# Help! Guillotione



## Max Da Corpse (Dec 1, 2013)

Alright, I want to make a guillotine for a local haunt that I would like to get done by the end of April, 2014. I want it to be able to have a moving blade and it has the illusion of the actor's head being severed from their body. I thought about having rubber flaps at the bottom stock that the actor can slide his neck down from the circle to hold the head to the basket at the bottom. However, I need some ideas on making the blade move around freely and making a decapitated head with fresh, edible blood dripping from it. NO CORN SYRUP OR ANY FOOD INGREDIENTS EXCEPT WATER AND FOOD COLORING PLEASE. No mater how crazy your idea is, post it, but make sure it doesn't involve a real body being killed in the processs!


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## nimblemonkey (Aug 21, 2011)

Wow, that's an ambitious project- I've never made one but I'll be watching this thread to see what you come up with. Could help me with my zombie trap project.


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## Max Da Corpse (Dec 1, 2013)

Well, tell me about your zombie trap project and maybe i could help.


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## Max Da Corpse (Dec 1, 2013)

here is an example of what im trying to make. This is footage of alice cooper's concert. skip to 5:23 for the action. BOUNUS POINTS TO WHO CAN FIGURE OUT HOW I CAN MAKE IT LOOK LIKE THE BLOOD FLIES OUT LIKE THE GUILLOTINE IN THE VIDEO!!!!!!!


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## Mike Steinke (Jul 27, 2013)

This is interesting because due to a recent Facebook post I seen about someone wanting to buy a guillotine. I have decided to make one for my own haunt. I have had the idea about the head sliding down myself. I think I will add that to mine as well.


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## Mike Steinke (Jul 27, 2013)

To make the blood squirt out I would use a the guts out of one of those swiffer wet jet mops


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## Mike Steinke (Jul 27, 2013)

We made drop window panels on our PVC walls by using a larger sized pipe T connectors that slide up and down on the smaller wall pipes freely. That is the direction I am going with my gully.


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## grismcdonald (Aug 23, 2011)

I have one that I made that looks very similar to that one. I am a commercial roofing contractor and we do a good bit of sheet metal work. We buy flat sheets of various metals and they are shipped on 4' x 10' pallets that are made of wood that is approx. 3" x 4" x 10'. They usually end up out in the weather which " ages" the wood real well. I used this for the two vertical sides. Cuts a 1" groove from top down to allow a 1" x 6" to slide up and down. Made a blade out of a piece of aluminum and attached it to the 1" x 6". Also used 1" x 6" to make the head hole. Pulley at top with an old twine rope. Really looks like the one I'm the video. You could find a local commercial roofing contractor or sheet metal fabricator that would probably be happy to give you the pallet. And could probably fabricate a blade for you out of scrap metal laying around their shop. We also use also of screw that vary from 3" to up to 14" that come in handy for construction of this type of prop


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## CrazedHaunter (Nov 18, 2012)

Tiny air cannon maybe?


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

The guillotine hits a stop above the actors head, in the Alice Cooper vid it looks like an aluminum blade, but even plywood painted chrome would sort of work. There are two rubber flaps under the actors neck, when he gets in the guillotine there are two handholds on the floor frame work, so he can forcefully pull his head down through the flaps into the basket, and make it seem fast. The false head is just already sitting in the basket. The low tech way to do the blood would be to have a bladder or a milk jug full of fake blood under the actors chest, and when he pulls his head down (he starts in a push up position) he just mashes down the jug or bladder and squirts the fake blood through a tube. Otherwise, you need a switch that can be set off by the blade, or the actor, or another person entirely (possibly the nurse or the executioner) that runs an AC fogger pump, or an aquarium pump, or some such. But that person would have to time it well, the actor falling on a bladder would time itself, and be basically free. If the jug was full you could get multiple uses out of it. Same for the blood in the head, if you use water and food coloring, use a foam head, and core it out and insert a soaked sponge, have the actor squeeze the head and drink the water and food coloring fake blood. If the sponge drips blood before the actor wants it to, put the sponge in a ziplock bag, small enough that it will "pop" open when he squeezes the head. The foam head will absorb a bit of blood, probably, if that was a problem you could just use a ziplock bag full of fake blood in the head, squeeze it and you would get a really big gush of blood.

