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WILLMAN: The stakes have never been higher,
and the scares have never been greater.
I have to make this one count.
WILLMAN: Two teams have met their demise.
Only three are left standing.
Hold on. Hold on.
It's chaos.
WILLMAN: Each team made up of a pumpkin carving expert...
Big isn't always better.
Bring the fear.
Does it look like a chunk of Play-Doh to you, David?
...will have to work together
to create Halloween-themed food artistry
that will blow your mind.
This is some of the best sculpting
and detail we've seen.
It's just tacky.
Fondant doesn't float in air!
If we don't come together as a team, we're not gonna win.
WILLMAN: The two teams that survive tonight are on their way
to the ultimate championship with a chance at $50,000.
WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.
I think we're in big trouble.
My neck is killing me, guys.
I may not be able to finish physically.
I'm trying to fix a six-inch hole in the damn thing!
It is time to taste the flavor of fear,
'cause this...
...is "Halloween Wars."
-- Captions by VITAC --
Closed Captions provided by Scripps Networks, LLC.
[ Laughs evilly ]
Tonight our three remaining "Halloween Wars" teams
head into yet another battle
to create the most unbelievably ghastly and delicious creations.
Judging them will be award- winning cake artist Shinmin Li
and Emmy-nominated special-effects make-up artist
Brian Kinney,
whose work has been featured in horror hits
such as "Insidious" and "Dark Skies."
Tonight, the ghouls and goblins come out to play...and to eat.
Our contestants -- They're on their way
into the "Halloween Wars" kitchen right now.
We're heading into the third battle of "Halloween Wars,"
and we're really feeling good.
Congratulations... Skeleton Crew.
JON: [ Laughing ] Yes!
We won the last Spine Chiller,
so I think we have what it takes to take it all the way.
Coming out of the second battle,
I just don't even know where my team is at.
I got to be able to move!
If we don't come together as a team,
we're not gonna win, and we are gonna be going home.
Teams, you just couldn't get enough, could you?
Welcome back, friends.
One of you will be crowned the "Halloween Wars" Champion
and walk away with $50,000.
Today there will be two rounds --
a Small Scare challenge,
the winner of which will get an extra assistant
in the second round, the Spine Chiller challenge.
You already know our judges
Shinmin Li and Brian Kinney, of course.
So let's meet our guest judge,
best-selling author of the "Sookie Stackhouse"
and "Cemetery Girl" novels Charlaine Harris.
WILLMAN: How were the accommodations in there?
Dark as a dungeon -- the way I like it.
JON: Charlaine Harris is the author
of the "Sookie Stackhouse" novels.
I love watching "True Blood."
For her to be here --
Gosh, we really have to show her what fear is.
WILLMAN: All right. Let the games begin.
Tonight's Small Scare involves the unexpected.
It has to do with something our very lives depend on
every single day.
I'm talking about...technology.
Just like my toaster has gone insane,
what if something went wrong?
What if, say, your smartphone became just a little too smart,
decided to eat your brain?
You have an app for that? No.
Guys, it is now time to take your collective skills
in pumpkin, cake, and candy to the very limits
of your ingenuity,
and give us your wildest prophecy
of a terrifying tech-revolt.
You've got 45 minutes... starting now.
All right, guys.
Bloody tech-revolt. This is cool.
So what do you want to do?
What's going out of date? Something going out of date?
Ooh, CDs -- They're dying and MP3s are coming in.
Maybe some really big, cool --
one of those earmuff headphone-type deals.
Right, right? How's he die?
You know what? Put a big note.
I could do a big note out of sugar,
crashing right into the skull.
BRIAN: Our concept is a skull wearing evil headphones
that cause the victim's untimely death.
I'm tired of getting it all the way down to the very end.
It'd be nice to have an extra set of hands.
It's down to the best of the best.
We can't be bickering at each other again.
We need to win this.
Two assistants could be the edge to get to the finals.
Death by rock 'n' roll, right?
That's great.
Like an old thing -- maybe an old TV or something like that.
Yeah. Maybe an old TV has been replaced by a flat-screen.
And it, like, sucks people in.
The story of this piece is a story of revenge.
SARAH: And there will be a hand coming out of it.
Oh! And the glass can be the teeth.
The old TV is sucking in its owner,
attacking it with sharp teeth
after the owner bought a new plasma flat-screen.
Hey, guys! I found a big one!
I'm gonna need some help with this one.
Yeah, yeah.
So, our story is, a handheld vacuum comes to life
and sucks in other utensils around the house
and uses those against its owner
[ Man screams ]
MARK: I think I'm gonna add a knife to this, too --
a saw blade and a knife.
Yes.
When I was a little kid,
I was really scared of getting sucked into the vacuum cleaner,
so for us to make this, it's gonna be a lot of fun.
