The Chemistry of Hollywood Blood Baths

Reactions Science Videos | October 27, 2017

You know we love us some horror flicks here at Reactions, so this year for Halloween, we’re giving you a historical, chemical rundown of one of the most crucial elements of all scary flicks, fake blood. Make sure to take a look down below for a complete list of all clips used in this movie. Watch them all!

Sources:
Chemistry of Hemoglobin
Compound chemistry on blood
Grand Guinol Fake Blood/Methyl Cellulose
Grand Guinol Fake Blood/Methyl Cellulose
Grand Guinol historical fake gore
Carmine
Carmine in your food
Glycerol
Glycerol
Methyl Cellulose Slime – Special Effects: New Histories, Theories, & Context; Chaptor 1: Ectoplasm and Oil
Methyl Cellulose info from Dow
The Motion Picture Production Code of 1930
Hitchcock Sneaks Past the MPPC with Psycho
Hitchcock used Bosco – Masters of Deception, PG 200
Bosco used in Night of Living Dead – Night of the Living Dead, PG. 11. Corn Syrup
Hammer’s Entry into Horror with The Curse of Frankenstein - The Routledge Companion to British Media History, PG. 419.
Hammer Horror
Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Custom Red Blood from Barfred Laboratories – The Godfather of Gore, PG. 39
Composition of Koapectate
Scientific America Article on DIY blood
Dick Smith
Methylparaben effect on Sugars