SyFy "Face Off" with the 'Triple Threat'

"Face Off" is beginning to play hardball with its latest episode 'Triple Threat,' which aired Feb. 15 on SyFy. The cliffhanger teaser that aired last week had McKenzie Westmore enter the backstage studio where the contestants sat exhausted after the judging on 'A Dangerous Beauty.' Westmore announces to the contestants their job is not over. In 'Triple Threat,' it's revealed that another challenge awaits the exhausted contestants. A lineup of gorgeous supermodels are presented on the stage and the contestants are to tone down their beauty, making them plain or even ugly.

The contestants had to create a backstory to the characters they were creating with wardrobe, hair and makeup to match. The creations included a drug addict complete with prosthetic track marks, a librarian with a nose cold and ink stains on her fingers and an actress turned prostitute.

The winner: Rayce for his librarian. They liked the backstory of how the librarian had a red nose from having her nose in the books all the time and the ink stains on her fingers.

The next challenge takes place a day later. Westmore presents the contestants with several pairs of twins. Their task is to age one twin to age 75 and the other twin to 100. While the teams are busy sculping prosthetics, Westmore has an additional surprise - the twins are in fact triplets. The third triplet is to be aged to 50 years old. While RJ is applying the prosthetic to his model, she has an allergic skin reaction. RJ loses valuable time as they bring in another model. RJ discovers the model's face is much smaller than the previous one. He has to do a fast patchwork job cutting off the excess mask and gluing it to his model.

The creations:

Beki, RJ and Heather - They worked off the premise of an overweight black woman who loses weight and becomes emaciated over time. The judges were the most critical of this team. Glenn Hetrik criticized Beki's creation (the 50 year old) for the high edges and the mask-like plastic look of the face. Heather's 100-year-old woman was blasted for looking more like a zombie. RJ was given kudos with his 75-year-old for the solid makeup job and for his improvisation with the model replacement.

Sue, Tara and Matt - They decided on a aging gangster theme. In a complete reversal, Sue was praised for her details in the 100-year-old gangster with the wrinkles and wardrobe choice. Matt was criticized for placing a balding cap on his model's full head of hair, creating a cone-head effect. Matt's 50-year old was called a chia pet crossed with a werewolf. Tara's 75-year-old was mostly approved of, but the long hair wig was cited as distracting.

Jerry, Ian and Rayce - They went with the aging hippie look. In a suprising turnabout, Jerry was complimented not once but twice during the contest. The judges liked the coloring Jerry applied to his 100-year-old hippie chick. Meanwhile Ian was ranked at the bottom of the barrel for his 75-year-old for the different colors in the paintjob between the head and the neck. Rayce's 50-year-old wasn't sunburned enough and the makeup made his model look more diseased than old.

Winner: Sue for her wrinkled 100-year-old gangster turned Benjamin Button style.

Loser: Heather for her poor paint job and makeup application that made her 100-year-old black lady look more like a zombie.

My take: I was surprised at the swift turn about with Sue. From last week's bottom of the barrel to the top, Sue truly had a dizzying ascent. The fact Sue hasn't won any of the previous contests makes me think this is more a flash in the pan than a real trend for her. Beki's terrible plastic-like mask on the 50-year-old black woman was surprisingly awful for the talented sculptress. A part of me thinks Beki was punished this week by the judges for her lack of loyalty and blaming Sue for last week's botched spider creation.

The 'Triple Threat' episode was one of the least interesting episodes of  "Face Off." The creations weren't that imaginative as they were transforming beautiful young models into old geezers. The show also is getting dirty with driving the contestants to work exhausted after the judging for 'A Dangerous Beauty.'

Next week's episode, Alien Interpreters, will air at 9 p.m. CST Wednesday, Feb. 22 on SyFy.

"Face Off" creates Night Terrors

The fourth episode of the Face Off series, "Night Terrors" begins with a cell phone ringing at 3 a.m. Brea answers it and a creepy voice orders her to get dressed and wake the others. They have 15 minutes to get ready and be out the door.

