THE ART OF HORROR

HOOSIER STYLE

FEATURE

Northwest Indiana’s Make-Up & Effects Master Doug Goins

THE ART OF HORROR…HOOSIER STYLE

by Tom E. Lounges

The past few years have seen a huge resurgence in horror films hitting the nation’s cineplex theaters.

The return to frightening audiences began slowly after the huge success of “The Blair Witch Project” and kicked into high gear after “The Ring” topped box office grosses, filling the coffers for an industry that has been suffering from the boom in home technology and home theaters.

Last year at this time we were all waiting with baited breath for the return of ol’ Leatherface in the latest re-treading of the old ‘70s horror chestnut, “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” which opened nationwide on Halloween weekend.

This Halloween will find more horror flicks hitting the local silver screens to capitalize on the nation’s fastest growing holiday. One is the new remake of John Carpenter’s classic, “The Fog,” which is chock full of ghostly specters, oozing flesh wounds, and water-bleached dead skinned characters.

If we have learned anything from the grossly overdone “Massacre”, “Halloween” and “Friday The 13th” film franchises –– it is that the more buckets of blood on the screen, the more buckets of popcorn sold.

But is that changing? Are audiences getting tired of cinematic carnage?

“I think we’ve reached a saturation point,” said Doug Goins, the 42-year-old owner of Highland’s Hoosier Effects Lab.

“We pretty much have torn, gouged, ripped, chopped, slashed, disfigured, disemboweled and dismembered the human body in as many ways as can be done on screen,” mused the make-up artist, effects designer and mask maker. “So what’s left to do?”

Even the once safe haven of network television has gotten bloodied up more and more as it tries to compete with cable programming. Thus shows like “CSI” and it’s various spin-offs now pump intensely graphic images in to our living rooms.

“That’s a pretty graphic show for television,” said Goins, who feels that society at large has become desensitized to violence and blood-letting thanks in no small part to nightly news programs.

“The news channels are broadcasting color footage of real people like us being blown up, shot, burned and maimed every night. That (news broadcasts) has set the standards for what is now shown on television,” he explained.

Like his idol and mentor Dick Smith, Goins is always trying to think ahead and “build a better mouse trap” when it comes to creating new ways to improve existing methods of applying make-up, making masks and bringing “dead things” to life.

Though he loves spurting arteries, open wounds and torn limbs as much as the next guy, Goins feels that filmmakers today are finally starting to look to the past a little bit more and appreciate the fact that sometimes nothing is more frightening that a person’s own imagination.

In the 1930s and 1940s, when the classic monster films like “Frankenstein,” “Dracula” and “King Kong” were first released to the silver screen, these black and white films terrified audiences without any of today’s graphic gore.

“It was a case of great make-up people and great actors and great use of lighting,” credits Goins as to why those kind of old films continue to be favorites.

The power of those timeless films were having great actors –– Boris Karloff, Bela Lugosi, Peter Lorrie, Claude Raines, etc. –– that played well to the camera through intense facial expression and body language. Their dastardly deeds were clearly made known, but without showing the blood and guts of it all.

When Lugosi, as Dracula, would pull his cape up over the head of a victim, the horrible things were happening to that poor, unfortunate person were left to the viewer’s imagination. The same is true of Lon Chaney Jr., in “The Wolfman”, when he would pounce from behind a tree on top of a helpless villager.

Though there was no actual blood trail and carnage shown, these vintage horror flicks had disclaimers posted at the box office windows and at the entry ways to the theaters, releasing the filmmakers and theater owners from liability due to fright.

Believe it or not, bottles of smelling salts were readily available and often used at theaters on people overcome by the horror witnessed on the screens.

It’s almost comical to imagine in today’s world, but there were many reports of theater patrons back then actually fainting during early screenings of both “Frankenstein” and “Dracula.”

Going back even further, Lon Chaney Sr., set the bar high for horror films early on –– during the silent film era –– when he pulled millions into theaters to see his intense portrayal of the ghoul in “London After Midnight” and the lead characters in films like “Hunchback of Notre Dame” and “Phantom Of The Opera”.

The latter in particular is one of Goins favorite examples of Chaney’s creative and pioneering make-up work.

“Lon Chaney Sr. was self-taught and a real creative genius. His influence is still felt even now, because he came up with many techniques that are still used today by smaller studios who are working with small budgets,” said Goins.

“For ‘Phantom’, Chaney took spirit gum and glued this fine netting called ‘fishskin’ to the skin under his eyes to create that ‘bulging eye’ effect. He then covered the ‘fishskin’ with make up and stuffed chunks of wax into his nostrils to create that bulbous nose,” explained Goins.

“For ‘London After Midnight’ Chaney stuck loops of wire under his eyelids to create that wide-eye effect that was so scary,” he continued. “For ‘Hunchback,’ Chaney strapped sections of his body down so that he had to labor to walk while wearing that heavy hump, to attain the desired physical attributes of the character.”

Goins deep admiration and respect for Hollywood’s first and arguably greatest make-up man is evident when he speaks. Goins has studied the style of the great silent film master know as “The Man Of A Thousand Faces.”

