April 2006 Archives

For those of you looking for something to do in the midwest area this weekend, Chicago Horror Fest opens up it's doors for it's bi-annual horror film festival. The festival takes place at the 3 Penny Cinema in Chicago, IL all weekend long. Showcased are both independent new films as well as cult class. To my understanding, this year the fest will include magicians and guests from around the horror movie industry performing. If you can't make it this time, the fest rolls around every spring and fall so there's plenty of chances to catch it again. I've listed some links below, check it out.

http://www.chicagohorrorfest.com

http://www.myspace.com/chicagohorrorfest

HorrorBiZz

:: This Week's Interview is with the Brains behind Rotting Flesh Radio: Jonathan Johnson. Read on for a great interview::

Why did you first become interested in the Haunted House/Horror Business?
I first recall getting interested in the Horror and Haunt Industry as a kid. I would stay up late watching old classic black and white films hosted by many B-Movie Horror Hosts like Dr. Cadaverino, Elvira, Svengoolie and such. From there it only moved me closer to the industry when I would attend Haunted Attractions with my family and see these same creations coming to life and scaring the living hell out of me. It was like walking into a fantasy and a movie. Living mummies, vampires and wolf men. And the thing that most intrigued me was how they did it. I was most interested in how they made the fog, what they used to build the walls, the music and what made it seem so real.

That is when I knew I was hooked. I wanted to know more. It was a defining moment when I was at a haunt and I saw the most elaborate set, I believe I was about 10 or 11, and I was amazed by the art and detail in the room. I was already an avid artist, which carried me to what my day profession is, and that added fuel to my fire as to what the underworld held in the Industry.

What previous jobs have you had?
Within the Haunt Industry I have played many roles at Haunts ranging from Home Haunts to Semi Pro and Pro Haunts. I started out as an actor, as I believe many of us do, and continued to get my hands into everything from Production, Design, FX and more. I was always wanting to learn more and more and many people along the way helped me develop that as well.

For those of you that missed the recent conventions, here are some of the upcoming conventions and their links. These conventions are great places to get advice, ideas, trade props and network with people that have the same interest as yourself.
Psychoterror

Great Lakes Frightfest June 2-4 in Petersburg, Michigan
http://www.greatlakesfrightfest.com/

Ironstock June 23-25 in Tell City, Indiana
http://www.theironkingdom.com/Ironstock/

Midwest Haunters Convention July 14-16 in Columbus, Ohio
http://www.midwesthauntersconvention.com/

Horrorfind Weekend Aug. 11-13 in Baltimore, Maryland
http://www.horrorfindweekend.com/state/maryland/index.html

This Monday I went and saw Silent Hill. For those of you living under a rock, Silent Hill is the new #1 Movie at the Boxoffice here in the US. Silent Hill is based off of the popular video game of the same name. The movie features a storyline very similar to the events in the first Silent Hill video game, but with the protagonist being a woman named Rose. She travels with her daughter to Silent Hill because her daughter has recurring dreams about the town. When they arrive, events occur similarly to the story in Silent Hill 1. I found the film to not be scary at all. It didn't feature your usual startles or jumps. And that's what made it a good horror film. The sets were great and very atmospheric. The special effects were very well done as well. However the acting was sub-par and seemed to be really heavy-handed with the dialogue. The best way I can describe it is that the acting was too "Video Gamey". The Lead Character would have to memorize maps, do platform jumping and even found "clues" through the movie just like the game. It was almost more of a fantasy movie than anything. Check it out and let us know what you think.

Hey All. Yes I did catch this movie over the weekend. What did I think? Well let's save that for tommorow. Right now let me tell you about a cool little marketing product for the PSP. As you may or may not know. The PSP playes movies as well as Video Games. Well the folks at Konami have released what they are calling the Silent Hill Experience for the the PSP. It's not a new game but more of a marketing piece for the movie. It features:
* View over 2 hours of digital comics based on the popular Silent Hill comic series presented with haunted music
* Includes the acclaimed comic series Silent Hill: Dying Inside and a brand new Silent Hill story The Hunger
* 20 unforgettable music tracks selected from series' producer and music composer Akira Yamaoka
* Exclusive video interview with the director of the Silent Hill movie Christophe Gans and series' music composer Akira Yamaoka
* Rare video content from previous Silent Hill games
Sounds interesting to say the least. And will give horror fans something to check out besides Horro Movies on the PSP.

