Regular Makeup

• It is not just the creepy or monstrous characters that need the right makeup for a horror movie. Even the regular makeup of human characters should emphasize a fearful feeling in their faces.
  
  Whether these human characters look hurt or wounded on screen, a makeup artist always takes into consideration how to make a character look more scared and stressed out by adding such elements as wrinkles, eyebags, and pale face and lips to other tense and traumatic signs on the face.
  
  

Prosthetic Makeup

• Prosthetic makeup showcases an out-of-the-ordinary look to a character through such processes as prosthetic sculpting, molding, plastering or casting. These techniques allow the creation of monsters with faces that can react to the environment like any normal human being can -- except that they look much more frightening than a human face.
  
  Prosthetic makeup is widely used in such characters as zombies, mutated humans, ghosts and otherworldly creatures. When using prosthetic effects, apart from making it look scary on camera, it is important to use the necessary precautions for the safety and protection of the actor's face and body. Materials used for prosthetics may not always be convenient for an actor, but they should always be safe for the eyes, skin and other parts of the body.
  
  

Makeup for Lighting and Camera

• While horror movie makeup generally looks creepy when seen in person, there are times that the makeup looks fake in reality but very sinister on camera. It is always the priority that a horror movie makeup looks its best when using production lights. It should look most horrifying when it registers on the camera.
  
  Test shoots are always necessary to make sure the makeup looks good on screen. Sometimes, the makeup may look fine off-cam, but it needs to be exaggerated more after seeing how it looks on a test shoot. The makeup should ultimately favor the film's lighting and how the camera captures the image with it.
  
  

Makeup Continuity

• Since horror makeup is generally more demanding in terms of details, makeup continuity is a very important factor when shooting. The makeup for a particular scene should look exactly the same for the scene following it or it should logically change as time passes in the story.
  
  For instance, for a wounded character with a bleeding face, the makeup should show the same area for the wound as the story progresses. At the same time, the blood coming from the wound should logically dry up in time.