NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Veronica Bosley's been experimenting with horrific and fantastical makeup as a hobby. Now she's running to be the first-ever "Face of Horror."

 

Bosley's cleared the first quarter final hurdle in the online voting contest, putting her in the company of nearly 800 other competitors going into the next round. She's already survived 10 rounds and thousands of contestants.

 

The grand prize winner gets $13,000, a photo shoot with Kane Hodder ("Jason Voorhees") in Rue Morgue Magazine, a walk-in on in an independent film and two nights at the Buffalo Bill's house (from "Silence of the Lambs") in Pennsylvania.

 

"The 'Face of Horror' is really hard," she said. "The initial grouping was 100 and now the top ones are competing. ... Everyone who placed first is competing for three more rounds."

 

She isn't sure why exactly she started doing special effect makeups, other than a love for horror films.

 

"I really love horror movies and watch them all the time, year-round," Bosley said. "There's a lot of things you can do at home so I thought I'd try it."

 

She's taught workshops locally for people to learn how to create their own spooky looks.

 

Her Facebook friends have been aware of her hobby for awhile now — every so often a creepy or disturbing creature pops up on their newsfeed. She started an Instagram account documenting her creations.

 

"I've been doing gross stuff for a number of years," she said. "I made an intentional account of what I'm trying to do for myself and to share because people were sharing them."

 

Her creativity intensified during the pandemic, like a lot of people who had to spend more time at home.

 

The best part, she said, is that you don't need a lot of special materials. Face paint and makeup, liquid latex and found objects around the house inspire much of her macabre creations.

 

"It's not like a lot of high-tech kind of stuff, which I like because you can play with this," she said. "A lot of it is just liquid latex. You put it on your skin and dries to a rubbery consistency. It's not a lot of specialty stuff."

 

One her grosser creations (if you've seen her Instagram, you know which one) was made out of liquid latex, tissue and cotton balls.

 

"Now it's a little easier to get into because there are YouTube accounts," Bosley said. "The concept is that you could accomplish some really cool gross stuff at home."

 

This is the first Face of Horror competition. Contestants are put into groups go through a number of online voting rounds with the top competitors from each group being progressively reduced each round. 

 

This past weekend, the "Re-Animator Round" allowed for runners-up to get back in the game and voting on the Hellraiser Round started on Monday morning and, so far, Bosley is fourth. The votes are being reset for this and the next two rounds, starting Oct. 28 and Nov. 4, with the winner being announced on Nov. 10.

 

Voting is free once every 24 hours — which means you can vote for your favorite once every day — and you can buy extra or B-plus votes. Voting is through Facebook or sms verification.

 

The B-plus is for the Andrew McDonough B+ Foundation, a children's cancer charity that provides financial support to families and funds research. The foundation is the beneficiary of the contest. 

 

"Through donations I've been able to raise over $700 so far. It's amazing to see how generous people are and how excited they are for me to win," Bosley said in announcing her participation. "I know the Berkshires are a very caring community but I'm honestly flattered that people have been so supportive."

 

Bosley says there's a real mix of competitors, many of whom are just fans like herself. 

 

"Some are professionals and some are people interested in makeup," she said. "But a lot are horror enthusiasts."

 

You can vote for Bosley here.