That's what I would do, anyway.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Part of the challenge I see is the fact that you will have to do this as an often repeated scene, rather than a single shot like you see in the video. All of that "gushing blood" get messy in a hurry, and to get and keep the actor(s) clean enough to do repeat performances will be tough. The angle of the actor's head/face will be very*limited if they are just sliding their head down to a lower position. If you can work on an elevated platform, you could have a live actor's head already in the basket, maybe some others in there too, and him/or her, complaining that it's already too crowded down there. The elevated platform would allow the actor to turn or tilt his/her head to angles so that the crowd can see them easily, and also to help sell the illusion of the head being severed. With a false hooded head that the actor pulls down into the basket as the neck is severed. Put a shiny, metallic plate between the head and body so that it appears that the blade is showing through the hole. You could use rare earth magnets to hold the head in place between cuttings, with a steel or iron plate mounted on the back side of the exposed blade. 
Just thoughts from the cheap seats.


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## grismcdonald (Aug 23, 2011)

Funny, saw this the other night on "Magicians secrets revealed" with a small guillotine but basically how Hippofeet described it but don't forget the key, a scantly clad female to distract the audience


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## Hippofeet (Nov 26, 2012)

Huh. That was just out of my head. I feel better, I was banging my head against a wireless remote setup all day. Nice to get something right, lol. 

I definitely think it would require practice, and would be more of a magic trick. Lots of timing. Fontgeek brought up some good points about repeatability, some of what I suggested would not be really be the way to go for an all night show.


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## xray45 (Dec 30, 2013)

New guy here but wanted to post. Hope it's not too soon. Hippofeet is dead on with the foam rubber bottom where the head goes. The way we did the blood for a local haunt was we used a gallon pump sprayer. Took the hose coming from the tank and split it to two lines and ran those to either side of the bead basket on the frame of the guillotine. The ends of the hose was switched over to copper tubing (the small kind that comes rolled up) and the ends were pinched closed to make a spray effect. Less pinching the more blood you will get. The handle that came with the pump spray was mounted were the executioner was standing and he would just push on the handle and blood would spray. The better quality sprayer the better it works. The executioner pretty much pushed the valve as soon as the blade hit. It worked well.
Hope this helped in some way or maybe jogged a creative idea. Thanks for reading.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Xray, how often did your crew have to repeat this stunt/scene?
I've been thinking that maybe using some magnets to connect the neck and head to the stump remaining on the body, with a string or fishing line that the person in or under the basket could pull to dislodge the head and have it drop into the basket, next to the live/talking head. Using the Hudson sprayer (pump sprayer) is a good idea, especially if the person in the basket (or underneath it) can pump it up and trigger it. This same setup could be used for an executioner who is wielding an axe rather than operating the guillotine.


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

> I've been thinking that maybe using some magnets to connect the neck and head to the stump remaining on the body


I you use an electro-magnet you could have the blade turn it off


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## xray45 (Dec 30, 2013)

fontgeek said:


> Xray, how often did your crew have to repeat this stunt/scene?


We tried to do it every 3-5 minutes. The pump sprayer really only needed pumped about every half hour or so. Pump it up really good and it sprayed for a while. The actor got really sore after awhile actually pushing/falling in the head box that much. If you could attach the head to the guillotine head stock and rig it somehow where the blade itself makes the head drop that would save the actor allot. There was a hand chopper I owned that worked using two holes one was hidden inside the body part then the other hole was showing. Basically two holes. When the blade came down it pushed the board down, the upper hole would replace the lower hole with the hand. It shard to explain. Do an image search for French arm chopper. If this could be adapted the head could be permanently attached and the blade would drop the head down and the actor would lay behind without ever being in the guillotine itself. I can try and explain better if you would like, maybe its an option.


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## xray45 (Dec 30, 2013)

I found a video that would help. Youtube and search French arm chopper magicfantasia. Its the video with an Asian man with a boy. The guillotine is green. If you watch this the center part of the guillotine, where the hand goes, is actually a board with two holes. The upper hole is hidden in the top part of the guillotine. When the blade is pushed down the whole board moves dropping the lower hole into the basket and the upper hole is in place of the original hole. If something like this could be made the first hole could have a head permanently attached, then the blade comes down pushes the head down into the box with upper hidden hole would then be in place of the original hole. Sorry for being soooooo long winded. Hope something here gave you some ideas or something.


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## Max Da Corpse (Dec 1, 2013)

Thanks guys! I will work on a head soon and display what i have came up with. All of your assistance makes my job easy.


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

Look at this video


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## Max Da Corpse (Dec 1, 2013)

I thought of a project i will be working on very soon. This ties in with the blood spurting on the guillotine. It is going to be a pump that is filled with blood/ liquid that fits in your hand and has 1 or 2 lines of tubing that direct the flow of blood. I think this might solve my problem.


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