Chatting with the Butcher boy!

Ken and I recently paid a long overdue visit to an FX studio in the industrial core of Hamilton known as The Butchershop. As a former costume designer and effects studio grunt myself, an interview with "The Shop's" founder, Carlos Henriques, was an opportunity I did not want to miss.

In surprisingly decent rush hour traffic we made it to "The Hammer" in record time and followed the directions Carlos outlined in his email to us until we found ourselves tucked into a pitch black cul-de-sac amidst rows of boarded up warehouses. This couldn't be a more perfect location for the kind of work that Butcher Boys Carlos and co-founder Ryan Louagie do. After a quick phone call to Carlos to confirm which of the abandoned looking units was his abode, we found ourselves amongst shelves of silicone and latex cadavers and monsters while Mr. Henriques and his small team (FX artists Monica and Alex) wiled away the night cleaning and prepping stone molds of body parts to the melody of Fire House rock anthems blaring in the background.

To my surprise, Carlos (who never forgets a face) actually remembered working with me briefly on the set of an indie movie Not A Fish Story over 15 years prior, where he was called in to apply the prosthetics I had helped to sculpt (while I was working for Kropserkel) on the actor that was playing an estranged husband who chose to become a fish. Although still a student at that time I remembered the excellent job that Carlos had done, and was not surprised to see him build a successful career out of his passion for the art of makeup and creature effects.

Ken and I talked extensively to Carlos about how The Butchershop came to be, the work the studio has done (and is doing), as well as his take on practical effects vs. CGI and some of his favorite FX artists and inspirations. You can watch a 5-minute clip of that conversation posted above, but we will have a much more in-depth article on The Butchershop in the first issue of our upcoming magazine.

“I think the Canadian (horror) scene is actually phenomenal.”

For now we encourage you to watch our video and peruse the fascinating work that Carlos and The Butchershop have produced by clicking on the photo above. Carlos was unable to discuss the details of some of The Butchershop's upcoming gigs, but we should be able to disclose more of those juicy details to you in the magazine article.

We'll be posting a few more mini-clips of our conversation with Carlos in the upcoming weeks on our Facebook and Twitter pages so please do check in and check them out!

Richard Leggatt, HMS

The Gore Spotlight Menu