Customer Reviews

Halloween Propmaker's Handbook

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The projects are explained well, the directions are clear, and I feel I would be able to re-create the clever props. Unfortunately there are no instructions for large sized props such as figures, monsters, etc. that are expected in a haunted hosue. All the props are on a small scale..at least half the book is devoted to creating different painting effects on skulls. There are also ideas for masks, brains, severed hands, and other small props such as skull flowers, flatware, salt & pepper shakers, candy dish, etc.

There is useful information on lighting, black lights, adding eyes to a prop, and general setting up of a scene which will help me with my haunted house decorating, but I won't use most of the other projects.

When I was a kid growing up in the 70's, Halloween decorations pretty much consisted of those cardboard characters you taped on your windows and light up jack-o-lanterns. Heck the main decoration was the pumpkin you carved yourself. Today, Halloween decorations generate millions each year. There are entire superstores selling nothing but Halloween décor and costumes that spring up every Fall. The Fright Catalog has Hollywood-caliber props that cost in the thousands of dollars. It's easily become the biggest holiday for decorating next to Christmas and getting bigger every year.

The Hollywood Propmaker's handbook is the perfect book for those who love decorating for the season but who don't want to spend all of their hard-earned cash at those stores. The book is written by Keith Pitek whose work has been seen in Haunted Attraction Magazine. Pitek presents some two-dozen projects that can be made with inexpensive items, many of which you might have lying around the house.

Pitek begins by covering various techniques to setting up your outdoor display covering things which seem so simple and make perfect sense such as where to set-up speakers for sound, the best ways to display props, the use of remote controls, and lighting. Pitek also covers the use of black lights, techniques for painting skulls, wiring your props for light, and using two-way mirrors.

In the project section, Pitek provides several different types of skulls using inexpensive plastic skull props that are available at the Halloween stores as well as major retailers. Create one with light up twinkling eyes that doesn't take an electrician to wire; paint one so that it looks like it was just dug up out of a grave. The painting uses common household ingredients such as shoe polish or wood varnish. It's really all in the technique! Perhaps the most ambitious is the barbecued skull, which when finished, will look like it was just retrieved out of an incinerator.

One of my favorite projects, again one which is quite detailed, is the partially eaten hand made with a hand shaped gelatin mold and several other items. Done right, it creates a stunningly realistic looking prop. Pitek also provides a sure-fire recipe for stage blood that can be made with corn syrup and red-colored Kool-Aid. Pitek concludes with a detailed reference section informing readers where the items used in the props can be purchased as well as providing the phone numbers and websites to many different suppliers.

Now, these items are not your average weekend craft projects. Some are quite easy and can be made in an hour. Others are very involved and take many hours, or even days to finish, but the results will be worth it.

Reviewed by Tim Janson

Halloween Propmaker's Handbook arrived too late for October mention but deserves ongoing recommendation for any avid party crafts person who enjoys putting together unique Halloween props. Here are recipes for fake blood, papier-maiche projects such as skills, two-way mirrors, and other techniques just perfect for Halloween decorators. No color photos, but the step-by-step black and white images and clear directions need little color to prove involving.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

This book was dissapointing to say the least. I was expecting a book with ways to make props for Halloween. What i got was a book that gives you ways to Decorate (for lack of a better word) a Bucky skull. If you are looking for new and creative ways to build Halloween props, then this is not the book for you. If you are looking for things to do with skulls, then go for it.

was really cool but kinda lame everything--- was skulls. i wished thier was more diffrent halloween ideas in it. but it was cool to look through.

The instructions in this book are easy to follow with a complete list of necessary items to complete each prop. The author also makes the book easy to read with his personal anecdotes and witty approach to the art of of Halloween "Scareology".