“Lon Chaney Sr. was the first great effects person in film. He could restructure his face in ways that were amazing for the time and still amazing even today,” enthused Goins, who has personally seen the primitive make-up kit once owned and used by Chaney.

Succeeding Chaney as the industry’s make-up master in the late 1940s and through the 1970s, was New Yorker Dick Smith, the first make up artist hired in for a new medium at the time called television.

Smith was a huge fan of Chaney and went from working on television sci-fi programs to film work. Smith pioneered on-camera aging when he did the make-up on Dustin Hoffman in “Little Big Man.”

Smith was mentor to Rick Baker, best known making monkey out of his actors in the original “Planet of the Apes” films. Like Baker, Goins studies under Smith through an intense correspondence course. Goins has personally met the acclaimed make-up master a number of times over the years.

Though today’s audiences have come to expect and demand a certain amount of visual human suffering and graphic detail, Goins feels that recent films such as “The Blair Witch Project,” “The Ring” and “28 Days” are indicating that filmmakers are returning to the mind set that suspense and camera angles can scare filmgoers even more than seeing a head severed or a throat ripped out.

Though the trends may be shifting, there will always be a core gore audience dropping dollars to be grossed out by films like Rob Zombie’s “House Of 1,000 Corpses,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and the recent 2004 remake of “Dawn of The Dead.”

“The special effects materials we work with today are so much more advanced than what they had to work with back when those films were originally made in the 1970s and 1980s,” said Goins, who often is called upon to design special effects and gory specialty items for independent films such as “Lost Girls,” a vampire flick produced locally this past year.

“There is a big demand for horror films and because they can be made pretty economically. For that reason, a lot of indie filmmakers cut their teeth making movies about zombies and monsters,” noted Goins.

Sharing some of the trade secrets, Goins mixed up a batch a blood using food coloring, corn syrup and an over the counter laxative. He tossed some on the floor and it looks like the real deal in color and texture.

An over the counter box of gelatin is great for creating a batch of rotting flesh or an oozing open wound. Thinly spread sheets of liquid latex are dried, peeled and shredded.

“Mix these with a handful of blood and you’ve got the sinewy tendons that you see the zombies munching on in the movies,” laughed Goins. “These are simple and cheap ways to make some cool props for Halloween, but real films these days use specially created prosthetics.”

Putting his gooey creations into action, Goins demonstrated a few effects on the living flesh of Midwest BEAT’s own Hegewisch Lisa Sotiros during our recent visit for his little shop of horrors.

“Using a real kitchen knife with this circular section cut out of the blade, it looks like the blade is really cutting into the victim’s flesh,” he noted, as the helpless and bloody Hegewisch Lisa fell victim to the effects man’s props.

In less than five minutes time, Goins had our little Lisa brutally slashed up and actually decapitated with a life-sized “Jason” prop dangling her dismembered head as “blood” dripped from her nose, mouth and severed neck.

In reality…it was a black cloth draped strategically which “tricked the camera” and made it vividly look like her head was actually severed off. Of course, Goins’ make-up job and blood then completed the magic in a realistic fashion, just like the big boys do down in Hollywood.

Showing us what looked much like a grocery list, turned out to be the list of special prosthetic props Goins had been commissioned to design during the making of “Lost Girls”.

The list included –– three full size skeletons with rotting, slimy tissue; one cable controlled female torso with moving hands and head; female chest with stake driven through it with spurting blood pump; set of rotting legs and a half-scale melting body of female vampire.

Aside from doing make-up work, Goins is a master mask maker. A talented sculptor, who creates first in clay, Goins then makes molds of his creations and then manufactures life-like latex masks from those first generation molds.

The raw masks that are pulled from the molds are then custom painted and further enhanced by additional means. Often that includes the intricate weaving of yak hair, which is done in such a detailed fashion, that it would make Hair Club For Men president Sy Sperling envious.

Goins does a lot of custom work throughout the year and has a list of well known regional and national celebrity clients that includes Chicago shock radio icon, Mancow.

Though Halloween is his busiest time of year, Goins keeps so busy playing monster maker these days, that last year, he made the decision to leave his full time day job of 15 years to pursue his hobby, now turned profession.

Several projects are coming up, but many of them are very hush-hush at the moment. One that can be mentioned, is Goins’ proposed indie film about zombies running amuck in the Calumet Region.

Over the years, Doug Goins has been the subject of major newspaper articles, an invited guest on major television programs, and a celebrity guest at countless comic and horror conventions.

Aside from his work in the macabre and monster realm, Goins also has been commissioned to sculpt molds for motorcycle racing trophies and other events where awards are presented.

A big fan of local music, Goins promised that he is designing something very special for the 2005 Midwest BEAT Readers Poll Awards.

“I’m not going to tell you what I have in mind Tom, only that something happened this year that made me think of something unique that can be included at your awards show,” he said mysteriously.

Refusing to give any further hints, Goins said he will make us all wait until the Spring presentation of the 2005 Midwest BEAT Local Music Awards to see just what he is planning to unveil in regards to local region music.

That’s a whole five months! Yeesh...talk about torture!

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