The terrified nameless citizenry of 1950s b-movies dressed in colorful outfits are caught in horrified poses as they scream, flee and try to shoot their way out of certain death from off-screen monsters looking to squash them, natural disasters, giant crickets and alien landings. I’ve always been intrigued by the artifice and histrionics of acting styles from low budget sci-fi and horror b-movies from the 1950s​/​60s and earlier. A blonde dame puts her hands up to her head and lets out a primordial scream, shaking her head in a close up as the giant lizard man approaches her. The non-stop mugging of a grimacing astronaut in a Halloween grade costume being zapped with a laser by the bug-eyed martian. The contorted facial acrobatics of the scared scientist as he battles a 2000 year old extinct dead fish that he accidentally brought back to life. There is something about being so fake, yet totally believable in an unbelievable way that I just love. Once when casting a project, an actor had on his resume, “fleeing citizen” as a film credit. I could not have been more impressed. When I found the toy set of Horrified B-Movie Victims figurines over a dozen years ago in an odd shop in Burbank, California that was full of joke and gag items, movie memorabilia and other novelty products, I had to buy it. The figurines are crudely made, cheaply painted and feature oversized white eyes surrounding big black pupils, big eyebrows and lips yet posed with inspiration. The perfect characters to bring to life and base a photo shoot on. I had the idea to do a photo shoot based on these toy figurines shortly after I bought the set so many years ago. The idea to place the B-movie victims against brightly colored saturated backgrounds came to me immediately as I thought it was just a natural fit that went perfectly together with their bigger than life facial features, reactions and poses. It had to be big and bold. It was no place for realism. At the time, I pitched the Horrified B-Movie Victims idea to a manufacturer of large LCD monitors as they were looking for content to show on their huge monitors in retail stores and at kiosks. They politely passed on it. Which was fine for me, as this was a passion project and not something for a client anyway. The idea was forgotten until the summer of 2024 when I pulled out the toy figurines for some reason. It’s time had come. I knew the biggest challenge was going to be how to transfer the look of the toy figurines onto real live actors. I got extremely lucky when I found Special Effects Makeup artist Gabriella Paredes Meza. After giving her the creative brief, she immediately got it. She zeroed in the eyes, brows, lips and hair. Get those right and we can pull it off. She was right. The big white eyes with black pupils, eyebrows and lips are prosthetics that Gabriella made. The hair on the actors are wigs that she turned into stiff, plastic looking helmet heads. I cast the project in Los Angeles with the excellent actors; Lindsey Normington, Kevin Michael Shiley, Sabina Francesca and Matt Legg. All were tasked with creating poses that although are static, must have the feeling of movement and imminent danger in their body. Another element that was crucial to the execution of this idea was styling. It had to be as bold as the look of the victims and colored backgrounds. Wardrobe stylist, Lorraine DuRocher pulled the clothes together aiming for a 1950s​/​1960s-ish feel. Fortunately, you can find anything in Los Angeles. Lorraine wanted a royal blue sweater that she searched everywhere online for and there it was when she walked into local vintage store, Iguana on Hollywood Blvd. It was the exact shade of blue she wanted and in the pin-up style from the period we were drawing inspiration from. Inspired by the figurines, she stuck with mostly solids with the exception of one irresistibly ugly pair of plaid pants with complimentary colors to each victim’s background. At the shoot, we all had a blast. You can tell the actors had fun with their characters and for me, I had one of the best times on it that I’ve had on a project I’ve been involved with. The project was shot and completed in September and October of 2024.

Exact Dimensions (ex. 10.5" x 8.25" x 2")

24.25" W x 15" H x 1.25" D

Year Created

2024

Provide details about the signature

N.A.

Materials

Wood frame with acrylic cover, hanging wire.

Name Of Artist (So You Are Searchable!)

Greg McDonald