Calgarians vying to be named the Face of Horror in international competition

Calgary’s Visha Loo is known as the Blood Queen or Horror Queen and soon she hopes to add another title.

Loo has made it into the quarter-finals of the international Face of Horror competition.

While there are still hundreds of horror enthusiasts vying for the prize, Loo likes her chances. The horror genre is more than just an interest for her, it’s a lifestyle.

Loo is a performer, contortionist, model, designer, and hair stylist, has her own line of fake blood, and even makes bath bombs that turn the water red.

Living the horror lifestyle

“The darker side of things has always appealed to me, whether it was Halloween or horror,” Loo says.

“I get labelled as a goth, but really I just like dressing up. So I feel like I’m very Halloweeny because I dress up, I eat candy, and I scare children.”

Loo says she loves the overuse of blood, using scenes from the classic horror movie Nightmare on Elm Street as an example.

Her performances tend to include a lot of fake blood and nods to horror movies, with her newest show based on the Buffalo Bill character from The Silence of the Lambs.

“I don’t use real blood in anything. I don’t glorify actual serial killers or anything in what I do,” Loo says, describing her performances as the Hollywood version of horror.

How it all started

Loo’s obsession with the genre started when she was quite young—by Grade 3 to be exact.

“I was watching Poltergeist 2 and I was already laughing at it because I thought it was funny, not scary,” she says.

In fact, Loo had just turned six when she watched her very first horror movie.

“I asked my mom if I could watch this movie about a cat. And she said yes, so I did,” Loo says.

Unbeknownst to her mother at the time, the movie was Pet Sematary.

“My mom was worried that I wasn’t OK. And all I said was, ‘I want to be the person in the scary movie.’”

Loo would go on to realize that dream. She has acted in two horror movies, though neither has been released.

A haunted homestead

Loo and her husband have plans to expand their love of horror into a business.

“I just bought a 107-year-old house out in Vulcan County and we’re turning it into a haunted homestead,” she says.

The goal is to build a log cabin on the property to provide a spooky Airbnb experience where visitors can choose their own adventure and level of scare.

Loo says she also eventually wants to have black Ameraucana chickens and black goats.

If she wins the Face of Horror competition, which includes $13,000 as part of the grand prize, Loo would put the money toward her dream.

“This competition is made for me to win,” she says.

What’s up for grabs

Along with the cash prize, the winner will also receive a walk-on role in an independent movie, a two-night stay at the location that was used as Buffalo Bill’s house in The Silence of the Lambs, and a photo shoot with Kane Hodder—who played horror icon Jason Voorhees in four Friday the 13th films.

Loo says two other competitors from Calgary also made it into the quarter-finals, including Dan Doherty—CEO and founder of Calgary Horror Con.

If Doherty wins, he plans to put all of the money toward expanding the horror convention, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year.

Loo knows Doherty well as she has been a founding performer at Calgary Horror Con since its inception.

Competition among friends

The two have a friendly competition and while Loo wishes they both could win, she says she isn’t worried about Doherty, or any of the other competitors for that matter.

“I’m going to beat them because I am the Face of Horror, they are not,” she says confidently.

“I feel bad for them because I wouldn’t want to go against me.”

The remaining quarter-finalists have been divided into Hellraiser groups for the current round of voting, which ends on Oct. 27.

Only the top competitor in each group will move onto the Apocalypse round, then the Final Cut runs from Nov. 4-10.

To vote for Visha Loo, click HERE.