An accomplished cosplayer and craftsman in the UK horror-con scene, Janey Thoms has created a sizable following with her work and skills on display for her artistic skills. Now, in honor of Women in Horror Month, I talk with her about her history with the genre, the inspiration for her pieces, and her future projects.
Me: Hello and thank you for taking the time to do this. First off, when did you get into horror in general? What films specifically got you into watching horror movies?
Janey Thoms: Hi, thank you for this opportunity.
When I was a kid, I was actually not allowed to watch “horror” films but could get away with Dr. Who (which I love) and Hammer horror films, so they have to get some credit for igniting my love of horror. When I was about 15 or 16, I got to watch my first proper horror films, 2 incredible classics back-to-back Nightmare on Elm Street and Hellraiser, that was it, I was in love, and there was no turning back from there. I devoured every film I could get my hands on; I was down the video shop (I know I’m showing my age) every week looking to find something I hadn’t seen, something new, something that I could engulf myself in for a while. Horror was my mind's wonderland.
Me: When did you initially discover a passion for crafting and making items?
JT: I’ve always been arty, if you looked at my rough books from when I was in middle school, you’d find sketches of hanged corpses, zombies, and vamp teeth I’ve always had that macabre side to me. The joy of history lessons was there were always graphic descriptions to be had of a highwayman being hanged, a witch being burnt, or someone being tortured, great ways to feed a vivid imagination but when I was 18 at uni I got my hands on a small bottle of liquid latex and created a burned Halloween makeup. By 22 I’d be walking around on Halloween with nails, and broken plastic sticking out of my face, arms, chest, and legs (my version of Julia from Return to the Living Dead Part 3). By the time I was in my 40’s I wanted to make my own characters, I’ve done a number of horror shoots over the last 10 years where every time I’ve created a character from scratch and brought her to life for a while.
Me: Was there ever an intention to meld it with your love of horror? How did that initially come together?
JT: When my son was little, I wanted to teach him how to sew (yeah, I know, what’s that to do with horror), well the way I went about it is, that I got him to sewing felt Xmas decorations for members of our family every Xmas. Each year I created a design and we’d sit and sew them together. We started with gingerbread men with bites out, then zombie Santas, then vampire elves, cannibal reindeer (complete with ribcages and blood). We’ve been making these for more than a decade and got to the point where we have Killer Klown snowmen, gremlins, and slasher bunnies on everyone’s Xmas tree (lol), amongst a whole array of other horror Xmas characters.
Me: How did the idea of selling these handmade crafts come about? What was the initial reaction to these pieces when that occurred?
JT: A broken heart is how it came about. I decided to deal with my feelings by redecorating my room, with what I love, horror, the best way to have sweet dreams is to have Freddy and Pinhead watching over you, but I couldn’t find a horror lampshade. My engineering head came into play,’ if you can’t find what you want, make it!’ So, I made a Freddy glove lampshade for my room, followed by 2 lament configuration ones for the landing and hallway. They got a good reaction on Instagram and I got a request from a friend to make a Crow one, which he absolutely loved it. Then someone else wanted a conjuring one, then a Saw one, then a combo one with Night of the Creeps, Halloween 3, Creepshow & Escape to New York but at that point, it was as far as it got.
As I got asked to make props for a pub, I had to refocused my spare time on to sculpting busts and making props, rather than the horror lampshades. I did 2 consecutive years creating decorations first year was Hellraiser themed with cenobites & frank busts, Julia coming out of a mattress, a pillar of souls, franks corpses rising from the floor boards, the lament configuration, franks stretched face, lament configuration panels, etc. The second-year Nightmare on Elm Street (with an Edgar Allen Poe secondary display), I made a set of Freddy’s different gloves, a Springwood sign, Elm Street sign, the model house from dream warriors, welcome to primetime bitch life-sized TV death scene, Amanda Krueger corpse with tombstone, the Freddy snake (big enough to get your leg into), the souls coming out of Freddy’s back from 5, the soul chest from 4, baby Krueger, Freddy marionette doll.
