The History of Fake Blood in Movies

VideosMovie by Joey Paur

When I was a kid I had a lot of fun messing around with fake blood. It was easily accessible, and you could use it to play lots of great pranks, which I excelled at. I learned everything I need to learn from my dad. He played Sweeney Todd in a stage production once when I was a young lad, and he made a custom razor that sprayed blood when he slit a victim's throat in the play. That’s what sold me on the awesomeness of fake blood.

Of course, fake blood is used all the time in the movies. Sometimes it looks great, while other times it turns out looking like crap. One of my favorite blood scenes in a film is easily the elevator blood flood from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining. That was freakin’ terrifying! 

I’ve got an interesting video essay for you to check out that takes you through the history of fake blood in cinema. It was created by Filmmaker IQ, who offers the following note with the video:

There are a lot of ways to make the screen bleed - in this course we dissect the history of fake blood from its origins in the Theater to modern recipes for making characters bleed on screen.

This video is worth checking out for anyone who is a film buff.

There are a lot of ways to make the screen bleed - in this course we dissect the history of fake blood from its origins in the Theater to modern recipes for making characters bleed on screen. This course is sponsored by RØDE Microphones http://rode.com/ Recipes: Grand Guignol (mock) Vegetable Glycerine Color with Red, a little Yellow and a drop of Blue Food Coloring Kensington Gore 2 Parts Golden Syrup (Light Treacle) 1 Part water Red/Yellow/Blue Food Coloring A bit of Corn Starch (Corn Flour in the UK) Peppermint Extract to taste. Modified Dick Smith Recipe 2 Quarts Corn Syrup 5 oz Water Red/Yellow/Blue Food Coloring Non-Dairy Coffee Creamer to taste Liquid Lecithin

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