, accepting roles
02:23in horror outings like Swarm of the Snakehead. Sadly, though, Hansen succumbed to pancreatic
02:28cancer in 2015, at the age of 68.
02:32Ridley Scott's Alien revolutionized both the science fiction and horror movie genres in
02:371979. When pre-production began, no one knew who was going to be cast as the film's titular
02:43But eventually, Ridley Scott was introduced to Nigerian design student Balaji Badejo.
02:49Badejo's lanky frame and near-seven-foot-tall height would help convince viewers that the
02:55film's monster was not just a guy in a suit, but an extraterrestrial killing machine.
02:59You still don't understand what you're dealing with, do you? Perfect organism."
03:07Badejo only played the Alien in the first film of the franchise, but still left a heavy
03:12impression. Future Alien installments used puppetry and CGI to render their Aliens, making
03:17Badejo's Xenomorph a curious yet uniquely threatening oddity.
03:21Badejo ended up doing an amazing job to help sell the illusion, and the Xenomorph would
03:26go on to become one of Hollywood's most fearsome and unforgettable sci-fi monsters. Sadly,
03:31Badejo's Alien legacy would long outlive him. He was only 39 when he passed away from sickle
03:36cell anemia in 1992.
03:39Originally, Jean-Claude Van Damme was cast to play the Predator in the 1987 action flick
03:45of the same name. Unfortunately, the bulked-out appearance of star Arnold Schwarzenegger and
03:49the rest of the cast made Van Damme seem way too small for the role, despite how amazing
03:55it would have been to see his Predator's kung fu skills.
03:57Van Damme was scrapped in favor of Kevin Peter Hall, who also starred as the towering title
04:03character in Harry and the Hendersons the same year. When you've got guys like Jesse
04:07the Body Ventura and Carl Weathers walking around a jungle, you're going to want to make
04:11your movie monster a true behemoth, and not the 5'10 muscles from Brussels. Thankfully,
04:17Hall's tall frame made for a perfect Predator in both the 1987 original and its 1990 sequel,
04:23Predator 2. The year after the sequel's release, Hall passed away at the tragically young age
04:29of 35, his life and career cut short by AIDS-related pneumonia.
04:34John Carpenter's low-budget 1978 slasher classic Halloween helped pave the way for
04:40a generation of unforgettable killers with the film's lumbering, silent, psychotic villain
04:45and future franchise star, Michael Myers. Carpenter added a heavy psychological aspect
04:51to the killer that we hadn't seen since Norman Bates decades prior, and envisioned the film's
04:56location, fictional Haddonfield, Illinois, as a typically idyllic suburb that turned
05:01unspeakably creepy after sunset on October 31st.
05:05After donning the mask in the first movie, Nick Castle's performance as The Shape would
05:10be imitated for years to come. He went on to enjoy a varied career, too. He co-wrote
05:15Carpenter's dystopian action flick Escape from New York, helped write the story for
05:19Steven Spielberg's Hook, and has directed an assortment of movies that includes The
05:23Last Starfighter and The Boy Who Could Fly.
05:26Forty years after making Horror History, Castle came full circle, agreeing to reprise
05:31his role as Michael Myers in the 2018 Halloween sequel.
05:36How could we assemble a list like this without including the man of our dreams? As much as
05:40Jackie Earl Haley chewed the scenery in the 2010 remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street,
05:46only one actor's name truly resonates with horror movie nightmares, Robert Englund.
05:51Horror fans got to watch Englund wield the bladed glove for nearly two decades, as he
05:56embodied the twisted character of Freddy Krueger over the course of eight films. He
06:00even got his own anthology horror series, the aptly named Freddy's Nightmares, which
06:05ran for two seasons.
06:06There's no denying that Freddy is one of the most recognizable horror icons out there.
