Horror-themed calendar produced by Fat Foot Films and Pick Your Poison makeup studio. Replete with gore, girls, and ghoulish flair.

1. 34 THEPULSEMAG.COM | Dec. 2014
ART&CULTURE
Local calendar features
music, models and mayhem
By Sean M. Haley
Twelve different women walk into a bar, and 12 different murder scenarios play
out before your eyes. It may sound like the newest TV crime drama, but it’s
actually one of the concepts of the Looks that Kill calendar. This in-your-face,
horror-themed calendar combines alternative models with horror movie motifs
to create a unique body of work that, as stated on the calendar’s website,
“wraps the world of beauty in a blanket of macabre.”
LTK is the brain child of Ryan Convery and Ed Gutierrez, of Worcester/Lowell-
based Fat Foot Films, and Shauna LeMay, of Pick Your Poison Makeup in
Lowell. It is an ongoing project to promote local bands and alternative models,
as well as to generate revenue for the group’s various projects. “The film
industry is expensive, so we needed a way to raise money,” Convery said.
The calendar was originally made to earn money for Fat Foot’s zombie movie
Mourning Wood.
The film began life as a short skit Convery and Gutierrez performed together in
their younger years on local access TV in their hometown of Sutton. A friend of
theirs worked at the station and told them they could get away with airing some
of their racier material due to the channel’s low viewership.
The story takes place in
the small town of “Slutton,”
where, according to Convery,
the gag was the zombies
“hump you until you explode,
which is how you turn into
a zombie, rather than being
bitten.”
“It was vulgar,” Convery
laughed. “We got kicked off
after five episodes.”
This comedic impropriety
and shock value has carried
over into their current work.
“Ryan and I were into
filming, and Shauna was into
makeup,” Gutierrez said,
noting that it was the perfect
combination for what they set
out to do.
LeMay, a native of Milford, began her career in freelance hair and makeup before
lending her abilities to LTK. However, her role as photographer on the project
was just a serendipitous accident.
“I had an image in my head that I wanted, tried to explain it to the photographer,
and it was difficult,” Lemay said. Convery added that he suggested that LeMay
take a picture to find the angle she wanted and realized, “She can snap a photo!”
LeMay then learned to use Photoshop and did the calendar’s photo editing,
as well. Gutierrez said, “The photo manipulation in this year’s calendar was
incredible!”
Lemay learned as she went with the horror makeup, as well. “I’m completely self-
taught,” she said. “If you have basic essentials and a relative idea of what you
want or research basic technique, anything is possible.”
Where the group previously needed to hold casting calls, LeMay said she now
has people inquiring about modeling for the calendar. “We already have 12 new
models lined up,” LeMay said. “People are interested as far away as Tennessee
and California, but we have no way of getting them to shoots unless they want to
fly out here.”
Convery also added that each calendar includes a behind-the-scenes DVD. “It’s
unique because you get to meet the girls,” he added. “You realize that they’re not
just bimbos. They’re funny, and they’re locals. You can see them at the bar.”
This year, the calendar DVD includes a grotesquely humorous “strip roulette
wheel of death” scene inspired by Adult Japan TV Game Show.
“Every year, we do something great, but then we have to outdo ourselves,”
Gutierrez said, noting that the collaborators’ excitement to do the next project
helps them along. “We thrive on that.”
Gutierrez added that the crew has a very close-knit dynamic when working
together. “We fight a lot, but we get through it and we look forward to fighting
each other the next year.”
“We butt heads,” Convery added. “We’re trying not to kill each other before we
come up with something great.”
For the future, Gutierrez hopes to gain wider distribution for the calendar,
including a mall kiosk. “I would love for our calendar to be everywhere, for it to
expand,” Gutierrez said.
The 2015 Looks That Kill calendar is available, with DVD, for $14.99. For
more information, visit looksthatkillcalendar.com.