Team Psychotic Misfits are gonna be Team Bye-Bye.
Yeah.
I'm trying to thin this bad boy down.
GABRIEL: I have to get the perfect piece.
MARK: Let's make sure we get this thing killer.
SANTOSH: It looks great.
BRIAN: Now I just got to get this nose
and these cheekbones just right.
I got to start on the screen, on his teeth.
We're going for dark and demented.
The rows of teeth in the mouth of this TV
are gonna be out of pulled sugar.
I got to be super-careful that I don't break these.
I'm going to be making the jagged rabbit ears
out of pulled sugar as well.
This is really cool.
It's kind of like a retro '80s TV.
Sarah's going to construct the TV itself
out of rice-cereal treats and modeling chocolate.
And Gabriel is planning on making a life-size hand
popping out of the screen.
We got to make this look as believable as possible.
We're taking a big risk on this.
He's using one piece of pumpkin.
If Gabriel can make it look realistic,
the quality of workmanship's gonna impress the judges here.
Oh. It already looks like a hand.
It is time for technological terror...in 30 minutes!
JEFF: 30 minutes?
SANTOSH: We got to win this.
BRIAN: You guys, I am putting a lot of details in this now.
I'm gonna make the skull out of rice-cereal treats
and modeling chocolate.
We're going for just a very creepy look.
So I'm gonna create flayed-off flesh from the skull,
and then David is actually gonna make the headphones
out of pumpkin.
David cuts out the headband.
They're actually separate.
He's also gonna take two smaller pumpkins
and slice those in half in order to make the earmuffs.
I'm trying to get that note how we envisioned it.
BRIAN: The CDs are gonna be made out of modeling chocolate
and then blow sugar into a musical note.
Come to Mama.
I'm sculpting this small vacuum, but I really need it to be evil,
so I want to sculpt a menacing face on this.
Santosh is making a shark fin
that goes down the back of the vacuum,
as well as the eyes, the legs, and all the gore.
Mark's making the kitchen knife
and saw blade out of modeling chocolate.
Realism is key here.
Everyone knows what a kitchen knife looks like.
I mean, this has to be recognizable.
MARK: Don't worry about time. Just keep going.
DAVE: Oh, man. That is killer, man.
It's killer.
SANTOSH: Yeah. That looks awesome, Jon.
MARK: It's coming together.
Teams, 15 minutes!
15 minutes -- We're getting down to the wire.
Gabriel's carving the pumpkin hand.
[ Exhales sharply ] This one's not working.
I'm gonna have to get another chunk.
Why isn't it working? What's going on?
That part of the pumpkin is soft.
He realized that this pumpkin's too soft.
If it's soft,
the pumpkin wouldn't be able to support itself.
That hand is the whole selling piece.
Without this hand, all it is a TV with teeth.
This is over. It's got to be on and done.
This is a big problem.
[Bleep]
GABRIEL: This one's not working.
I'm gonna have to get another chunk.
Yeah.
That part of the pumpkin is soft.
Gabriel's having problems with his pumpkin.
He realized that this pumpkin's too soft.
He had to go back to the pumpkin patch and start from scratch.
That hand is the whole selling piece.
Without this hand, all it is is a TV with teeth.
I think we're in big trouble.
I have to make this one count.
We don't have time for this.
What is he gonna do?
I'm gonna make this one work. This is good meat.
Guys, we don't have much time.
It's 10 minutes, so we got to start putting this thing together.
BRIAN: We're gonna have a skull representing death.
This musical note has to go in the forehead of the skull.
Are you gonna put it in?
Are we just gonna knead it around it?
We're gonna -- Yeah.
I can only pray
that her note's gonna sit in there and stay upright.
Yeah.
Is it sticking? Is it gonna stay?
Yep.
Five minutes!
JEFF: Is your arm coming, Gabriel?
SARAH: That arm better be coming soon.
Set it so these things can go in his mouth.
That's good.
BRIAN: I need an airbrush, guys.
Okay. Made up, brother. Where do you want them?
Just put those on. I'll airbrush around them.
We ain't got time.
A little bit more. Hand's in!
JON: Mark, that's delicate pumpkin work,
so you got to be really careful -- Please.
Our hand vac is possessed.
So the vacuum's going to suck in other utensils
and use those to attack its owners.
Oh, hey, gosh!
You guys got to make the legs.
You have the holes for that?
JON: We needed to make some holes for the sugar legs
to fit into the pumpkin body.
And sugar and pumpkin just don't work well together.
Just stick it in and twist and pull it out.
It'll come right out.
We're losing valuable time.
I'm afraid we're about to blow it.
SANTOSH: Yeah. Quickly.
WILLMAN: One minute!
Come on!
Get in there. Get in there.
