America’s Scariest Home Haunts has a new episode called “Gore Galore” and they paid me a visit in the shop to talk about guts, butcher shops, sheep’s hearts, and what’s the best thing to use for painting blood splatters. There’s also lots of fun footage from inside haunts where people get live autopsies, covered in maggots, and beaten in cages.
Joy!
Remember, there’s a new episode everyday, so to see my interview check out Gore Galore
There’s a real problem with the over the counter Halloween CD’s available out there. Check them out. I love “The Humpty Dance” as much as the next skinny weird looking dude, but it’s just not spooky.
I’ve been collecting Horror and Halloween themed records for years (and I’m working on putting together a radio show, watch this blog for announcements!). My collection reaches back into the early days of Appalachian Goth and Voodoo Blues in the 20’s and 30’s to the novelty record boom of the 50’s and 60’s, horror metal and prog rock ghost stories of the 70’s, right up into the current psychobilly revival of today. I’ve compiled the below list as just a sample, 25 tracks I consider an essential Halloween party soundtrack.
You might notice there is no “Monster Mash” on this list. That’s only because everyone knows that one already. I love the Monster Mash, i own Bobby “Boris” Picketts original LP, I’ve licked the grooves and I can swear it tastes like candy corn and glow stick goo. I named my grade school bike gang “the Crypt Kickers” after his band, and I’ve played it backwards for our midnight “orange mass” on Halloween. So no blasphemous Mash bashing allowed!
25 Essential Halloween Hits
1.“This is Halloween†– Danny Elfman or Marilyn Manson
2. “Dragula†– Rob Zombie
3. “Dead Man’s Party†– Oingo Boingo
4. “Day of the Dead†– The Misfits
5. “The Human Fly†– The Cramps
6. “Coolest Little Monster†– John Zacherie
John Zacherie was a Horror movie host, like a male Elvira, in the fifties, this song is a little like the 12 days of christmas, but with much better gifts like “a hat pin of bat skin” and “your own noose for home use”
7. “Bloody Hammer†– Roky Erickson
Roky was a man making Horror themed records in the heady days of psychadelia and prog rock when everyone took them selves so seriously. For this he was institutionalized and given shock therapy.
8. “Nature Trail to Hell†– Weird Al Yankovic or Rosemary’s Billygoat
Billygoat (pictured) amps up the weird and the rock on this cult classic
9. “Where They Wander†– The Horror Pops
10. “Pet Cemetery†– The Ramones
11. “The Blob†– The Zanies
12. “I Put a Spell on You†– Screamin Jay Hawkins
13 “The Monster Twist†– Tyrone A. Saurus
14. “Feed My Frankenstein†– Alice Cooper
15. “Fear of the Dark†– Iron Maiden
16. “Haunted Cathouse†– Nekromantix
17. “Red Right Hand†– Nick Cave
18. “Jack you’re Dead†– Louis Jordan
19. “Aim for the Head†– Creature Feature
20.â€The Vampire†– Archie King
21 “Wolf Woman†– KC and the Moonshine Band
This swinging rockabilly tune goes into the never before told intimacies of a man getting it on with a wolf woman. Great for parties, although references to “the hair on her chest” begins the gender bending implications. Bonus points for an awesome band name.
22. “Bloodletting†– Concrete Blond
23. “Rockula†– los straightjackets
24. “When Werewolves Collide†– Logan Whitehurst
Imagine a song about experimenting on werewolves to unlock their chemical properties. Now imagine it’s being song like it’s the theme song of a James Bond movie. Now imagine it’s being played on an accordion. If I just broke your imagination don’t worry, this song exists.
25. “Werewolves of London†– Warren Zevon
Ever wonder what clues there were that Pogo the Clown (John Wayne Gacy) went off the deep end? Find out the ins and outs of killer clowns in my interview in the Fearnet.com “Killer Clown Compilation”. There’s a new episode every day, so be sure to click on the killer clown one.
Because you can’t spell “slaughter” without “laughter”
In the words of the PA in charge of returning the 12 straight jackets to my shop, “I don’t know if you like watching sexy girls getting tied up, but if you do, this is the episode for you.”
It’s the episode of “America’s Next Top Model” called “The Girls Go Rock Climbing,” but should be called “The Girls get tied up in straight jackets first,” because really, that’s the part everyone is talking about.
It’s this weeks episode. Check local listings for ANTM on the CW.
The straight jackets are authentic medical straight jackets, the only kind still manufactured for use in mental institutions, prisons, and hospitals. They’re 8 pounds of sail grade canvas, heavy steel and leather. Everything else is a costume straight jacket.
We rent them for $50 per week and sell them for $250.
There’s a lot of blood in Samuel L Jackson’s new pic, The Cleaner, and it’s all mine. Watch the trailer here, and take a shot every time they show my blood. I did.
We created a new kind of blood just for the movie, and dubbed it
“BJ Winslow’s EZ Clean Wet & Dry Blood” It’s specially formulated to be a very realistic dark red while wet, and to darken and “brown out” as it drys, just like actual blood. We also made it one of the easiest stage bloods to clean off of sets, props, and actors. Perfect for a movie about a guy who goes into crime scenes full of dry blood, and has to wash the joint up.
Release date is still to be announced. Sometime this winter.
