Happy Halloween and welcome to my 2026 Halloween post!
A few months ago, I came up with an idea to re-create the prom scene from the 1976 movie Carrie with Sissy Spacek.
You know the one: Carrie White wins Prom Queen, has a bucket of pig blood dumped on her, and then unleashes her telekinetic powers on everyone.
The story was also brought into modern times with the Carrie series on Amazon Prime. However, my concept is based solely on the 1976 version.
The Location
After some brainstorming, I decided that the photo studio at the Art Gallery of Burlington was perfect for its size and high ceiling.
Finding Carrie
I asked my friend s0s1nc3r3 if he could recommend a model to be my Carrie. He suggested a few, but none of them had the look I was after. Then he said I should ask Shaelin Pearson, a model from Hamilton.
For this idea, I wanted everything to be as close to the movie as possible, down to every detail!
Shaelin had the perfect build. Carrie was petite, with defined facial features, a lean, slim body and long, defined arms. Shaelin checked every box, except for the hair.
Carrie had long strawberry blonde hair with some curls and styling framing her face. After some searching, I discovered Adrianna Hwozdyk (@811alchemy), a stylist out of Mississauga who provided me with the perfectly styled wig.
The Dress
Carrie’s outfit took a bit more work. I didn’t want a cheaply made prom gown Halloween costume; I wanted a real prom dress. I visited four different thrift stores, and finally the Value Village on Appleby Line in Burlington delivered.
I found a prom dress that screams Old-Hollywood glamour meets prom night: a liquid ice-blue satin column gown with a deep plunging V-neck. Over in the scarf section, I found a perfectly matching sheer chiffon wrap. The dress Carrie wears in the movie is pink, but this one was close enough, and besides, it wouldn’t be blue for long!
The tiara came from Spirit Halloween. I ordered a pink rose wrist corsage from Amazon, and the morning of the shoot I picked up a bouquet of a dozen pink roses.
The Blood
So, I had a location, I had Carrie and I had her outfit. Now I needed blood!
The blood at Spirit Halloween can’t go in your eyes or your mouth, and this blood would be going everywhere. This is where s0s1nc3r3 came in clutch once again!
s0s1nc3r3 does several photo shoots in his studio space above his gothic candy and oddities store, Antidote Apothecary, and these shoots often involve blood. He reached out to his friend Frank Popp Jr., aka the.blood.guy. Frank makes movie blood that is safe to consume and can get into your eyes and other places too!
s0s1nc3r3 came to the shoot with a laundry detergent tub filled with movie blood!
The Set
The backdrop was easy. A quick trip to Party City in Burlington provided the sparkly backdrop, the SENIOR PROM letters and some stars to bedazzle the set.
For the day of the shoot, I asked my friend and professional photographer James Elliott if he’d like to join us to help out and provide some guidance. James has been teaching me the ins and outs of studio lighting, so having him there was a huge help!
Shoot Day
I built the set and backdrop the day before, so on Saturday morning, James and I got to work on the lighting setup. James brought a collapsible doggy pool for Shaelin to stand in so the blood could collect, and we put a sheet down to catch the spatter.
The lovely Shaelin arrived with a smile, eager and ready to shoot. She brought her parents along as well, which was a pleasant surprise.
Once James and I were happy with our setup and had done a few test runs with a mannequin and a bucket of water, we were ready to go.
The prom dress fit Shaelin perfectly and the wig looked amazing on her. She entered the change room as Shaelin Pearson and came out as Carrie White.
Shaelin is very familiar with the original Carrie, so she knew exactly what I was looking for. Being a well-established and experienced model, I knew this would be easy!
Set 1: Prom Queen
She stepped into the pool and got right into character as we shot the first scenes in the gown, holding the flowers and smiling in disbelief at the cheering crowd.
Set 2: Blood Bath
We set up a stepladder, and s0s1nc3r3 delivered the blood bath. In total, we poured three whole buckets of blood directly onto Shaelin’s head. She never once flinched and stayed in character the whole time.
Set 3: Shock
Now that she was drenched, it was time for the moment where Carrie stands in shock, trying to comprehend what just happened as the audience points and laughs at her. She screams with her head in her hands and pulls at her blood-soaked hair.
Set 4: Telekinetic
By this point, the cold blood was starting to affect Shaelin, which I was unaware of. She had been shivering and shaking as part of the role, but then her shivers became real. The blood has a shelf life, and s0s1nc3r3 had to keep it in his fridge overnight, so it was cold!
Shaelin may be tiny, but she was strong, tough and determined. She fought through the cold and delivered an awesome set of photos, covered in blood from head to toe. Her big, bright eyes stole the show as she glared into the pretend audience of prom-goers who had just laughed at and mocked her.
Focused on the task at hand, I didn’t notice how badly Shaelin was shivering. The always professional and observant James Elliott suggested I hurry things along, as she seemed to be struggling.
With that, I captured my final photos of a silhouetted Carrie against a fiery background, created with the help of James and s0s1nc3r3.
That’s a Wrap
We quickly ran some towels under warm water and brought them over to warm up Shaelin, who, despite the cold and shivering, was still smiling and laughing!
Her mom helped get her out of the gown, cleaned up, warmed up and back into her comfy sweatpants and hoodie, and she was still smiling!
The studio at the Art Gallery of Burlington had turned into a bloody mess. The dog pool was filled with blood, bloody roses, a soaked prom dress, a gooey blood-soaked wig and more. And the floor? Blood spatter everywhere!
James pitched in packing the gear while s0s1nc3r3 and I got to work dumping the blood, hosing everything down and mopping the floor. The blood was on everything, but surprisingly it cleaned up fast, and in no time the studio was bright, shiny and back to normal!
Thank You
I owe a massive thanks to James Elliott, s0s1nc3r3, Adrianna Hwozdyk (@811alchemy), Frank Popp Jr. (the.blood.guy), the Art Gallery of Burlington and, of course, the incredible Shaelin Pearson and her parents for coming together and making this happen!
It was a blast bringing this to life, and I hope you all enjoy the final results!
