Special Effects Make-Up

A severed hand reaches across the red cover of this paperback, and the images in Vinther's book get progressively more gruesome from there. A European special effects expert, Vinther clearly specializes in the fare of horror and science fiction films--his how-to book is devoted to explaining the tricks behind making life-like imitations of body parts, monsters and bloody wounds. For those readers who wonder how to portray a mangled face or a chopped-off finger, Vinther's is a work without peer--but they must be ready to stomach the book's more than 300 gory color images. The author certainly knows his business, running his private company SPFX, which handles these unique demands for film producers. Each sub-genre (""gouged eye,""""blown-off limbs,"" etc.) requires a certain recipe of materials, which Vinther enthusiastically share. The latter third of the book branches off from generic wounds, and touches on the makeup required for classic monsters, including Dracula, Freddie Kruger and the Terminator. The illustrations are rather gruesome, but for the Halloween amateur or the Hollywood professional, this book is a veritable King James Bible of the macabre.