Episode Recap: Killer Instinct

McKenzie summons the contestants to the lab where they encounter a heavy mist and a gothic mirror. She directs them to speak the name of Bloody Mary three times while looking into it. Some of them know better, but still they incant the name and out of the shadows come robed figures carrying eerie lights. Is this the end for our brave contestants? No, it's just the beginning! Of the Foundation Challenge! They have two hours to complete their version of Bloody Mary, that figure from childhood superstition. Guest judge is Brigette Myre Ellis, who won an Emmy for her work on Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and heads up the makeup department on True Blood – so she knows a few things about making monsters. Her favorite looks are Rachael's (a face-stealing picture of elegance and envy) and Drew's (a stony ghost who cries blood). Brigette loves the way Rachael's Mary is scary and at the same time beautiful, with her sewn-on face, and awards her the win – and immunity going into the Spotlight Challenge.

And since we at the Face Off labs love nothing more than consistency, we're going to keep this horror theme rolling! The artists return to Universal Studios, where McKenzie tells them that the winner of this challenge will have their makeup be a part of Universal Studios Halloween Horror Nights. The challenge is to take one of the posters from the campy, made-up movies and design the villain that wreaks horror on the world of that film. Rachael, never one to rest on her laurels, chooses Bone Appetit and designs a duchess-alien character who hosts opulent feasts – where the guests are the main course. With an animated mouth in the hostess's belly and a gorgeous old age makeup, the duchess finds herself in top looks.

Cig chooses The Second Chumming and creates a backstory about a mutinous throwing their captain in the chum bucket where he becomes one with the chum and returns as a gory monster with two sets of jaws full of piranha-like teeth. It's a ton of work, and the paint job manages to take a nearly monochrome subject and give it depth. The judges applaud both of these technical feats, as well as the well-pitched concept, and Cig and his bloody captain join Rachael and her duchess. Also in the upper echelon of horror fun is George and his Axe Girlfriend, a highly realistically sculpted ghoul of a girl seeking vengeance after being dumped by her married boyfriend – and by "dumped," we mean, shot through the head. George chooses a very bloody death but doesn't go overboard with the actual blood on the character, meaning his stellar sculpting and expressive makeup can really shine through. The judges feel this nightmare heartbreaker would be a perfect fit in the world of Halloween Horror Nights, and George is elated that his work will be professionally freaking people out at Universal Studios this Halloween!

Less successful makeups include Keaghlan's Homecoming Scream – she tried to turn the anatomy of her high school princess around backwards, but the effort was a bit too monstrous for one person to pull off successfully – and Dina's The Cloven, a reindeer from Hell who looked more like a cute kitty than a murderous demon animal.

Sasha's Bonnie from Bonnie and Cyanide – a jilted lover who turned her own poisoned blood into a weapon to kill others – was deemed the look to let go. The judges found no merit in the overgrown veins of the sculpture, and the paint job was muddy and confusing. Sasha accepts Glenn's nod to her talent and stronger work of weeks gone by with due grace – until he tells her that they're using their save for her! That’s when she freaks out, can't speak, and almost trips on her way back to the makeup room to tell everyone she's back in the game. When the judges make you so happy you can hardly stand up… now that's good news!