SARAH: I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.
JON: Come on, guys! Get these legs on here!
I got it on. I got it on this side.
JEFF: Got to get these teeth in. They're almost done.
Guys, I am in. I am locked in.
WILLMAN: 10...9...8...
7...6...5...
4...3...2...1.
Time is up.
JEFF: Actually looks really good.
MARK: All right. Good job.
God bless you all. That's beautiful.
BRIAN: We finally came together as a team.
We're in a great spot.
Teams, we wanted you to look into an alternate universe
where deadly technology has gone mad with power
to chilling results.
ALL: Very good.
Tell us what you've done.
We decided to represent the quickly aging technologies
seeking revenge on its host,
and they're attacking their end user
with a musical note crushing through the head.
The skull is made out of modeling chocolate.
The headphones are pumpkin.
And the musical note is blown sugar.
And the CDs are fondant.
I love the skull itself --
the cracks on the top of the head,
the sockets, the tops of his teeth.
The headphones are great as well.
I cannot tell that it's pumpkin.
But the music note in no way resembles a music note.
Instead of blowing and pulling the sugar,
I would have created some sort of a mold
and actually poured the sugar into it,
and then you would have a really well-defined note.
So, Brian, creeped out?
KINNEY: I'm very drawn to this piece.
I think this is some of the best sculpting and detail
we've seen from your team.
I love the airbrushing. I love the sculpt.
I've done a number of flayed skulls,
and I've done flesh out of a number of different media.
With this, because the color was so close to the skull,
I'd like to see a little more of a flesh tone in there.
So, Charlaine, thoughts on their terrifying story?
I tell stories of the macabre and the supernatural
all the time with the "Sookie Stackhouse" books.
I interpreted the musical note as a tentacle,
and if a story has to be explained,
it hasn't been envisioned correctly.
But I thought the headphones looked fantastic.
ALL: Thank you.
Team Black Magic, tell us about this techy story.
What we've got for you today is a tale of jealousy.
Our archaic television set
has been replaced by a plasma screen,
so it's come back and torn apart the owner.
The television set itself is made of rice-cereal treats
covered in modeling chocolate.
The screen, the antennas, and the plug on the side
are made from pulled sugar.
And the arm coming out is pumpkin.
There's a whole story here.
It's very obvious that it's the old-school television
with the rabbit ears consuming the viewer.
I love that it's clearly unplugged,
generating its own power.
We have that eerie glow.
Well, I love that this is a story
that does not need to be explained.
The hand coming out has so much life and movement.
It looks like when this TV is done with the hand,
it's coming after me.
I like that the shattered glass looked like they became teeth.
HARRIS: I think the hand has actual emotion.
I really like the carving of it.
Black Magic, thank you.
ALL: Thank you.
Skeleton Crew.
What we gave you
is an angry, possessed handheld vacuum.
And it's seeking revenge on its owners
by going around, picking up household implements,
and chopping off the fingers and toes of its owners.
The main body is made out of pumpkin.
And the saw and the knife and fingers and toes
are actually made out of modeling chocolate.
And we have pulled sugar for the legs, the eyes, and the gore.
LI: The knife is the best part, in my opinion.
It looks so realistic.
It looks like my 9-inch chef knife at home.
But there are some flaws that I see here.
The pumpkin handheld vacuum looks really lopsided.
I noticed that there are some holes in the vacuum machine,
and I'm wondering if you just didn't have enough time
to create extra legs.
I like that the vacuum has taken on
a very obvious organic shape and color to it.
Whether it's a happy accident or intended, I like the asymmetry.
I like the sort of disproportionate legs.
I think, to animate this a little more,
I would have liked to see the blades maybe raised,
maybe in motion,
so that it was coming at me a little bit more.
It would have delivered the scare a little bit more.
HARRIS: I like the look of this.
It makes me want to go home and unplug my handheld vacuum.
ALL: Thank you.
All right, teams,
we'll give our jury here a chance to absorb your carnage.
We'll meet back here in a few. Thanks.
BRIAN: At this point,
it just seems like nothing is gonna go our way.
I'm fed up with not winning.
I'm just disgusted that we can't win.
I'm angry. I want to win this.
And I'm very frustrated because I don't know what to think.
Teams, you all gave the judges terrible tech-revolts
that are gonna keep them sleeping with one eye open
for nights to come.
This was close.
Congratulations...
...Team Psychotic Misfits.
All right.
BRIAN: Thank God.
We needed that so bad.
To get the extra set of hands for the Big Scare
is just so huge.
JEFF: We've won all the small scares, but we lost this one.
I hope this isn't a sign of things to come.
[ Evil laughter ]
Now, in the Spine Chiller challenge,
we are sinking further into the dark, murky worlds
of the unknown,
to a place full of sounds from unseen animals,
coated in a thick menacing fog.