Me: What do you go through in a typical day on one of your crafts? What type of priorities and tasks do you go through to ensure a successful creation?
JT: Everything is still in the early stages of setting up the business side, so every day is different. Let’s take you through a few days in the past week, I spent one day cutting up bodies and sewing them together, another turning them out and stuffing them. Today, I spent the whole day sculpting a mask in clay, tomorrow I will be making a plaster mould from the sculpt, the day after (whilst the mould dries), I will jump back onto the dolls and cast the faces on to the heads, I may also cast a resin mask or two. The day after that when mould is dry, I’ll clean it out and let it have another day to dry some more. Then back to the doll’s heads and resin masks, mount the heads on stands (it’s like a mini ode to Vlad the Impaler with heads on stands on the table), crank up some metal, get the airbrush out, and spend a day painting.
Me: What would you consider your favorite part of the process involved? What part do you dread having to do?
JT: My favourite part is creating, sculpting, sewing, or painting, I love them all. As I crank up some music and just get lost in it. What do I like least? other than having to stop creating to do the paperwork? well whenever I make something new, the process is: do research, gather reference material, get the materials, start, at some point in the early stages have a flap about it not looking/going right, swear a lot very loudly, then carry on, start liking it again, fall in love with it. Then I put this little part of my soul out there and wait to see if others like it or not.
Me: As well, you’re also a cosplay actress on the UK horrorcon scene. What has been your most memorable experience as a part of this?
JT: Every horrorcon with each different character has its special moment (I’ve been Elvira to Chop Top and many in-between).
Last year I created a M.A.R.K-13 from Hardware (a 1990 British horror film everyone should watch, it's brilliant), a photo of my creation made it to the eyes of the director Richard Stanley, who promptly shared the photo on Facebook (yes I did bounce up and down with excitement and scream just a little at this), I also got to promise Doug Bradley that I wouldn’t spike him with it, along with so very many lovely people stopping to talking to me about how much they loved the film and how they couldn’t wait to share it with their partner/mate/next victim cos they hadn’t seen if for a while.
I also had Selwyn mid-breaking through Fiona’s face (yes that was the cosplay look I not only walked around in but drove to the venue in), cos who doesn’t love Braindead! the reaction this got was Simon Bamford (butterball from Hellraiser) wanting to prod my face, people not knowing where my mouth was (always interesting when some random stranger comes up and goes “excuse me, I don’t mean to be rude but where’s your mouth?”) and a lot of love from everyone at the convention. My last horror con last year (FTLOH) I created a “good” girl (Bride of Chucky Chucky face as a humanoid prosthetic), I had the great pleasure of making Fiona Dourif scream with joy at seeing me.
I have had a small part in Witches of the Sands (an indie UK horror film due out soon), as wolf girl and
created both the minotaur and my makeup for those parts in the film.
Me: In addition to this, what are you able to provide for fans looking for you online?
JT: Currently you can find me on Instagram @janeythoms, where you will find my creations, my horror cosplays, and my horror pinup shoots. I’m hoping to be setting up on Etsy to sell masks and horror dolls in the next couple of months (please keep an eye out for Janey’s nightmares).
Me: Lastly, being that this is our Women in Horror Movement, what special message do you have for any women out there looking to join in the industry in any capacity as you are one yourself? Thank you again for your time!
JT: It seems strange to be the one giving words of encouragement as I am only just setting out on my own new and exciting journey into my realms of horror. But here goes-
Do what makes your dark little heart happy! Do what you love, your way. If horror is what sets your brain a lite, embrace your passion with both arms, who knows you could be the next Clive Barker, Wes Craven or Tom Savini. The horror community is like a big wonderful family of beautiful freaks just waiting to embrace you, yes, we will get red on you but everything is better with MORE BLOOD!!!
This interview ran as part of our 2024 Women in Horror Movement celebrations! Click the banner below to check out our complete coverage:
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