There’s no better way for a special effects/prosthetics shop to open a new location than with a Halloween party and that’s how Toronto’s Complections International celebrated its new 8,000-square-foot space at 85 St. Nicholas Street.

With eerie candelabras and devilish jack-o-lanterns lighting their way, over 600 fiendishly disguised members of the film, television and commercial production community, including Bravo!’s John Gunn, Life Network’s Phyllis Newman, and DOME Productions’ Bob Bleasby, helped Complections president Nadia Brandler celebrate the opening.

With the move from a smaller Wellington St. studio, Complections can now call itself the largest and most extensive special effects and professional makeup retail supplier in North America, says Ontario film commissioner David Plant, who officiated at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The expansion has allowed Brandler to extend her special effects product line to include new offerings from Europe and the u.s. ‘Artists will have access to the latest in prosthetics, foam, rubber, appliances, wigmaking equipment, cosmetics, and hairstyling products and tools,’ she says.

As well, Complections now boasts Toronto’s first special effects studio workshop available for rental. The workshop contains a prosthetic lab with full-size, walk-in oven where everything from body parts to larger-than-life monsters can be created, makeup, hair and wardrobe prep space, and a camera test studio.

Convenience, says Brandler, is what the new location offers the special effects industry. In addition to special effects freelancers, Brandler is targeting out-of-town productions seeking a cost-effective home base for their special effects work while shooting in Toronto.

With outside productions able to base their special effects work in Toronto, local artists may benefit from more job opportunities, adds Brandler, who offers a referral service that puts production departments in touch with special effects and makeup artists.

Brandler has already booked the special effects artists working on fx into the lab.

Complections also hosts seminars, bringing in leaders in animatronics, prosthetics, and full body casting to keep the industry up to date on new products and techniques.