Bloody Movie Blood Mate!

     We get to learn about the history of movie blood!

     It is believed by some that the first gore filled plays were made by William Shakespear by putting animal organs under the actors costumes. Fake blood started, like most special effects, in France. More specifically the Grand Guigrol, a theater that used a mixture of glycerin (a clear syrupy liquid) and carmine (a red dye from a bug). The resulting mixture was a very liquidy, runny blood. However, in the Film Era of the the early 1900s had Hollywood self censoring brutal deaths to keep Uncle Sam from actually censoring them. After Joseph Burstyn,  Inc. vs Wilson declared film protected under the First Amendment in 1952. At that point TV was invented so film studios had to get creative, blockbusters introduced widescreen, surround sound, epic setpieces, and 3D!

 
     However smaller studios couldn't afford that fancy gear, so the B Movie was born... These small studios relied on sex and buckets of blood. Like Micheal Bay with an R rating. With small budgets they couldn't afford the Guigrol blood, so they used chocolate syrup. It was cheap, ready to use, looks great in monochrome, and actors wouldn't mind swallowing the stuff.


     Meanwhile in Britain while color started to hit the scene Hammer Studios started using what they call Kensington gore. It was made by the retired pharmacist John Tynegate out of golden syrup, water, food coloring, corn starch, and mint extract for taste. This fake blood was used in the Shining.

     However it was to red for some directors. Around the 90's the Dick Smith formula was being used. It had corn syrup instead of golden syrup, water, food coloring, lecithin, and non dairy coffee creamer, resulting in the easiest to control blood texture.

     At the end we got a tip on using shaving cream to clean up the blood. And don't wear your favorite clothes.

     I found this to be very useful! The history was interesting, and the recipes will be helpful in the future. If you plan on making gore ridden movies blood is the basest necessity. It was very straight forward so there aint much else to say.