Cannibal corpses, creepy crawlies, ferals, slackjaws and lickers alike limped to the beach Friday through Sunday for the 7th annual Long Beach Zombie Walk festival in Rainbow Lagoon.
In 2009, Long Beach Cinematheque, a non-profit arts organization, with the help of O Entertainment brought the walk to Long Beach in order to raise proceeds that will “enrich, connect and educate” audiences through the art of cinema, according to the event’s press release.
It has since expanded into a three-day festival of food vendors, film screenings, freak shows, local, live music and other activities.
The event’s Executive Director Logan Crow called it a “zombie Coachella,” trying to depict an atmosphere of zombie culture in a post-apocalyptic setting.
Elaborate makeup jobs and gruesome, movie-screen guises have become staples of the Long Beach Zombie Walk. Crow, who was painted for the part, explained that each year the event is filled with enthusiastic participation from attendees.
Among his favorites this year was a family of Jack in the Box zombies “running around with anti-McDonalds propaganda on their heads.”
Many participants set out to achieve the ultimate undead zombie-esque look of their own.
Amanda DeGirolamo was dressed as an undead doctor clad in blood-splattered scrubs, and she was accompanied by Julio Galiano who sported a Hazmat suit.
“We went to goodwill and said ‘What can we ruin?’” DeGirolamo said.
The couple from Hawthorne said their strategy was to shop at thrift stores, douse their rags in fake blood and come up with a working background story.
DeGirolamo said they died alongside one another in their battle against an Ebola outbreak only to rise again to prey upon the living.
Kenneth Cruz from Carson was a mangled hospital patient left with hollowed sockets from gouged out eyes; his friend Andrew Lee took three arrows to the chest and had a blood-soaked hairdo from a hunting trip gone awry
“We went to a Halloween store, got some stuff, looked online to figure out how to make fake blood and then smeared it everywhere for about 30 minutes,” Cruz said.
Across from him, at the standing-only table in the sports bar area, Lee said that they used water, corn starch, red food coloring and chocolate syrup for a thicker consistency.
Some, like Brandon Seebert from Pomona, left it up to the pros; he spent about one hour and $60 on his movie-ready makeup.
The festival had several makeup booths spread throughout the strip of vendors. Prices started at $20 and increased depending on severity of the desired makeup.
“We got it all done here,” said Seebert, whose face was now masked with an assemblage of rotting flesh.
Artists like Long Beach Walk four year veteran and freelance makeup artist Sheila Seifi knows it takes a lot more than a pair of torn up jeans to make the undead come alive.
“There’s no in-between,” Seifi said. Her exposure to a virus caused a sweltering boil-like gash on her upper-left cheek. “[Requests are] either really basic or they go all out.”
She typically works behind the scenes in television or movies. Her last big project was working with the Resident Evil franchise for the sixth game of the series release.
“It’s typical to get hired for zombie stuff. Now it’s like the ‘Oh, zombies again?’ kind of feeling,” Seifi said. “They’re everywhere. Everybody wants to be a zombie.”
The godfather of cult-classic living dead flicks, George Romero, is still channeled through the gory works of freelance make-up artist Sarah Gonzales from Long Beach.
“Seeing stuff like [Romero’s] Creepshow films as well as Thriller by Michael Jackson, made me really want to learn [how to do makeup],” Gonzales said through a bloodied prosthetic that replicated a bubbling, infected mouth wound well past any chance of treatment.
Gonzales got her start in cosmetics at Long Beach City College. She now works for Sephora and has been freelancing for 10 years.
Her favorite makeup projects are zombies and recreating the seared, blistering flesh of burn victims.
Discovering new tricks around every corner in the industry, she often passes on bargain tips to her “monsters.”
A cheap, $5 exfoliating cream that replicates rotting skin when dried, and a few bottles of $3 hair coloring spray for an imitated airbrush affect can quickly turn a trip to Walmart into a zombification success story, said Gonzales.
Kyle Larson from Stockton wore an abused face that was the work of his girlfriend Gemini Catalan. She had used a simple prosthetic, latex and assorted paints to create the grainy burns and glistening sores.
The Hollywood native Catalan has studied makeup at the Make-Up Designory (MUD) in Burbank and has worked professionally as a freelancer for 3 years.
“What would be the point of dressing up like a zombie if you didn’t look as gross as possible?” said Larson.
The walk was a 35-45 minute shuffle around Shoreline Village that took place on Saturday night. During the walk, participants are encouraged to maintain their character and have fun.
“Come as you are, zombies are all inclusive.” Crow said. “There’s no discrimination here. We’ll eat you, whatever you are.”
is that Photoshoped ? lol