The contestants are brought to a creepy abandoned hospital where McKenzie Westmore shows a list of phobias painted on to the hospital wall. Each contestant is to choose one of the phobias. Some of the fears are so obscure and bizarre it's impossible to discern what they are until the meaning is revealed to the contestants.

After the contestants pick their phobia, they have 15 minutes to go to a secluded place at the hospital armed only with a flashlight and a pad of paper. They are to sketch their design of the horror villain they were to create based on the phobia.

While Beki has an instant vision of her creature, Parasitophobia (fear of parasites), Tara struggles in developing a concept Ommetophobia (fear of eyes). Jerry flounders with his creation for Electrophobia, first with wasting time trying to get the blinking lights to work, then recasting a mask that proves to be too mushy to use in the final makeup.

Hadephobia (fear of Hell) - While Sue's concept was very cool, the final creature moved in too many directions with the skull-helmet, a demon mask, braids, a few swipes of paint across the chest and a skirt.

Parasitophobia (fear of parasites) - Beki's strong vision and quick work created an impressive woman infested by parasites and a parasite-creature unto herself. The multiple lamprey-like teeth and the chest piece with protruding worms was embellished with a beautiful irridescent paint job.

Ondontophobia (fear of teeth) - Never-do-right Ian finally struck the nail the head with his tooth fairy demon. Nasty teeth protruded everywhere, embedded in the skin and the face. The slimy hands and wrinkly torso (created by plastic wrap) impressed the judges and made Ian's tooth demon very creepy.

Merinophobia (fear of being bound) - Athena created a backstory that her horror villain was raped as a child and now she strangles men who want to "play with her." The rope-wrapped hooker was a bit freaky, but the paint job was poor, especially on the swollen, bruised side of the woman's face. Athena also lost points on the ribcage and poor use of anatomy.

Cryophobia (fear of frost) - Rayce created a frost ghoul that had a face of gnarled, cracked ice. While the creation was cool, Rayce lost points on the edges popping up and revealing skin at the neck. The frost ghoul also needed sparkle or the glisten of ice.

Xerophobia (fear of razors) - Matt went with the stale theme of a mad doctor with Freddy Krueger razor glove and an odd pair of goggle eyes. Matt finished the look with a big saw blade on the right arm and a bloodied smock. Been there, seen that in many horror movies. Next.

Electrophobia (fear of electricty) - Jerry's cockiness was almost his downfall (again) when he decided he didn't like the pink in the original mask and decided to recast it to a fleshtone color. The new mask was too gooey and Jerry ended up using the pink mask anyway. His paint job was slopped together, the mask looked unrealistic and the mad doctor had no burns from the electricity. Boring and a very Halloween-like creation.

Chemophobia (fear of chemicals) - Brea also went into this challenge cocky and her chemical-burn victim creature suffered for it. The face turned into a bloody, pustule mess with chipmunk cheeks and teeth poking out in the wrong areas. It looked more like a burn victim than a villain.

Ornithophobia (fear of birds) - Heather created an odd creature wearing a bird skull with a couple of feathery friends poking their beaks out from his abdomen. The feathers across the back were kind of cool, but the bird props were cheesy and silly-looking.

Ommetophobia (fear of eyes) - While Tara had difficulty creating her creature, she developed an idea of an Egyptian goddess on the second day. Her creation also benefited from lopping off the half of the mask-like face. Overall a cool piece that Tara admits would have been better if she had a clearer direction earlier.

Xerophobia (fear of dryness) - Matt's creation with the teeth pulling back from the dried out face was a cool effect. This sort of creature, however, has appeared in dozens of previous horror movies such as Hellraiser. The creature also would have benefited from protruding ribs, dried-out, brittle skin and emaciated hands.

The winner - Ian for his brilliantly creepy tooth demon
The loser - Brea for her mushy chemical-burn victim.

Next week "A Dangerous Beauty" will air at 9 p.m. CST Wednesday on the SyFy channel
Check out my previous Face Off reviews for Rock Your Body, Water World and Return to Oz.