06:11Sure, his antics became a lot sillier as the years went by, but Wes Craven's new nightmare
06:16was a proper return to form for the supernatural slasher. Maybe someday, Englund will don the
06:21fedora, sweater, and bladed glove one last time for a final trip down Elm Street. Until
06:27then, we can only dream about it.
06:33"...miss me?"
06:34Yes, it's true. Lots of people have played Jason Voorhees. We've seen the character go
06:40through some dramatic changes over the years. He wasn't even the main killer in the first
06:44Friday the 13th movie, and he didn't start wearing his iconic hockey mask until the third.
06:50A whopping ten actors have played the character so far, but we'd have to choose Kane Hodder
06:54as the definitive Jason. While he didn't even sign on to the series until Friday the 13th
07:00Part VII, The New Blood, Hodder's role helped bring Jason into a new age of slasher flicks
07:05and made him the hulking unstoppable menace that we all love and remember. He's also had
07:10the most experience playing Jason, as nearly every movie prior to Part VII had someone
07:15different in the part. Donning the mask for four films, The New Blood, Jason Takes Manhattan,
07:21Jason Goes to Hell, The Final Friday, and Jason X, Hodder remains a horror heavyweight
07:26champion in our books. Hodder isn't done with Jason yet, either. He did motion capture work
07:31for Friday the 13th The Game, offering fans a chance to be part of the action for a whole
07:36new series of thrills.
07:38If you've seen a film by director James Wan, chances are you've probably spied composer
07:43Joseph Bechara's name amongst the credits. His scores appear in Insidious, The Conjuring,
07:49Insidious Chapter 2, The Conjuring 2, Aquaman, and Malignant. He's also provided musical
07:55stylings for other films in the Conjuring universe, from Annabelle to The Curse of La
07:59Llorona. But look closely, and you'll notice that Bechara enjoys more than just a composer
08:05credit in a slew of these films. Yes, the demonic beasties in Wan's films and the larger
08:11Conjuring universe are portrayed by the same guy who wrote their killer soundtracks. You
08:16can spy Bechara in the quick glimpses of the witch Bathsheba in The Conjuring and as Malthus,
08:22the demonic entity possessing the titular doll in the Annabelle films.
08:26However, Bechara's portrayal of the lipstick-based demon in the Insidious films is his greatest
08:32onscreen contribution to horror history. Maybe it's because he looks like Darth Maul's cousin,
08:37or maybe it's his love of Tiny Tim, but this child-killing demon is undeniably compelling
08:43thanks to Bechara's intimidating screen presence.
08:47It's hard to pinpoint the best part of The Return of the Living Dead, the hilariously
08:51bleak 1985 zombie horror film directed by Dan O'Bannon. But in a film full of nothing
08:57but highlights, one goopy lad steals the show, Tarman. After the character breaks out of
09:03a military-grade metal drum, he stumbles, sloshes, and drips his way from the basement
09:09to the ground floor of a medical supply warehouse.
09:13"...rage. Rage."
09:21While some close-up scenes used a puppet, the longer shots required an actor. That actor
09:27ended up being performer and puppeteer Alan Troutman, who some may know best for his work
09:31on Jim Henson projects like The Muppets and Dinosaurs. Troutman is still bringing creatures
09:37to life, having lent his voice and puppeteering talents to 2016's The Jungle Book and 2021's
09:43Muppets Haunted Mansion. Given that Troutman reprised his role as the goopy ghoul in Return
09:49of the Living Dead Part II, we're going to assume that, like us, the actor has a soft
09:54spot for this rotting hunk of reanimated flesh.
09:58Picking up the role of an already iconic horror movie monster can be a disturbing task,
10:03one that even the best actors aren't always up to. Given how excellent Tim Curry is in
10:08the 1990 TV movie original, whoever stepped in as Pennywise for the big-screen 2017 version
10:15of it was going to have some massive red clown shoes to fill. Thankfully, Bill Skarsgård
10:20was up to the task. His performance differs greatly from Curry's, a smart choice, since
10:25it's typically best to make something your own rather than imitate the original. He's
10:29uniquely terrifying as Pennywise, more overtly sinister and inhuman than Curry's frightening
10:35but undeniably Carnival Barker-esque turn.