- iamlegend

As you may have noticed it's time for another Fiendish Friday Interview. This week's interview is with ScreamHaunt. He is the owner of the popular Web Site HauntersNetwork.com. The site currently has Members: 167 • Posts: 15201 • Topics: 2526. As you can see it's quite popular.

Why did you first become interested in the Haunted House/Horror Business?
Presently, I am age 35. My first pleasurable experience was being scared out of my wits at age 4, (a trick or treater that came to the door dressed as Batman) in which I vividly remember. From there, I recall hosting a Haunted House in my basement. I hung things from the ceiling, painted walls with UV paint, created scenes and it kind of went on from there.

What previous jobs have you had?
I’ve been working in the Emergency Medical Services and as a Police Officer since 1993. Before that, I worked in the Security field.

What job do you do right now? Is the Haunted House/Horror Job your full time gig?
Presently, I’m working as an EMT and Police Officer. Hopefully in time, I will be the owner of a productive Haunted Attraction.

Since it’s getting warmer in most areas of the country it’s time to start getting into prop building for the upcoming year. For this post I thought I would post some how-to links, maybe they can be some help for props you have in mind or give you some ideas. These should keep you busy and get your mind into prop making.
Psychoterror

Monster List of Halloween Projects
http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/

Haunters Hangout
http://www.hauntershangout.com/home/default.asp

Knowledge Hound
http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/halloween_props.htm

The Airbrush Shop (Not a how-to page but has some cool airbrush makeup photos)
http://www.airbrushshoppe.com/beast/index.html

Check out what we saw on Craigslist. Looks like Monster Magic’s’ GYRO’s 3D Fear Factory and Scream Fest is hiring! They are looking for a full-time Design Artist. Just thought we point this out as you don't see many job listings labeled "Design Artist for Haunted Attractions Company " on craigslist. (Or anywhere for that matter! ). We'll take that as a good sign!

- iamlegend

One of the most overlooked things in the Haunted House/Halloween Industry is Dark Rides. Wanna see proof? Check out the entry for Haunted Attractions on Wikipedia. Dark Rides are not even listed. If there was one man we know who could help change that it's King Power Cinema. As the newest author on The Haunted Report, King Power Cinema, actually owns and operated his own Dark Ride last Halloween. He's joining the staff to fill us in on what new and cool and what's cool and old in Dark Rides. Check out his Photostream on Flickr in the meantime for more about him....

If your in the Chicago/Midwest area this summer, check out the bi-annual Knowledge for the Carnage seminars. The next one is scheduled for Sunday May 21st @ Kristof's entertainment center/Realm of Terror haunted house in Round Lake Beach, IL. The following has been pulled directly from the official website.

Knowledge for The Carnage is a learning annex created for haunt actors by haunt actors. The purpose of the series of seminars to to help haunted attraction actors cultivate their unique craft, via a free exchange of information. Learn from the SCARIEST in the haunted attraction industry – the haunt actors themselves, who are literally in the trenches providing scares and fright night after night.

That's right. Being the bastion of Journalistic Integrity that we are we have started a new feature. Fiendish Friday Interviews. This weeks Interview is with the one, the only, Kevin Klemm. Enjoy and be sure to leave Kevin lots of comments!

Why did you first become interested in the Haunted House/Horror Business?
I have a love of all things horror, which was passed down to me by my father. One of my earliest childhood memories was sitting with him and watching the old Lon Chaney Jr Mummy movies. Later I discovered H.P. Lovecraft’s “The Lurking Fear” on his bookshelf and I was hooked. As far as the Haunted Attraction Industry goes, Halloween and Haunted houses were always big in my life. After I got married and bought a house, I decided that I was going to scare the crap out of my neighbors come Halloween, and I still do (When I’m in town).

