An ExSCREAM Makeover

SANDUSKY, Ohio - Halloween is just a couple days away, meaning some are scrambling to find the perfect costume.

FOX Toledo News went straight to the professionals to get you some tips of the trade for perfect monster make-up - John Taylor at Cedar Point in Sandusky. He's in charge of transforming college students and part-time park employees into Screamsters for HalloWeekends.

In all it takes about 200 Screamsters to haunt the grounds of America's Roller Coast.

They're wicked, whimsical, sinful and scary.

It starts at a place at "haunt central," a former ballroom for the historic amusement park, where Screamsters begin their

"Basically what we're doing here is 200 monsters in prosthetics, glued on their face directly," said John Taylor, who oversees Cedar Point's monster makup graphic arts team. "Then we air brush the make up."

Taylor has headed up Cedar Point's monster make up at HalloWeekends for the past dozen years. Every Friday and Saturday night he and his 20 make up artists spend at least four hours getting 400 ghouls and goblins ready to haunt the park - 200 of them going through the rigorous process of glue and airbrushing.

"We're basically on a 25-minute schedule per monster," he said. "So after they glue their prosthetic on, they airbrush it the first time. The next time they came back he'll use that prosthetic again and they'll airbrush in the details and paint their hair or whatever they like at that point."

The costumes and masks are not what you find at any Halloween novelty store. Each one is specially made for Cedar Point by Knotts Berry Farm in Anaheim, Calif. Each costume is unique.

Knotts Berry Farm is owned by Cedar Fair, the parent company of Cedar Point and Kings Island in cincinnati.

"It's all about the details, and the artists. It's all their creativity coming through."

It kind of just feels like a big sticker on your face," said Kristina, who is better known as the "Rat Lady."

Kristina says her monster make up is easy to get used to - from the living rats climbing all over her to the prosthetic rat protruding from her cheek. She says the 30 minutes she spends in her make up artists chair is a small price to pay for doing a job she loves.

"I really love scaring people, so I figured why not get paid?," she said.

Even if you don't get paid to scare, you can make the most of your mask. You too can get the look of a Screamster with just a little make up.

"If you are wearing a rubber mask, always black out your eyes, because that will give you depth to the look of your face," Taylor said. "It doesn't look like just a rubber mask on your face. That's the single thing that will make you look so much more believable."