Although most horror movies now buy special formulas of fake blood from stage and makeup companies, there are still a few tried and true recipes that will work on a professional level. There are a few types of fake blood. There is edible blood, often based on canned chocolate syrup or similar food products, there is liquid soap based blood, combination blood, textured gelatin and glycerine blood, chemical blood, and a few others. We'll deal with the first and best three types.
Edible Fake Blood
This is the chocolate recipe everyone has heard of. The fact of the matter is that canned chocolate syrup people use on ice cream does look and spill a lot like blood. Add to it some light corn syrup, plus cheap creamy peanut butter and chocolate powder for texture, along with some red food dye or other food product that is red. One excellent one is reconstituted powdered soft drink flavors like black raspberry or super black cherry. With this concoction, it's best to add the ingredients slowly as you combine them, until you reach the desired look. Note that the black raspberry or super black cherry additions will stain like crazy, so use this mix with caution around costumes. This solution is best stored in a cold place.
Combination Fake Blood
Small bottle of light corn syrup, hot water, a small bottle of liquid soap or laundry detergent, and red food coloring. Again, combine all the ingredients until you reach the color and consistency you like. Used with non-staining substances, this is a kinder concoction on costumes than the black raspberry blood mix mentioned above. This solution is best stored in the refrigerator. If you need a lot of fake blood, forego the food products and just stick to cheap liquid laundry detergent and red food coloring. Add in the darkening elements mentioned below. Keep mixing until you have the right color and consistency.
Textured Fake Blood, for close-ups
2 liters of glycerine base for soap. Heat it on the stove. Add 1 packet of cherry or raspberry gelatin plus red food coloring.
Darkening and other add-ins that can help with your blood effects:
If you need to goose the coloring a little, you can also add a drop of blue or green food coloring to darken it to that deep vein color. You can also add coffee or cocoa powder. This also works for the other two blood recipes.
Some of the obvious elements in these recipes will stain. Others will wash out with soap and water. Unfortunately, only experience will teach you which.
Austin, Texas has been Peter Wendt's writing headquarters for a number of years now. For readers who wish to learn more about fake blood and film production, he recommends they check out Austin video production firm LDRK Media.