I'm talking about the terror known as the swamp.
BRIAN: This theme is fantastic. I love the swamp.
I am incredibly excited.
We want each of you to give the judges
your wildest interpretation
of what lurks just beneath the surface of a swamp.
Each of you also needs to create a gooey, swamp-like treat
for them to nibble on.
You've got five hours to call up your swamp thing
from the depths of your imagination...
[ Alarm blares ]
We have got to get this one.
Oh, man. Yeah.
All right, man. We got the small scare, an extra assistant.
We're so excited.
BRIAN: This is exactly what my team needs.
We need this momentum.
If we win the Spine Chiller,
then we're right back up on top.
When you think of the swamp thing,
what do you think of and what do you want to do?
What if he already attacked,
and he ate whatever he had attacked
and it's in the belly?
Digestion occurring right there in the swamp, man.
That could be creepy.
BRIAN: We're gonna make the swamp thing
already have eaten somebody
with this man that's inside of it,
like, trying to push out of the belly.
We have got to win this thing.
We got an extra assistant.
$50,000 is one the line.
We can do this. The gloves are off.
Let's do it!
I'm gonna grab the big green guys.
You ready? Let's go!
Do we do a classic swamp monster?
Do we do an alien swamp monster?
No, no. Something mutated --
like a mutated snake or something.
What about the story? The story's so important.
How about some guy catching --
Yeah. An entomologist.
Our concept is an entomologist is going through the swamp
catching fireflies,
when he gets attacked by a mutant, giant snake.
I'm gonna make the swamp creature out of pumpkin.
It's got to be a huge pumpkin.
Okay. Great.
What if we did a two-tiered --
half above water and half below water?
Maybe it should be a fisherman.
He's just lost his boat, maybe, and it's on the bottom.
And then maybe the swamp monster can be coming out here.
JEFF: Below the water there's going to be a giant monster
made out of pumpkin,
and he's going to be attacking a fisherman
with his legs underwater and his torso above the water.
That's a lot of stuff to do.
Let's go.
Gabriel is going to carve the giant monster
out of three huge pumpkin --
one pumpkin for the head,
one for the shoulders, and one to make this huge arm.
Looking good.
DAVE: Hello.
Hey.
Yeah!
It is so good to have an extra assistant.
This is a huge plus for our team.
I'm gonna go get my pumpkin, guys.
I'm gonna use several giant pumpkins
to carve this swam monster.
The first pumpkin is the coils of the snake.
The next pumpkin is his neck.
And then the third pumpkin is his head.
I've never stacked giant pumpkin before -- ever.
My main fear is that when I start stacking,
that it could crash right through the next pumpkin.
If I cut too much out, this thing could just split
and just collapse all over the ground, man.
MARK: See any big, major missed parts.
Mark's going to create the entomologist, the boardwalk,
the swamp trees, the alligators, frogs, and bugs.
It's gonna be a challenge for him in a short amount of time.
Santosh is in charge of the bug net,
the broken jar, the landscape, and the swamp moss.
Yeah. It's gonna look awesome.
The Spanish moss was made out of cellophane noodles,
dyed green.
Beautiful.
For the swamp treat,
Santosh is creating something gooey
that's gonna look like a layered cake.
Hey, guys. I'm doing the taste twist now.
I'm doing a Sablé Breton with a caramel
and green tea ganache on top of it.
JON: Oh. That looks great, Santosh.
WILLMAN: You've got four hours left.
Four hours, guys -- really got to make it happen.
Hey, Gabriel. [ Chuckles ]
Look at that over there.
Pretty big. I hope they finish.
Big isn't always better.
Sarah's in charge of making the fisherman
that falls in the water.
For this piece to be scary,
we really have to focus on the details.
Sarah, you doing okay?
I still have a lot to do.
We've only just started this competition,
and we're already behind.
Okay, I'm gonna start on the tasty element first.
I'm making a raspberry shortbread.
And it's going to be topped with a sour cherry
and almond nougat.
It's gonna be a nice little twist on a classic shortbread.
We still got a big gap there?
BRIAN: I'm gonna be creating the swamp creature
out of cake, fondant,
and a little bit of rice-cereal treats.
All right, guys. I'm gonna start making that fin.
Teresa's making a really large pastillage fin
for the swamp creature's back.
She's gonna pour some sugar for the eyes,
as well as pouring a large pool of sugar
for the swamp on our display board.
DAVE: This is a beautiful pumpkin, man.
Dave is gonna be carving the belly of the beast
and it's victim trying to get out.
The tricky thing is,
we got to marry up my top half
with David's lower half of the beast,
so this is incredibly difficult to do
'cause pumpkins will sweat,
and fondant doesn't stick to sweaty pumpkins.