10:39Come join the clowness. You'll float down here. We'll float down here."
10:47Skarsgård comes from a family of Swedish actors. His brother Alexander and father Stellan
10:51are also well-known. After appearing in a number of Swedish films, he found his break
10:56into the American market as Roman Godfrey on the Netflix original program Hemlock Grove
11:01for three seasons. Since the show wrapped in 2015, he's also made appearances in Atomic
11:07Blonde, Divergent, Allegiant, and Assassination Nation. As far as horror goes, he also played
11:13a featured role in Barbarian and starred in the Stephen King-inspired Hulu original series
11:18Castle Rock.
11:20If you're going into Barbarian for the first time, you might think that the bad guy is
11:24going to be Keith, the suspicious fellow played by Bill Skarsgård. But writer-director Zach
11:29Kreger has a few curveballs in store. After the secret beneath the barbaric Airbnb is
11:35revealed, Keith falls victim to the film's true villain, The Mother, a large, naked,
11:40aggressive woman who lives in the tunnel system below the house. Matthew Patrick Davis, a
11:461968 theater artist with a sketch comedy background, portrays The Mother in all her
11:50glory.
11:51Davis' on-screen work has been predominantly on TV shows and short films, making Barbarian
11:57an interesting change of pace. In a chat with No Film School, Davis revealed that he booked
12:02the Barbarian gig by sending in a self-tape of himself half-naked baby-birding a pickle
12:07into an imaginary victim's mouth. When asked about the most challenging part of his role,
12:12he responded,
12:14I think the night shoots, because, I mean, I was ass out. I was nearly nude, and so it
12:18was cold."
12:19Davis' efforts paid off, though, as his performance helped make Barbarian one of the biggest surprises
12:25of 2022.
12:27Excuse us for being nostalgic, but we get a little wistful when we think back to the
12:31days when superhero movies could flirt with the horror genre. Case in point, 1998's Blade,
12:37the first feature film that sees Wesley Snipes' day-walking, katana-wielding vampire face
12:42off against a blood-sucking megalomaniac who aims to unleash the Blood God. In Blade and
12:47Company's quest to save humanity, the gang tracks a suspicious human familiar to a secret
12:53vampire club. There, they meet Pearl, whose delicate name betrays the fact that this vampire
12:59is a grotesque heap of flesh. Pearl is a sight to behold, from his ferocious flatulence to
13:05his chowb-like, high-pitched voice. The latter aspect is especially disturbing in light of
13:10director Stephen Norrington's statement on the DVD commentary that Pearl's blob-like
13:15size is the result of his endless hunger for infants.
13:18There is nothing you can do about it, day-walker!
13:23Is that so?
13:25Somewhere deep beneath several inches of foam latex is actor Eric Edwards. While Pearl took
13:30multiple crew members to fully operate, it's Edwards who gets the credit for being entombed
13:35in 700 pounds of latex. Born in Kansas, Edwards' other on-screen performances include supporting
13:41roles in Sgt. Bilko and Candyman.
13:44Long before Godzilla became a digital CGI goliath, actors portrayed the king of all
13:49monsters by stomping around in heavy, sweaty suits. Through forced perspective, human-sized
13:55costumes appeared to be towering giants, capable of easily crushing cars, buildings, and historical
14:01landmarks. Of all the actors tasked with bringing kaiju to life, one name reigns supreme
14:06— Hauro Nakajima. Born in 1929, Nakajima began his film career as a stuntman in samurai
14:13movies and war films, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai. Nakajima then portrayed Godzilla
14:19in 12 consecutive films, making him one of the most beloved and prolific suit actors
14:24in the kaiju genre.
