17 Things No One Tells You About Being In A Horror Movie

    As told by horror legend Bruce Campbell!

    Caitlin Jinks
    by Caitlin Jinks

    BuzzFeed Staff, Australia

    Horror movies are just as fun as they are terrifying.

    New Line Cinema

    But what really goes on behind the scenes of the films we love so much?

    To find out everything about life on a horror set, we sat down with Bruce Campbell, star of the Evil Dead films and the TV spinoff Ash vs Evil Dead.

    BuzzFeed

    1. To capture genuine reactions, sometimes extras aren't told anything about the horrible scene they're about to be in.

    Starz

    "The people that come through, we don't tell them anything because we want them to be horribly surprised," Campbell told BuzzFeed. "They get their first blood splat in the face and we don't warn them – we want that 'holy crap' look on their face."

    2. There's a trick to mastering the perfect scream.

    Starz

    "Some actors are better at using their diaphragm when they scream and those actors can scream all day. But if you scream from your throat, you will blow your throat out."

    3. A lot of blood is used on the set of most horror productions.

    TriStar Pictures

    "Every gag is different. The special effects guys figured out that for the opening scene in Season 2 of Ash vs Evil Dead, they used 25 gallons of blood."

    4. Fake blood is REALLY damn sticky, and not very fun to work with.

    New Line Cinema

    "The blood hasn't really changed in 30 years, it still tastes bad, it's still sticky. It was corn syrup back in the day, I think it's a different base now but it's still nasty. It sticks everywhere, even on your shirt, and you'll go to adjust your collar and rip your hair off. It’s a blast."

    5. There's also a special blood-cleaning crew on set.

    New Line Cinema

    "They have squeegees, sucking devices, and hoses, it's like hazmat has to come in and clean up after we're done. The clean-up is a major part of it. We also have a big plastic trough on set and I'll just plop half my clothes in it to get it all off, and then walk into my trailer and straight into a shower. If fake blood dries on you, you can't get it off."

    6. Makeup for actors can take hours.

    Starz

    "I've done makeup that's upwards of three hours and about an hour to take it off."

    7. And playing a monster or any kind of creature isn't fun at all, thanks to the heavy makeup.

    New Line Cinema

    "If you're a full-body creature then that's about a five-hour ordeal and you're eating through a straw the whole day. Anyone who wants to play a monster, knock yourself out, that's not for me."

    8. Despite how dark and gory things can get, it's difficult to get scared while filming.

    Universal Pictures

    "I've been around the fakery of it for so long that half the time when we're shooting a fight scene with a monster, after they call 'cut', I just start laughing because I'm just wrestling a guy in a suit."

    9. And the cast definitely become tight-knit.

    Universal Pictures

    "We always grow close, all the actors. For the most part we grow very tight because we're experiencing something very few people have been through. And I appreciate the effort the new actors have gone through, they've really embraced it and that takes a lot of heat off me because they can get covered in blood instead."

    10. Horror fans are usually pretty shy.

    Starz

    "Horror fans look scary but they won’t talk to you. I think a lot of them are socially uncomfortable so they live vicariously through movies where you play characters that are bold and brash, but these aren’t necessarily bold and brash people. They look like it though – they're all tattooed, they've got sleeves going."

    11. And they're also VERY dedicated.

    12. Handling all of the crazy props can be pretty damn difficult.

    Starz

    "Everything is awkward because you have a hand that has a shotgun in it and the other one has a chainsaw. You turn and knock things off shelves. When you're gesturing you have to make sure no one is too close to you or you'll bash someone in the face with props, especially when you're rehearsing. But you get used to it."

    13. And kill scenes are pretty tedious.

    New Line Cinema

    "It takes more fakery and more types of shots to put a sequence together where you're chopping someone up. So Sam Raimi (director of The Evil Dead) would shoot more shots for those."

    14. You need to be in decent shape to survive filming a horror movie.

    New Line Cinema

    "We always need to be in better shape than we are, especially at my age. Stretching is the key. I pulled a hamstring again this year fighting stunt guys. But I tend to just go for it, I can't worry about every little ding or bruise or bump, it's the nature of this thing."

    15. Things like celery, walnuts, and dead chickens are used to create the gory sound effects you hear.

    Starz

    "In the old days we used celery, you'd crack celery close to a microphone for bones. In the recording studio for the first Evil Dead, we had a chicken and we'd take a meat cleaver and wedge into it so you'd get the impact and a bit of the goo. The place after about a week smelt like old chicken, it was bad. Cracked walnuts work for a neck twist. Sound effect libraries are now much more sophisticated so you can pull from that but it's always great to make your own stuff."

    16. For actors, starring in a horror movie used to be considered embarrassing and something you'd hide.

    Universal Pictures

    "It used to be one rung above porn, you weren't really proud of it."

    17. But Campbell is pretty pleased horror has finally come out of the shadows and into the mainstream.

    New Line Cinema

    "The perceptions of horror have changed even in the last ten years. The Evil Dead just got un-banned in Germany after 30 years. I'm glad that horror has come out of the shadows a little bit ... Horror doesn’t have to hide any more. It's just another genre now so I'm glad for that – horror shouldn't be treated any different."

    Campbell's latest project, Ash vs Evil Dead, is now streaming on Stan in Australia and playing on Starz in the US.