David, I'm gonna start these chewy treats,
starting off with a salted caramel.
Excellent. It'll be killer.
BRIAN: For our tasting element,
Teresa's making a chewy, salted caramel
with a hazelnut ganache
dipped in a dark-chocolate coverture
with crispy cookie pearls,
so when you bite into it,
it's really chewy and then it has a crunch.
TERESA: I'm going for the win here on the taste.
This is important to me, so I'm pulling out all the stops.
Teams, I know you're swamped!
Three hours left!
This is my job, Shinmin.
Right. I get it.
Three -- Oh, God. Come on, guys.
Back to it! Back to it!
Three hours!
My neck is killing me, guys.
And we got so much left to carve.
I have to transform a pumpkin into a monster,
so, I mean, there's a lot that has to change
so that it doesn't look like a pumpkin still.
Ooh, look at that. What's going on here?
It looks like it might be a little soft.
God, I hope we didn't get a rotten pumpkin, man.
I'm carving away, and all of a sudden I find a soft spot.
I mean, it's like jelly.
This could structurally be the end of this piece.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do
when I start stacking parts on top of this.
Well, in that area it looks like it might be a little soft.
God, I hope we didn't get a rotten pumpkin, man.
I'm carving away, and all of a sudden I find a soft spot.
I mean, it's like jelly.
This could structurally be the end of this piece.
And it looks like it just kind of worms its way through.
I'm not sure what I'm gonna do
when I start stacking parts on top of this.
[ Sighs ] Man, I broke the pumpkin on Medusa.
I certainly don't want to...
have a repeat situation with this one.
The last thing I want to have happen
is have this whole thing just fall apart on us.
Yeah. We got a lot at stake here.
I hope you picked the right pumpkin.
Okay. As long as I don't get any other warning signs.
I've just got to go with this and make it work.
Well, I guess we're just gonna have to find out.
This guy's gonna have one big fang
that comes off the front off his mouth top
and two gigantic fangs that come out of the bottom,
so it's very nontraditional, which is really cool.
We're gonna make our swamp creature half in the water
with a full belly
of a human being that being digested.
And the communication has to be perfect.
David has to make the pumpkin just the right size
in order to fit under my structure.
If this doesn't marry up beautifully,
then we're gonna fail.
David, tell me honestly,
can I put my structure up on the riser
before you put the pumpkin in?
Oh, definitely. Definitely.
JON: I have to be careful about carving underneath here
so that the whole pumpkin doesn't just collapse.
MAN: Careful. Keep on coming.
Ohh.
If I cut too much out, this thing could just split
and just collapse all over the ground, man.
Now we have to lift the second pumpkin up
on top of the first pumpkin
that has the soft spot in it.
Now, I don't know if this is gonna work.
And all that weight --
I mean, the pumpkin we're putting up there,
it's like 300 pounds.
Ready? On three. One, two, three.
Keep going. Keep going.
I'm on your cake. I'm mushing your cake.
[ Grunts ] It's not --
Hold on. Hold on.
Hold on.
Okay.
Okay. Ready?
Go -- Go Back.
Just slowly, slowly back.
Lift.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Down, down, down, down.
You know what? We got two hours,
and we don't have a face in the pumpkin.
You're right. It's taking me a while.
Just get the pumpkin done. I don't want to talk to you.
Get the pumpkin done.
I'm cranking on this beast.
I'm gonna cover it in fondant and modeling chocolate,
but the cool things are,
is that I'm gonna be spackling royal icing all over it.
Royal icing generally dries in 15, 20, 30 minutes,
but I don't even have that much time,
so I just break out my torch,
and I just start frying all this royal icing.
And it just makes it set up really hard, really quick.
Now I can airbrush as much detail as I possibly can.
But I can't put any arms on it until I have the pumpkin
'cause the arms get posed to the shape of the pumpkin.
DAVE: Breath in, man. Breath in.
TERESA: Just do it.
BRIAN: Right now, it's almost like I can't do anything
because I'm waiting on David.
I'm so frustrated.
All right. Get it done.
Get it done.
I feel like I'm making good time on this piece.
You felt like you were a little bit behind before.
Think you caught up?
Great.
I'm in charge of the landscape, and this piece is massive.
I have to make tons of sugar trees.
I'm also making chocolate trees for the background
to give it depth.
Sarah's in charge of making the fisherman
that falls in the water.
Gabriel's carving a swamp monster
out of four giant pumpkins.
Guys, I need to get a really big pumpkin to do that arm.
Go get it.
This is the biggest one. I'm gonna need this one.
Gabriel's going for a swamp monster
that's menacing and evil
and is going to captivate the imagination of the judges.
He still has to carve a whole arm?
That's what I heard.
He hasn't even started a whole nother pumpkin.