14:26In a 2017 video interview with Great Big Story, Nakajima shared that he would observe animals
14:31at the zoo on lunch breaks to find inspiration for Godzilla's walk. He also explained that
14:36because rubber was in short supply in Japan following World War II, the suit for Godzilla
14:41was made out of mixed concrete in the early days, making it extremely heavy.
14:46Nakajima retired from suit acting in 1972 and passed away from pneumonia complications
14:52in 2017. The filmmaking team behind 2019's Godzilla King of the Monsters dedicated the
14:58film to his memory.
15:00Despite being the universal monster with the least amount of credits to his name, Gilman
15:05is one of the most compelling creature designs out there. Debuting in Jack Arnold's Creature
15:10from the Black Lagoon, Gilman's design was, until recently, unsung handiwork by Disney
15:16animator Millicent Patrick.
15:19Gilman is the perfect balance of pathos and practicality. Without room for words, it fell
15:23to the men behind the airtight molded sponge rubber masks to humanize the creature's dexterous
15:29webbed hands, powerful legs, and accusatory gaze. While Ben Chapman, who portrayed the
15:34Gilman above water, certainly deserves recognition, it's the other man behind the suit who has
15:39inextricably linked himself with the creature, Riku Browning.
15:43At 23, Browning worked at Wekiwachi Springs, a freshwater roadside tourist attraction.
15:49Some out-of-town Hollywood types asked him to help with location scouting, and before
15:53long they were asking him to portray the titular creature in the film's underwater scenes.
15:58While Browning ultimately pivoted to working behind the camera, as a writer, director,
16:02and stunt coordinator, he reprised his role as the underwater Gilman for two sequels.
16:08Ever since Gaston Leroux published his horror story The Phantom of the Opera in the early
16:121900s, the story of Eric and Christine has been adapted dozens of times. But of all the
16:18interpretations, from Broadway musicals to Phantom of the Paradise to Phantom of them
16:23All, Eric's Revenge, it's The Phantom of the 1925 film that haunts our dreams most, played
16:29by the legendary Lon Chaney.
16:31Born on April Fool's Day, 1883, to two deaf parents, Chaney developed a reputation for
16:37being the Man of 1,000 Faces. A self-taught makeup artist and a talented thespian, Chaney's
16:42screen presence and transformative power reverberate through the decades with undeniable clarity.
16:48The Uncanny Valley defines Chaney's Phantom. His cavernous mouth, pit of a nose, engorged
16:53eyes, and sunken cheeks almost seem inhuman. When asked about his methods, Chaney told
16:59American Cinematographer,
17:01I'm supposed to have evolved some magic process of malforming my features and limbs. It's
17:06an art, not magic.
17:08For The Phantom, Chaney contoured his face and cheekbones, flattened his ears to his
17:12skull, wore an exaggerated bald cap that elevated his forehead, and used wires to manipulate
17:18the curvature of his nostrils.
17:21Frankenstein's monster is one of the most recognizable characters in horror history,
17:25and no version of the Man-Made Man is more iconic than the one in Universal Pictures'
17:30series of films. In 1931, Universal's Frankenstein hit theaters, featuring Colin Clive as the
17:36Doctor and Boris Karloff as his monster. Born William Henry Pratt, Boris Karloff got his
17:42start on the Canadian stage in the early 1910s. He ultimately made his way to Hollywood, appearing
17:48in silent films where his Anglo-Indian heritage led to castings in Arab, Indigenous, and Asian
17:54roles.
17:55The film racked up 81 credits before being cast in Frankenstein and its sequel, Bride
17:59of Frankenstein. Jack Pierce, who had previously worked on Universal Pictures' Dracula, conceived
18:05the makeup for Frankenstein's monster. Of all the details that make up the monster's
18:09final appearance — the rectangular skull, the overhanging brow, the towering height
18:14— one of the subtler features was something of a happy accident. As James L. Neibar relayed
18:19in the Monster Movies of Universal Studios, Karloff and Pierce achieved the creature's
18:24sunken cheeks by removing the actor's dental plate.