La Llorona

La Llorona is a Mexican myth that has been told for generations. There are numerous version of the tale, all of which depict a weeping woman in a dress. Much like our American boogeyman, La Llorona is implemented in order to scare children into doing what they are told.  One story that I have been told about this comes from my Brother's Girlfriend. Born and raised in San Diego, California, her grandparents passed this story along.

She has told me many accounts of the pure fear that was struck into her, because of this tale. She would watch her back, as she walked home, or run in fear as her parents said "La Llorona is coming." As I stated above, there are many different versions. Here is the story that she told me. La Llorona was a mother of two young children. A boy and a girl. She met a man, who she had all of the hope of marrying. She dreamed of a perfect family, having more kids, and being the perfect wife. However, the man was found cheating, this broke her heart, and she could not forgive him. She plummeted into depression after losing the love of her life, and decided to take hers. She made the decision of taking both of her children down to the river, and drowning them both, followed by herself. Now it is said that she wanders around endlessly searching for her children. In the hopes of getting her "perfect" family.

Now this is just the tale that I was told. There are endless variations. There are even some that portray her as a large demon like creature that eats her children. As this image below shows.

I was first exposed to this at Halloween Horror Nights. Where they created a maze based off of this legend. The creative director John Murdy brought in a man named Diego Luna, and together, they incorporated many of the variations that are told to children every day. This experience started my interest in the subject, and I found many good movies, books, and even shows that are based off of it. It is really a great story, that has the power to cause both fear and curiosity. It is a story that sticks to children even into their adulthood. Even as an adult, they may still find themselves watching their back for La Llorona.

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Eli Roth's Clown

Recently I decided to watch a movie called Clown. I saw the previews a few months ago, and was instantly intrigued. I took note that it was created by Eli Roth. A director best known for his work in the Hostel franchise. You can check him out here. This sealed the deal for me.

I knew from the start that this was going to be a different film to watch, as most of Roth's titles are. In the past I have known him for gore, strange plots, and just an all around unique film. However, there is always a special feature that always sticks out for me. This movie was no different. 

The film got right to the point, no beating around the bush, or dragging on the character introductions. It begins with a young boys birthday party. Much like many parties, a clown was expected to be there. However, the plans falls flat, and the boy's father is left with the challenge of producing a clown in time for his boy's party. He just so happens to stumble upon an old clown costume, and decides that he will be the clown. You soon find out that the costume will not come off at all. The father slowly begins to morph into this clown, and soon develops the characteristics of a serial killer. 

Normally a movie as cheesy as this would be a little off setting for me, but this movie was different. I loved how they put a big twist on the classical clown movie. Instead of having the usual killer clown, this film presents it as a demon. A dark creature who embodies this costume and takes over anyone who inhabits it. This was a major plus for me. 

Next off, I enjoyed how the clown looked during its final transformation from the father to the demon. It was composed of amazing make up and digital technology. It was far from what was expected, and created a unique and memorable character. 

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Wolfman Makeup and Animation

I've recently made two posts about new and old horror movie makeup, that you can find here and right here. While I will also extend on that, now as I continue to progress over the years of horror, id like to touch on the newest form of creating a movie. Animations. And I will do so by giving examples from one of my favorite films. Graphic designers can do amazing things. In my personal life I have seen amazing works of art created digitally from my lovely girlfriend, as well as many other examples. I have also seen step by step process of how horror movies are created digitally.


One of my all time favorite digital creations is The Wolfman from the 2010 remake. This movie blew me away. It is jam packed with detail both made by a computer and a makeup artist. Adding hairs in graphic design is one of the hardest things to do. Yet these designers managed to cover an entire man in hairs from head to toe. They took a digital copy of the actor, Del Toro, and they began their process. In the end they ended up with this image to the left. That is days and days of work. In the end, the animated version was able to actually move with Del Toro and accomplish scenes that normally, before this technology, would not have been plausible.

Here is an image of the step by step creation of Del Toro into the character of The Wolfman...

Step one of the transformation

Lastly on the animated aspect of things, is of course, the transformation from human to werewolf. This has been done many times in numerous different films. However, this one has really stuck to me. It starts off with a lot f yelling on Del Toro's part and then changes into a full blown hairy monster. Here are some pictures that I think represent the transformation.

If you would like more detail, click here for an awesome technical breakdown of the transformation, including all of the aspects. 

Step two of the transformation

Step three of the transformation

Now onto the physical makeup that was actually applied to Del Toro for all of the other remaining scenes. The techniques used in this are amazing, and top of the line. They have managed to completely transform this man into a screen ready creature of the night. Check out this video to see some footage of the transformation.

As you can see in the video, it is ridiculously detailed. Through their makeup you can really see all of the emotions, which Del Toro also does a great job of expressing. Every single one of those hairs was put in by hand, just as it was digitally. Hours and hours of tedious processes were put together to create this, just like any other piece of art. I have a great respect for this.

Not only did the artists have a difficult job, but Del Toro also did. In order to get that "wolf" stance, he had to wear these specialized stilts. They took a lot of training to learn how to walk in them.


In the image to the left you can see what they looked like. They extended his legs, and gave a sharper, more animal like curve to them. In the film, this produced an amazing visual to the character.                                  

All around this movie is stellar. It encases everything that I could look for in a good movie. Seeing the animations and makeup broken down step by step has truly given me more respect for the film also. If you haven't seen tis film before, and actually seen these creations brought to life, then for sure check this on out.

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