So, we have to put some color in there pretty quickly, yeah?
Two of you will be in the final battle.
One of you will be history.
You've got one hour left!
One hour!
Guys, we have under an hour.
I don't know if we're gonna be able to finish this.
MARK: We have to.
There's an hour left, and the display looks really unfinished.
I am so concerned at this point.
And I just can't carve fast enough.
My back's hurting me. My neck is hurting me.
I am just exhausted.
There just might be a chance
that I may not be able to finish physically.
I'm really gonna have to dig deep on this.
And everyone else is trying to work around me.
Yes.
Mine?
Yeah.
No. I'm not ready to start painting yet.
MARK: We got 49 minutes.
I got to put a face on this pumpkin.
Behind you with this pumpkin, dude.
We need to bring it back another four inches, man.
If we can at least cut out the areas where that pole is,
we'll slide it back
and I can get some fondant rolling on it.
Why?
'Cause you're gonna eat into the pumpkin head.
The clock is ticking down so fast,
and we finally get the pumpkin on our display board
and we realize that it can't slide back far enough
in order to give us support on the backside of our monster.
I'm freaking out because there's no way
I can make anything fill that back void.
We don't have a choice, David. I'm just telling you, dude.
All that's got to get covered.
So I say we just cut two notches,
slide it in, and we call it a day.
DAVE: Why don't we just fondant it, man?
'Cause fondant doesn't float in air!
That looks like hell. Look.
We are done.
Kiss the $50,000 away.
It's over.
All that's got to get covered.
So I say we just cut two notches,
slide it in, and we call it a day.
DAVE: Why don't we just fondant it, man?
'Cause fondant doesn't float in air!
We have this huge gaping hole in the backside of our creature
where the pumpkin can't be set back far enough.
This is by far the worst problem I've ever had to face.
I have absolutely no idea what to do.
Hey, somebody get those rice-cereal treats out here.
We got to start packing this thing.
We got 6 inches to make up on this.
We just started shoving anything we could find --
rice-cereal treats, cake, fondant,
anything into that void to try to fill it up.
David runs back to the pumpkin patch,
gets another large pumpkin,
starts cutting up big pieces to try to fill that big void.
David, I need that back filled in A.S.A.P., dude.
I mean, get it in.
Just get it solid so I can pack this stuff on hard.
Teams, I got some good news and some bad --
Well, just bad news.
30 minutes, guys!
Those are nice pieces of fondant, so I like that.
Do we have anymore swamp stuff left -- any noodles left?
Put it all on the ground. Let's do it.
JEFF: Try not to mix it with the cake too much,
'cause it'll dry out.
DAVE: Oh. The cake crumbs are gonna be killer, man.
Just one second.
I swear I'll get them there in one minute.
MARK: Get off of there, Jon. We got to paint.
We got to start painting 'cause we're not gonna get done.
The guys told me to stop carving the face and start painting.
They needed to get that swamp in place.
I really need to get in closer.
I was hoping, "Well, maybe I can dial in the face
with the painting."
That was a big choice to make.
And I'm really worried because I didn't do
what I wanted to do on that face.
[ Sighs ]
I'm just gonna have to see what happens.
All right, guys. I'm putting the final touches on this.
We don't got much time left. We only got 20 minutes.
The clock is winding down.
All the pieces are being assembled on the display --
the boat, the fisherman.
There were tons of trees.
It's the final moment.
One slip, and all that work goes down the drain.
Careful of my sugar, guys. It's really fragile.
SARAH: Okay.
BRIAN: Pour it slow. Don't let it get too hot to the edges.
Did we add airbrush highlights on the guy?
Yeah.
DAVE: They're not plugged in.
No. You didn't have it plugged in.
Have we put all the animals or the creatures we've made out?
JEFF: I'm feeling good about this. I'm feeling good.
BRIAN: One minute!
Be careful, guys.
This is insanely dangerous right here.
Get any details.
Try to see if you can brush some of that orange.
I can't. I've been --
It's beaded up, and it doesn't work.
BRIAN: Get the guts, David! Get the guts!
I got you. I got you.
TERESA: Do it, David. Do it.
Great. Okay. Get the dry ice in place.
TERESA: Plug in that fog machine.
DAVE: It's in.
WILLMAN: 10...9...8...
We got guts. We got guts.
...7...6...5...
4...3...2...1.
Time is up.
BRIAN: That's how you make a frickin' monster.
JON: We accomplished a lot in a short amount of time,
and we tried to be bigger
and push the envelope with what we could do.
I hope the judges like it.
WILLMAN: Well, teams,
we asked you to give us your most petrifying vision
of what happens when a swamp creature attacks.
WILLMAN: Team Black Magic, how are you guys?
Tell us what you made.