What kind of people have hired things from you?
You’d be surprised. There are obvious ones like horror movies,
crime shows and medical dramas — we’ve worked every Law & OrderOrder, Bones and CSI there is — but then we’ve done stuff for Mad TV, Mind of Mencia, Pimp My Ride, Margaret Cho, and a bunch of
shows you’d never expect to need body parts and gore.
What’s your best-selling item on Dapper Cadaver?
5-month-old and 7-month-old foetus replicas in jars.
People can’t get enough of them. I think it’s something like the pet
chihuahua or baby crocodile syndrome, where people want them
when they’re small, because they’re so cute at that size, but don’t
want them to ever get bigger. Our foetus replicas are great for that,
and we make them so you don’t have to.
How do you avoid getting upset when you have to create realistic corpses?
Actually it’s the other way around. When I’m feeling upset
nothing makes me feel better than creating a corpse.
What’s been the most exciting moment in your career so far?
It’s hard to decide between the time that the SWAT team
evacuated my neighbourhood because of what someone saw going
on at my house, or the time we were filming a lioness tearing up
a guy and she got so excited she broke through the electrified
perimeter fence and ran loose in the Chatsworth hills
with half a body dangling from her mouth. Rangers
and marshals had to chase after her on horseback.
What’s the hardest thing about your job?
When something very specific is needed TODAY and really it’s
a custom job. I once got a call from Jim Henson Studios for
“Muppet-sized bondage equipment†for Witch-Piggy’s dungeon in
“The Wizard of Oz.†The scene was later cut from the film for being
too extreme. They were hoping they didn’t need to get it custom
made. They were just hoping I had Muppet-sized bondage equipment
in stock. I don’t know why they thought I would.
Who or what has most inspired you in your work?
Ray Harryhausen’s swordfighting skeletons from Jason and the
Argonauts were the coolest thing I ever saw as a kid. I wanted to
know how it was done, how it was made, so I started watching special FX shows and behind-the-scenes stuff. I stopped watching those once movies started doing everything on computer. I just don’t get excited by CG, so I do things the old-fashioned way.
BJ Winslow’s store, Dapper Cadaver, is located at 5519 Hollywood
BL, Los Angeles, CA 90028. (323) 962-1924. Log onto
www.bjwinslow.com and www.dappercadaver.com.
Some Things Are Better Left Undead
HORROR PROP ARTIST BJ WINSLOW DRIVES A HEARSE.
PRODUCTS ON HIS WEBSITE INCLUDE “DEAD HALFGIRLâ€,
“BABY ARMS†AND â€REUSABLE CASUALTY SIMULATION KITâ€.
THERE’S NOTHING WRONG WITH HIM
How did you first get involved with this line of work?
Before I did film props I was designing toys, building carnival
games, and working in haunted houses. Ever since I was a little kid I
would hack up my toys, then glue them back together as mutants. I
was that evil evil kid in “Toy Story.†When I moved to LA I was
banging down the doors of prop houses until someone took a shot
on me. My job audition was practically a contest. Starting at 8pm I
was given 12 hours to produce a prop headstone that would impress
the set decorator at Disney. I was provided with styrofoam,
paint and glue, but no tools, so I spent the next 6 hours carving that
headstone with my fingernails. I painted it that night with a brush in
one hand and a hair dryer in the other. I finished at 6am and went
straight to my day job. At 9am I was hired.
Does anything you make give you the creeps?
It’s my business not to get creeped out by this stuff. Everyone
who comes in to my shop is weird, every custom job is strange. At
Dapper Cadaver it’s a constant barrage of odd calls. Pick up the
phone and before you can say “hello†you hear “This is going to
sound like an odd request…†Odd requests are our specialty. I’ve
made a life-like prosthetic penis for Margaret Cho, a realistic severed
pig head puppet that talks, cries and vomits blood for a
coming-of-age film, and the unfortunate “morning after†body for a
man-loves-werewolf show called “The Mating Dance of the Werewolf,†to name a few of my odd favourites. I had a roofer who
wouldn’t work on my shop because, quote, it would give him nightmares, end quote. But I’m at the other extreme. Someone says they need something that looks like someone who had their head blown off with a shotgun and dumped in the bay, then they washed up
after the body was waxy and bloated, and I say “sounds like funâ€.
What kind of people have hired things from you?
You’d be surprised. There are obvious ones like horror movies,
crime shows and medical dramas — we’ve worked every Law & Order… (continued in Part 2)
Just picked this up last week. I love what people bring to my door step. The story on this electric chair is, and I quote
“This was the only thing left in the apartment I moved into. Do you want it?”
I don’t know why it was there or where it came from, but it does have a motor and wiring. No one has yet hopped in to see if it’s a funny electric chair or a scary electric chair.
It makes a great addition to my Execution Props Collection
Halloween is well into it’s fourth month here at the shop, which probably means the rest of the world is just starting to get into it. Once again I reccomend Universal’s Halloween Horror Nights. They got a lot of their props at my shop including a beautiful custom angel of death prop
No sneak peeks yet! But here’s a scene we did last year – a morgue, done with authentic hundred year old autopsy tables, embalming pumps, and cabinets.
Dapper Cadaver Blog » Gothic, Horror & Halloween! 