Freddy Krueger has nothing on Cindy le Grange

EVER wondered how the frightening villain better known as Freddy Krueger got his burned, disfigured face? We bring you the lowdown on how to achieve this look.

Patrons at The Glen Shopping Centre forgot all about the Nightmare on Elm Street and the creepiness brought on by Freddy Krueger’s scary face as soon as they come across 22-year-old independent Special Effects make-up artist, Cindy le Grange.

Although her stints at The Glen started on All Hallows Day, which happens to be her favourite time of the year, when she donned an eye-catching Halloween inspired face using her specialized skills and professional make-up that she attained while she was a film student at AFDA (African Film Drama Arts) school, Cindy says it’s the thrill of creating something different that inspires her diverse creations.

“I like creating something different, something that people haven’t seen because you don’t see things like this very often,” she says. Adding, that reactions from people who see her with the make-up on are just priceless.

The main reason why Cindy doesn’t mind putting on one of her creations at any given moment is because of the easy application of the artificial skin and blood, which she impressively makes herself. Although, the material can be bought at Specialty makeup stores some of it can be bought at Reggie’s, such as the face paint.

To make the blood, Cindy makes a concoction of peanut butter, syrup, dish washing liquid and red colouring.

“When you’re doing this stuff on your face or another person’s face you kind of want to make it as real as possible so that people at least can believe the illusion which is why you’ve got to add bruising and all the other aspects.”

Having only studied the basics of Special Effects make-up, other students in the Costume, Make-up and Styling class were all taught how to create looks for different looks to go with the moods of the character and for different skin tones.

“It dries on your face like a second skin and you can manipulate it into whatever you want, in fact when you peal parts of it off it looks like you’re pealing your skin,” she explains.

The second skin she refers to is created using liquid latex and then holes are torn into it to construct a burned and disfigured looking skin such as the one that turned actor Robert Englund into the infamous character that terrorized Freddy’s victims attacking them from within their dreams.

Having first wanted to study music, her interest in making films soon took over leading her to pursue a career in the film industry after only a single class in Special Effects.

Presently, Cindy feels as though she hasn’t studied enough of the qualification in order to start working for a professional make-up company which she plans, on going back to school to study Special Effects even further, to be able to better make masks and moulds that could completely change the appearance of a character.