JEFF: As you can see, Fred is having a bad day.
Fred owns a fishing company, and his boat crashed.
And underneath the swamp is the monster about to attack.
We have poured sugar on the surface of the water,
all of the trees that are made out of pulled sugar,
the monster, of course, that's made out of pumpkin.
The tasting element is a layer of raspberry shortbread,
and on top is a sour cherry and almond nougat.
I love the different layers of textures,
and I'm such a big fan of sour cherries.
Well, let's talk about this scene, Shinmin.
Again, no cohesion...
...between the top and the bottom, of course.
[ Chuckles ]
I love that you have above world and then underwater,
The pulled-sugar trees are so ominous.
One of the things I would have done differently is,
the swamp creature should have more of a relationship with Fred
to create more fright.
In special-effect make-up, wounds are a daily occurrence,
and Fred's knee injury was not lost on me.
I love the fishing pole. I love the skulls.
One of the things I would have changed, though,
is, perhaps, giving a little more contrast with the eyes.
They kind of blend in because it's the same paint scheme
as the creature's skin.
But really good job.
Charlaine, is this creature good fodder
for a book series, perhaps?
It is.
I want to know what happens to Fred,
though I suspect I already do.
The details are just marvelous. I really love the fish.
I just enjoyed the total story.
Black Magic, thanks guys.
Hello, Psychotic Misfits. Tell us about your swamp beast.
Welcome to our bog monster.
On the bottom, you see the belly of the beast.
He's still digesting.
And on the top, of course, you have the fabulous cake.
The back fin is pastillage.
The pumpkin, of course, is down on the bottom.
And the trees are covered with modeling chocolate,
and we have a little bit of sugar moss.
There is poured sugar in the swamp itself.
And we do have a tasty treat
that are chewy-gooey salted caramel
with a little bit of a hazelnut ganache --
swamp creature favorites, actually.
I loved how light the caramel was.
I loved the crunchy element.
Definitely ooey and gooey.
It was a little on the sweet side,
but overall, it's still very delicious.
Shinmin, what do you think?
Brian, I've really been waiting for this moment --
for you to just come up with something so well-defined
and so full of character.
Completely different from what you've been creating before,
and the poured sugar has such a nice reflective surface
that I actually thought you put water in there.
The only thing I don't like is the disco lights.
It's just tacky.
The candy, cake, and pumpkin elements flow together so well.
This is very realistic.
I love the color scheme. I love the detail.
And I feel like I'm actually in a bog.
There's nothing cartoony about it.
Thank you.
Charlaine.
It tells a whole story. He's horrible.
He's eaten somebody.
Totally loathsome in a wonderful way.
Nice work. Thank you.
Onward.
Skeleton Crew, tell us about your swamp creature.
Well, our unsuspecting entomologist
was out in the swamp on the boardwalk
collecting fireflies.
He happens upon our mutant swamp snake,
and in the thrall of getting crushed,
he drops his net,
and he drops his jar of fireflies.
And so we made this today with modeling chocolate
and melting chocolate for our tree.
We have cellophane noodles for the swamp moss.
And we also have sugar elements for the net, the jar,
the grass, and the swamp.
And what is our swampy treat?
SANTOSH: Candied-lemon Sablé Breton, green tea salted caramel,
and dark-chocolate ganache.
I enjoyed that very much.
The green tea was really prevalent
and balanced with the caramel.
It's a treat for the eyes and the tongue.
And the techniques are pretty overwhelming.
I love seeing unconventional medium being used,
and noodles -- I never thought of that.
But the main focus here is this pumpkin snake,
and I didn't know what I was looking at.
The objects in the front --
I'm not sure if they're fangs or if it's snot.
It's a little bit indiscernible.
There's a lot going on here -- snakes, gators, the frog.
Really nice aging with the boards,
with the environment, the wood --
Everything ties together pretty seamlessly.
I'd like to see a little more menace.
And I'd like to see some expression in the face.
I'm losing a bit of the mouth and the eyes.
I'd like to see a little more definition.
I think that would sell the scare a little bit more for me.
They did. The story comes across loud and clear.
It's detailed.
But I have to say,
the monster itself was uninspiring to me,
and it didn't frighten me.
Thank you, judges, Skeleton Crew.
After the judges comments, I'm really nervous,
but I still think that we had a shot at staying.
All right, teams. This is a huge decision.
We'll give the judges a chance to chat.
We'll meet here in a few. Thank you.
JEFF: We finally hit our stride.
The swamp monster looks terrible and giant and menacing.
This is my reputation on the line.
I think this is the one.
It's obviously the best work that we've produced.
The judges -- They loved everything but the lights.
I hope this doesn't ruin our chances of winning.
[ Evil laughter ]
Well, judges, this is our third competition.
