Recreate movie magic at home

For some, Halloween is about the clever costumes and homages to superheroes and favorite cartoon characters. Others prefer to tap into their inner horror lover and pull out all the gory stops. Borrowing some tricks of from horror movies can turn a somewhat scary costume into one that is truly horrifying.

Movie special effects teams put a lot of effort into making the blood, gore and guts in a movie look as realistic as possible. Using a combination of makeup, prosthetics and some common household items, they can lead movie-goers to believe they're really seeing exposed brains or gushing blood.

Although some Hollywood films have massive budgets for creating amazing special effects, it may not take much money for Halloween tricksters to replicate some of these looks for less money.

Fake blood can make anything look creepy. This blood can be pouring out of mouths or ears or covering various body parts. Having a go-to artificial blood recipe at the ready will help with many Halloween special effects.

There are many different ways to create artificial blood. Most of them involve mixing corn syrup with food coloring. Here's how to get started.

Artificial Movie Blood

* bottle of dark or light corn syrup

* red food coloring

* blue food coloring

* green food coloring

* cornstarch

* water

Pour out about 1/8 cup of the corn syrup into a bowl that you don't mind staining. Add 1/4 cup of cornstarch and 1/4 cup of water to the syrup. Mix well so that you have a realistic consistency. Blood that is too runny or too thick will not seem real.

Add about 20 drops of red food coloring and 10 to 15 drops of blue food coloring. Add a single drop of green food coloring. Mix and gauge the color. Add the blue and red accordingly until you find the perfect shade. Blood is fairly dark and red-brown when exposed to oxygen, therefore it should not be bright red in color.

Dip a paint brush into the "blood" and flick onto the surface of clothing or props to give it a blood splatter effect. Use the paint brush to paint around the edges of latex wounds or wounds on prosthetics. Try to keep the blood placement as realistic as possible. The blood also can be put on clothes to mimic the look of a seeping wound.

Because this recipe is made from food products, it is edible and safe for use around the mouth. Just keep in mind that it may stain the skin and teeth temporarily due to the food coloring.

Other supplies can be turned into gory props as well. Slices of foam bundled together can look like brain tissue. Peeled grapes look and feel like eyeballs. Use your imagination and you can probably come up with something that mimics the look of real body organs and body parts. Even a PVC pipe wrapped in foam and placed in a shirt sleeve can make a realistic looking arm.

Halloween fun can mean channeling your inner horror movie special effect artist.