In the run-up to the release of Saw 3D, Duncan went along to a Saw-inspired make-over. The results are predictably gruesome…
Yes, indeed, you did read that right. We were invited to take part in a special Saw 3D promotional event, this time involving what was described as "a SAW inspired make-over to help you get into the Halloween spirit early. We'll have a make-up team on hand to help you achieve realistic SAW Style looks to help with your preparations for the scariest day of the year, all with a glass of champagne and a cupcake to take the edge off the afternoon."
How could I say no?
Regardless of the promotional aspect of the afternoon, what it did allow me to do was finally experience something I'd been fascinated by since childhood: getting plastered in bloody make-up.
Having recently mentioned in my review of The Horde last month, that it was Michael Jackson's Thriller that was responsible for my early affection towards zombies, it was the making of that video (which came as an early special feature on the treasured VHS copy my dad gave me) that triggered an obsession with prosthetic special effects.
For the better part of twenty years I always dreamed of becoming a horror make-up artist, yet somehow those aspirations changed with age, and by the time I started making my own short films, I was doing everything but that. So, thanks to Lionsgate, I finally got to be on the receiving end of the brush, experiencing some of the highs and lows of the process and the results can be seen below.
My make-up artist was Paul Xavier, who, it turned out, was a big fan of eighties horror as well a mainstay for Kerrang! magazine to boot. As I was first into the chair (alongside a woman from AOL getting a reverse bear trap ‘do' by Paul's colleague) I told him to go for it, as there was no point in wasting a good opportunity to be defiled.
As he started applying liberal amounts of derma wax, I enquired if I should stop babbling away about horror movies, or anything else that popped into my brain (probably Statham), but he informed me that constant facial movement actually helps to show any weak areas or cracks, I can't say he didn't have his chance to shut me up.
The sensation of having consistent layers applied to my face felt odd, but my only real concern was that any make-up around my eye risked making my contact lens go berserk. At one point towards the end, I had my eyes shut for a considerable amount of time and I could feel thick fake blood running over my eye, on top of the black dust that was being blown into the mix, so when it came time to open my eye I was a little worried. After a bit of a wipe away, I managed to open them, but as some inevitably seeped into my eye, I was reassured that it was all water soluble and after a bit of stinging it all cleared up.
Photos were then taken, while I tried desperately not to drip over the rather expensive looking carpet (there were a lot of bin bags down, but not everywhere), before a quick clean up and a glass of champagne. If only all Friday afternoons could be spent like that one.
Despite joking about keeping the full make-up on while heading out on to the streets of London, then making my way home to prepare a romantic meal ("Surprise!"), I didn't realise that, in cleaning most of the make-up off ,I'd still left traces. Traces which essentially made me look like a post-fight junkie with specks of blood around my nose, head and ears and sallow black and red marks around my eyes. No wonder no one sat next to me on the bus.
Saw 3D is released at cinemas today, Friday October 29th.
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