We've already eliminated two teams.
And I'm creeped out by these swamp creatures.
Charlaine, what about Black Magic's really appeals to you?
HARRIS: I like the fact that they've told a whole story here,
from the boat to the stranded fisherman.
And he's already wounded. He makes a great victim.
So they've told it well.
One of the problems I had before
is some of the sugar work seemed a little too pristine,
a little too vibrant and colorful.
This is aged appropriately, so it looks more organic.
The details were exquisite here --
right down to that perfectly crafted fishing pole.
And Jeff actually pulled darker shades into his green
to create that aged look, which he did flawlessly here.
I think the best part about these displays
is the tasty treat.
LI: Well, I'm a sucker for sour cherries,
and I just love how there's so many textures here.
Well, Team Skeleton Crew....
KINNEY: There was terrific work in the carving of the pumpkins,
combining two giant pumpkins, I thought, was ambitious,
and they pulled that off.
Great carving, great paint-work,
but they committed to a face
that just didn't have enough definition.
The smaller details were very well defined --
the wood paneling, the snake with the scales.
KINNEY: The broken jar with the fireflies.
LI: Right.
There were some amusing touches,
but I just didn't believe the monster.
Okay. The tasting element.
The flavors were so developed.
The green tea is normally so bitter,
and it's really hard to cut that,
and he did it so well,
and he added that final sesame touch.
I love these Asian flavors.
WILLMAN: And our good old friends, the Psychotic Misfits.
What'd you guys think?
KINNEY: This was the biggest scare they've delivered.
They've always done a very stylized,
almost comic-book feel in their work.
This was absolutely realistic. I felt like I was in the bog.
They really nailed a believable, horrible creature.
This was a life-size creature that was camera-ready.
I would send this to set.
This could be the focus of a horror film.
LI: Brian has finally arrived.
This guy was scary. He was sharp.
He had that scary fin in the back.
The poured sugar was just so believable.
I mean, the reflective surface --
It looked exactly like water.
They really kicked it up -- all three of them.
It was beautiful, without being too bright.
But you know what was bright, though,
are those disco lights.
HARRIS: The disco lights.
KINNEY: If it was potentially popping through the dirt
or even enveloped more in fog to give an eerie glow...
Yeah. Some way to soften it.
How about their tasting element?
LI: Teresa really delivered on the gooey front.
I thought it was just a little too salty for my taste.
I like a more subtle caramel.
But the texture was fun.
Well, judges... We only have room for two.
One of these teams has to go home.
Do we know who it's gonna be?
Okay.
Let's bring them back.
[ Thunder crashes ]
Teams, for this challenge,
you were asked to bring to life the most hideous swamp creature
that you could possibly fathom.
And after taking a look around at your three displays,
I think it's safe to say that none of these judges
will be vacationing in the bayou anytime soon.
Am I right?
With stunning artistry across all the competitors creations,
who wins and who loses
comes down to a millimeter's difference.
In this case,
the decision was based not just on your artistry,
but on your storytelling, as well.
And the judges thought that only one of you
perfectly combined your skills in pumpkin, cake, and candy,
while also flat-out delivering the dread...
[ Man screams ]
...with the indelible image of a truly haunting swamp creature.
So congratulations...
Bam!
Oh, my God, is this just frickin' amazing.
WILLMAN: You're the winner of the Spine Chiller.
Nice work, guys.
BRIAN: You couldn't ask for a better win at a better time.
We're going into the finale
on the highest note that you possibly can.
As for who's going home...
it comes down to this --
If your monster doesn't provide enough of a scare,
it's just not gonna make the cut.
I'm sorry, Skeleton Crew. You're done in "Halloween Wars."
Thanks, guys.
JON: I just can't believe it. I'm really devastated.
We tried to be bigger and push the envelope
with what we could do.
And unfortunately, that wasn't seen by the judges.
And it all comes down to two.
Psychotic Misfits, Team Black Magic,
congratulations, you guys.
The next time you two teams meet,
it will be a battle to the death...
on the spine-tingling championship finale
of "Halloween Wars."
We have momentum. We believe we can do it.
It feels really good to finally break out
and prove that we can really win this whole thing.
Psychotic Misfits have won two challenges.
We've won two challenges.
One of us is walking away as "Halloween Wars" champion.
WILLMAN: Next time on the finale of "Halloween Wars."
We're double in trouble, huh?
One last fright-filled face-off.
WOMAN: Oh, my gosh.
$50,000 -- I can taste it.
This is your best piece by far.
We are the team to beat.
What the hell?
We have to go all out for this. Everything counts.
This could be our undoing.
You work yours. I'll work mine.
I am so competitive. I have to win.
We don't need this again, man.
WILLMAN: Only one team can be crowned champion.
Congratulations...