Care to scare: a girl's life in the trade of horror

By Wei Jia
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, December 7, 2016
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Liao Yuting scares people for a living. On a typical day, Liao wears gory make-up and jumps out at visitors to her haunted house.

Before her current job, Liao, born in 1993, had worked as a waitress, salesperson and flyer distributor, each no longer than two months. Apparently those jobs were not macabre enough for this girl, who has been a horror movie fan since childhood. Liao finally landed her dream job three years ago as a scare actor in an amusement park in Chengdu.

For a performer's act to work, they must appear authentic and look the part. Liao does her ghoulish make-up using a range of materials and tools that include paint (some acrylic), fake blood plasma, colored contact lenses, glue, brushes, cotton balls and adjustable plastic wax. Usually the make-up takes half an hour, but for more nuanced characters, the time can run to two and a half hours. Liao spares no effort to look as frightening as possible, because, as the saying goes, the devil is in details. Liao is so good at making fake wounds that her colleagues often ask her to "gash" and "slash" them.

Liao doing her make-up. [Photo: VCG]



The Grim Reaper wouldn't look so grim without his scythe, so Liao doesn't skimp on her props, making by herself 80 percent of her blood-curdling tools of trade.

When Liao is ready to make people scream, the result is all but ear-splitting. As a matter of fact, some people were so terrified they hit Liao with whatever was at hand. The best thing to do when that happened, Liao said, was to turn on your heel and flee. For Liao, the flight or fight response takes a weird form.

More daring souls try to talk with Liao and even ask for a photograph with her. "We calibrate our performance according to people's response so that everyone can have a great time with us," said Liao.

To keep herself in top form, Liao goes to the gym regularly. Boxing is her favorite exercise, perhaps so that she could dodge the fists thrown in panic at her.

Happy doing what she does. [Photo: VCG]



Frightening people is not as easy as it may look and Liao's love for her job is not without its costs. The chemical make-ups she wore on her face over the years have turned her face rough and coarse. She has to use eye drops every now and then while working, to keep her contact-wearing eyes less dry. In her zombie role, Liao must keep her back bent for hours, doing all the rigid movements while wearing a contorted expression on her face.

But it's a tradeoff this tough, fearless girl is more than willing to make. "One person's joy not so great until it's shared with others," said Liao. "I'm in the joy business because my job can give people a great time. Is that a wonderful thing?"

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