Realistic Blood For Your Films (or Halloween)

With Halloween approaching I thought I would share a recipe for blood (and start a new tag in my blog). I used to do a lot of special effects and animation for amateur and semi-pro films back in the 80s and 90s so thought I would see how that knowledge transfers to the 21st Century. Obviously we’re not shooting in Super-8 anymore and dealing with back winding film, optical printers, and A+B rolling but some things are timeless.

One makeup effect often taken for granted is blood. It’s easy enough to power some store bought “stage” blood but some of these stage bloods are not as realistic as the real thing and tend to look too bright-red. You want to make sure that the blood you see on the screen looks like blood. In addition to stage blood being somewhat expensive, it’s even cost prohibitive these days to get large quantities of it. 8oz of it is about $13 so you’re looking at over $200 for a gallon.

Dick Smith is the undisputed master of makeup and was responsible for making Linda Blair a demon in The Exorcist, John Hurt a caveman in Altered States, and getting pretty bloody with Robert DeNiro in Taxi Driver. Fortunately, Smith was also very open about how he did things and shared a lot of his professional experience over the years.

Here are Dick Smith’s tried-and-proven formulas for creating movie blood guaranteed to set your audiences squirming…

* If the blood will not be used in the mouth, the Photo-Flo can be added. Photo-Flo is a wetting agent which makes the blood flow over surfaces without beading and helps it to soak into fabrics naturally, like real blood. If you use the Photo-Flo, shake your mixture more gentle than otherwise to avoid excess foaming (caused by the Photo-Flo). Remember, do not use blood with Photo-Flo in the mouth!

Mixing Procedure

Put the zinc oxide in a bowl, add an equal amount of water and stir into a paste. Add the measured amounts of red and yellow food colours and stir. Add a little of the Karo syrup and stir until it is well-mixed.

Pour this mixture into a container which is larger than the final amount of blood; that is, if you are making three quarts of blood, your container should be a gallon jug. This is necessary because once the formula is mixed, it must be shaken prior to each use in order to re-mix the contents, which tend to separate while sitting.

Add the remaining amount of Karo to your container and shake well. Finally, add the amount of water specified, mix thoroughly and you will have blood with normal consistency (thickness).

Ingredients and Tips

Food Colors: Most red food colors are similar, but the yellow ones vary. Some stain white paper lemon-yellow while others are more orange. Do some tests on your targets to see the effect and reduce the amount of yellow you add if it stains too much.

Karo Syrup: This is just a brand name for corn syrup. It’s preferable to get the clear stuff but if that’s not available reduce the amount of yellow food colouring by half for regular corn syrup.

Zinc Oxide: The type referred to in the formula is the pure powder form and can be obtained from a drug store or chemical supply house. In the small amounts used it’s harmless and adds opacity to the blood. It’s the same zinc oxide that’s added to breakfast cereals.

Darker Blood: The formula above matches true blood but might look too bright when used on white materials. Use about 35 drops of green food colouring per quart of Karo blood to darken it.

Thinner Blood: If you want a thinner blood (to pump through tubes) use the same formula (with the Photo-Flo) but dilute the Karo Syrup with an equal amount of water. For instance if the formula calls for one pint of Karo, add one pint of water to it before mixing in the rest of the ingredients.

Keep your blood mixture refrigerated when not in use. If you don’t it will form mould and have to be thrown out. A covered, plastic container is good enough. If refrigerated it’ll keep for long periods of time (months, not years). The regular formula washes off skin and clothes without any trouble but I wouldn’t be dressing in my Sunday best. Get your actors or victims to wear old clothes.

Enjoy!