How do slasher villains slash slashlessly? Subscribe and turn on notifications 🔔 so you don't miss any videos: http://goo.gl/0bsAjO Horror films — and specifically slashers — are known for abundant on-screen violence. Making that fake violence look real often comes down to props. Prop masters and special effects workers prepare knives, blood, and explosions to slash people...without actually slashing them. To pull this off they might use rubber, plastic, retractable, or even digital knives. Blood recipes have been improving over the decades to flow more realistically, and better soak into clothing. And explosions, both with air and squibs, push out blood to make scenes feel more realistic. With movies, it’s often what you don’t see that makes the difference. After prop masters, makeup artists, and special effects artists complete their work, they pass the baton off to other members of the crew. Actors sell it, camera operators get the right angles to highlight the action while hiding the tubes and wires, and editors cut the different takes together. When pulled off well, it’ll make you feel like what you're witnessing is real — even though it’s just movie magic. Additional reading and listening: The prop gun explainer from the LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-10-22/alec-baldwin-what-is-a-prop-gun-how-does-it-work Vox's Today, Explained podcast covers the Alec Baldwin shooting: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0j3fmd4afvjOZHVWhJq6jU?si=39b9a4911fce41c2 More on the evolution of fake blood: https://slate.com/culture/2017/10/movie-blood-recipe-and-history-from-hersheys-to-corn-syrup-and-beyond.html https://www.scream-thrillogy.com/ Vox.com is a news website that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Check out http://www.vox.com/ Make sure you never miss behind the scenes content in the Vox Video newsletter, sign up here: http://vox.com/video-newsletter Support Vox's reporting with a one-time or recurring contribution: http://vox.com/contribute-now Shop the Vox merch store: http://vox.com/store Watch our full video catalog: http://goo.gl/IZONyE Follow Vox on Facebook: http://facebook.com/vox Follow Vox on Twitter: http://twitter.com/voxdotcom Follow Vox on TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@voxdotcom