Plans for Halloween weekend:
Thursday - Drive into Mom's house in PA after school
Friday - Last minute prop building (day off from school)
Saturday - Begin setup, visit Terror Syndicate's Dark Works Home Haunt (REALLY COOL)
Sunday - the Nightmare begins.....
And so to you all, every last one of my followers, have a Haunted Halloween!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Sunday, October 24, 2010
My First Halloween Party
Wow, that was a lot of fun! I just got done taking down most of the decor from last night's party. What a fricken' BLAST!!!! Now I've gotta say, there were some drawbacks from the party. First, only three out of 18 people invited showed up, and those who didn't only let me know the day before the party. Gee, thanks guys (sarcasm). So there was a lot of last minute scrambling to change some of the stuff for the party, making it more or less a chance for me and three good friends to hang, watch horror movies, eat pizza, and jam to Rob Zombie. It was fun. But would I try it again? Probably not. I know at least one person invited ditched my party to go to some other party with his little brother. So that's a good indicator people weren't interested. Oh well. I had fun, and so did my guests, who I'm glad to say, all came in costume.
Oh, and how could forget the decor!?! It was as elaborate as many of my haunts, if not more so! I made guests walk around the side of my house through some gravestones, cornstalks, and luminaries to get to my back door, where I had a strobe light. Sadly, my fog machine went bust, so I wasn't able to show off my laser vortex. But the real treat was inside the house. Candles galore, and masks, static Trick-or-Treater props, severed fingers and rubber roaches floating in the soda barrel, green and blue LEDs illuminating things, and the spider's lair-themed foyer. Peoples jaws hit the floor. There was plenty of food, and we all had a good time. It was fun showing my friends Trick 'r Treat for the first time, and watching them scream and jump. After Trick 'r Treat, we watched The Hangover, and listened to more music.
One of the best things to come from the evening was that I may have a future assistant haunter for next year. I'm considering moving the haunt back here to my dad's house in Ohio, and going the extra mile for a really special something. One of my friends, named Grace, expressed interest in helping out next year with props and costumes. Personally, I can't wait. She seems to really enjoy Halloween, and has a lot of potential. Well, folks this is HalloweeNut saying Stay Scary!!!
Oh, and how could forget the decor!?! It was as elaborate as many of my haunts, if not more so! I made guests walk around the side of my house through some gravestones, cornstalks, and luminaries to get to my back door, where I had a strobe light. Sadly, my fog machine went bust, so I wasn't able to show off my laser vortex. But the real treat was inside the house. Candles galore, and masks, static Trick-or-Treater props, severed fingers and rubber roaches floating in the soda barrel, green and blue LEDs illuminating things, and the spider's lair-themed foyer. Peoples jaws hit the floor. There was plenty of food, and we all had a good time. It was fun showing my friends Trick 'r Treat for the first time, and watching them scream and jump. After Trick 'r Treat, we watched The Hangover, and listened to more music.
One of the best things to come from the evening was that I may have a future assistant haunter for next year. I'm considering moving the haunt back here to my dad's house in Ohio, and going the extra mile for a really special something. One of my friends, named Grace, expressed interest in helping out next year with props and costumes. Personally, I can't wait. She seems to really enjoy Halloween, and has a lot of potential. Well, folks this is HalloweeNut saying Stay Scary!!!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Halloween Double Feature!
Well, I've been working like mad on my party and the Scarecrow Hill haunt. The party is exactly a week from today, and I feel like watching like stayin' up late tonight and watching two flicks that have become Halloween-must sees for me. First up is Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow:
Mind you, this isn't a particularly *great* movie, but it's alright. Visually, it's wonderfully spooky, but the plot is pretty hokey towards the end. But hey, it's a live-action flick with a kick-ass Headless Horseman, and some pretty iconic imagery. It's worth a see. Next up is one of my all time favorite movies, Trick 'r Treat.
If you haven't seen the movie, that tribute video I found should give you a nice bloody taste of what this awesome horror anthology is. Nothing much too say, just WATCH IT!!!
Now, I'm off to make some popcorn and grab a glass of apple cider, then dream some Halloween dreams. We're almost there people. Just carve yer pumpkins, pour a glass of cider and say your prayers!
