February 18, 2016

Remember the Terror Teds? Sure you do!

We reported on the nightmare fuel they’ve been creating back in December and you guys went nuts for them and started pulling your faces off the way their bears do! OK, not that nuts, but still!

We feature a lot of independent retailers on this site, but these guys were by far the ones that got the most responses and inquiries. And so, we wanted to peel the curtain back a bit (instead of a bear face for the time being) and give you a little insight into the fine fiends behind Terror Teds. That is, what we were able to uncover. I quickly discovered that they’re as secretive as Banksy when it comes to their identities! But it’s all about the bears and we delve into that in the chat below.

Blumhouse.com: So, who exactly ARE you guys? Tell us a bit about yourselves, where you’re from and how Terror Teds came into being?

Terror Teds: We are horror loving, creative beings. Oh and we’re British… Our fondness of all things creepy and gruesome ignited the idea of transforming a cuddly bear into something uniquely disturbing in it’s own right.

Aside from some questionable reactions from friends and family at our chosen venture, the Terror Teds soon gained many adoring fans. We’re not sure if it’s the bears’ combination of creepy cuteness or blood soaked fur, our Terror Teds are definitely gaining themselves a reputation with horror fans everywhere!

Blumhouse.com: Walk us through the process of how each of your Terror Teds comes to be – from conception to production to final doll. Do you spend a lot of time drawing and doing designs before physically putting them together? Curious how much prep goes into each doll before you execute the idea. And what that entails for one individual doll.

Terror Teds: We begin by sketching out various ideas based on inspiration taken from gruesome movie monsters or our ever-growing collection of horror comic books. But mostly, our own dark imagination is enough to conjure up the most monstrous of designs.

Every single tooth and bone you see is hand made and painted with high quality FX materials. We use lots of liquid latex to create the more burnt, ripped wounds. Once a ted is built and painted, it is then glossed to create a ‘wet look’ to its wounds and when the artist is 100% happy, the little Terror is sent off to his/her new owner!

Blumhouse.com: I think to horror fans there’s something both appealing and scary about the “perversion of innocence.” The idea of taking something from childhood and tweaking it with sinister intentions. Do you agree? And is that why you think people have become so fascinated by Terror Teds? To me they seem like the perfect balance of horror menace and childhood innocence!

Terror Teds: We do indeed strip an innocent bear of its rights to be your cuddly little friend. However, we do sleep at night knowing our bears actually prefer looking frightfully different, just ask one, we dare you!

We didn’t set out in creating the Teds because we are at war with all things lovable and cute. We simply prefer the unlovable and grotesque… it makes them even more enchanting, perhaps?

Many people stick to dreaming of fairies and unicorns into adulthood, while the rest of us recognize that the darker side of life is actually more alluring and beautiful!

We have lots of comments on how cute people think our Teds are, even covered in maggot-infested deep wounds! – From these remarks, we believe that certain people see one of our Teds with unfortunate lacerations and this entices a natural urgency within to care for it! A very unique appeal if we do say so ourselves!

Blumhouse.com: Your bears & company in general has expanded so drastically in the last few months. What does the future hold for Terror Teds and what new things are you working on or hope to achieve in the upcoming year?

Terror Teds: Absolutely, the Terror Teds are doing very well indeed! We feel truly blessed with the amount of fans our bears are gaining. Because of this, our fans have become very important to us, so we plan on involving and rewarding them by hosting monthly Facebook competitions where they can win a Terror Ted and asking questions like, what new type of Teds they’d like to see in our range!

We plan to appear at various conventions with Teds in hand, the first show we’re attending is HorrorCon 2016, we’re very excited about this and plan to create Teds based on attending guests!

We also have an extremely thrilling collaboration occurring at the moment, which we cannot wait to announce! Apart from that, we are planning on adding new Teds to our range – More recognizable characters such as Stephen King’s IT clown, Frankenstein, Zombies, and of course… Michael Myers!

Blumhouse.com: As horror fans yourselves, what are some of your personal go-to favorites that you either grew up loving or just like having on while working from Terror Teds headquarters?

Terror Teds: We find it almost impossible to create our Teds without some kind of horror flick on in the background! Growing up, our viewing choices were GOOSEBUMPS, LABYRINTH and of course GREMLINS! Some of our go-tos now are HELLRAISER, HALLOWEEN, AMERICAN HORROR STORY and TALES FROM THE CRYPT! But honestly, we’re happy with most blood curdling murderous sounds coming from the television to excite our ghastly creativity!

We keep an eye out for what really scares people, or simply grosses them out! Like the charred skin of Freddy Kruger (which is coming soon to the Terror Teds range) with the blistered gross bubbling texture, or the psychotic gaze of a crazy clown. We love applying these horror aesthetics to bears, it seems to take it to another level of creepiness!