PS: With any luck, I'll be visiting Cleveland's own Carnival of Horrors haunted attraction on Thursday. Sounds fun!
Mind you, this isn't a particularly *great* movie, but it's alright. Visually, it's wonderfully spooky, but the plot is pretty hokey towards the end. But hey, it's a live-action flick with a kick-ass Headless Horseman, and some pretty iconic imagery. It's worth a see. Next up is one of my all time favorite movies, Trick 'r Treat.
If you haven't seen the movie, that tribute video I found should give you a nice bloody taste of what this awesome horror anthology is. Nothing much too say, just WATCH IT!!!
Now, I'm off to make some popcorn and grab a glass of apple cider, then dream some Halloween dreams. We're almost there people. Just carve yer pumpkins, pour a glass of cider and say your prayers!
PS: With any luck, I'll be visiting Cleveland's own Carnival of Horrors haunted attraction on Thursday. Sounds fun!
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Haunt Review: THE SCAREHOUSE
It all started yesterday, on the way in to visit my mom at for the weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. My dad and I left early, but he didn't say why...when I saw my mom, she told me why - we had gotten VIP tickets to Pittsburgh's biggest and baddest haunted attraction - THE SCAREHOUSE!!!!!!!!
After washing down my excitement with a bottle of blue Mountain Dew (drink of the gods), We drove to Etna, PA, home of Scarehouse. The building was something to be seen: a tall, Greco-Roman style building lit with purple and green lights. We wound our way around the block to the back of the building to the entrance, were entertained by the crazy actor dressed as Steampunk transvestite (a very fun concept for a haunt actor) and got to the front of the line (a perk of getting VIP tickets), and after watching old '70's horror and exploitation movie trailers playing for the queue line, we entered the Mouth of Hell!
The first haunt was more of a creepy, subtler haunt, with no consistent theme called "The Forsaken" (my favorite haunt of the evening); each scene was different there was a dark carnival, a ruined church, a swamp, backwoods butcher shop, and a haunted mansion.
Next up was the wacky "Delirium 3D". For those who don't know, a 3D haunt is where they put blacklight paint of the wall, and you wear special glasses to the paint look like it's coming off the walls. Unlike your typical 3D haunt, which is clown themed, "Delirium" had a insane nightclub theme, with some of the best SFX I saw all night.
Finally, there was the gory, Steampunk-themed "RAMPAGE"! We found ourselves plunged head first into a futuristic totalitarian society during a rebellion. The rebel soldiers kept trying to recruit us to join the fight against the "DieRector" and the gun-totting, gas mask-wearing "Daphne". The final scene of RAMPAGE (and the whole attraction) was pure insanity. There were machine guns, chainsaws, robots, cannons, mutants, and lots of strobe lights! Finally, we were spat out back onto the street and into relative saftey. We picked up some souvenirs, and headed home.
Now, I have to say something - I LOVE SCAREHOUSE!!!!!! This place rocks, and generally kicks ass. If your are in the Western PA area in October, you've GOT to check out Scarehouse! As for souvenirs, I got a killer rabbit t-shirt, and the official soundtrack (yes, the haunt actually write their own music!) and it has some cool industrial/dance tunes that I'm gonna use for my party. Overall, great haunt, great actors, and very nice staff. Kudos to you, ScareHouse!
Oh, and those pictures above are cell phone pics of me and my mom with killer rabbit and the Steampunk transvestite.
Scarehouse Official site
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Halloween Stores
Well, I made my first trip to a Spirit Halloween store today. A great start to the season! This particular store was AMAZING! Normally, I don't really like Spirit stores, but this place was so spectacularly decorated, with an insane circus theme. Being the bad haunter I am, I forgot my camera. But I did pick up some neat stuff for my haunt and party. This browsing of the store reminded me of the photos I saw of Roger's Garden store in California. I first saw this incredible take on the seasonal store via Pumpkinrot's blog. They even go so far as to theme the store's displays! I've included some pics of it to give you an idea of what I mean by incredible! Here's the site. Enjoy your Halloween shopping, everyone!