What previous jobs have you had?
Well, I was a Film Major at the University of Maryland, and worked my way through college bartending and working on various films for Don Dohler (Alien Factor, the Galaxy Invader). I moved out to California and got a job working at Universal which I had until NBC bought the company and I was laid off. I then did a stint in the Emergency Preparedness field, teaching and doing onsite assessments of various companies’ emergency plans.

What job do you do right now?
Right now I am doing The Ed Gein Collection full time. We are a custom prop house that is primarily known for our corpses and our line of corpse lights called “Dead Lights”. My work has appeared in Maxim, Stuff, Penthouse, FHM, Rue Morgue, Bizarre Magazine etc. I also created a corpse of Slash (Guns ‘N’ Roses, Velvet Revolver), and his corpse was just featured in the April Issue of Total Guitar Magazine. At the moment, I pretty much divide my time between Film and TV productions and Haunted Attractions. It’s really hard to do Haunted Attraction work full time due to the fact that it’s seasonal, and the Film and TV work help get me through the slow months. I am also a partner in Girls and Corpses Magazine, creating the corpses and also sharing in the writing duties. At the beginning of the year, I created some props for a documentary on Ed Gein, called “Most Evil”. It will be airing on the Discovery Channel sometime this year. I also made some corpses for a Fox Television pilot entitled “13 Graves”, starring Mathew Lillard (Scream, 13 Ghosts). That should be airing in a couple of months. So I am definitely keeping busy!

Since this is my first official posting to the blog I’ll start off with a little introduction. I’m Psychoterror and have been involved in Halloween haunting for about 24 years. All my work up to now has been involved working fundraisers with non-profit groups. I started out as a worker in them and having control over my room design and ideas. For the past five years I have helped with the total layout, design, building and marketing ideas. While I primarily come up with the ideas and let them do the work on the haunt, I do the props. I usually work with different groups each year and the haunts vary from indoors to outdoors, for this reason I mostly build static props and use latex for all my prop skins.

:: Editor's note : This is part of a series we are doing having a pro haunter Blog for a year. This has never been done before on the Web. Stay tuned for more of his updates::

http://www.hauntedweb.com
Ok - Sorry for the long delay in posts!
We have been busy - After Transworld I had a lot of buying, negotiating and thinking to do! We made several purchases at Transworld and a few more left to do - Supplying new props for Memphis, Chattanooga and some other items in the mix - We are spending more than we would want to admit to!

Transworld is hard to express how important and great it is for a Haunter to attend. All the Haunter Conventions have something for everyone - So if you want to break into this market - ATTEND Conventions put on by or for Haunters.

Looks like Sony and Comcast are tackling the Horror genre with a new On-Demand Channel. About 40 hours of recent and classic movies, including "Night of the Living Dead," "The Grudge" and "Resident Evil," will be available per month at launch. About 70 hours will be made available in the future. Comcast is expected to announce details of the horror films network on Monday. Basically instead of your normal Cable Channel this network will be on-demand. Meaning that you can order up shows and watch them when you want. You will also be able to pause and rewind the shows as you feel.

- iamlegend

Looks like the boys over at HauntedHouse.com have teamed up to create a "Blog" of their own. Not too bad. It's powered by Google's Blogger and looks like it's being updated by their own people and Jonathan of RottingFleshRadio. Pretty cool and good to see them moving in the right direction with their Web Site. However as far as I can tell you can't leave commetns. Which takes the community out of it our opionon. Anyway it's a cool first step. Check it out here.

- iamlegend

Looking for haunts in the midwest? Interested about upcoming conventions and industry gatherings across the nation? Stop by Haunted Illinois for your daily dose of haunt related happenings. Haunted Illinois isn't just a haunt database for midwest haunts, it also has many features that pertain to all haunters, everywhere. Stop by the forum and meet some new friends, get information on building props, stay up to date on haunt industry news, and check out the numerous picture galleries and reviews. Click the link below to go now!

Since I don't start my weekly writing here until next Thursday I will save all my details until then. I have decided to post some forum links that you may be interested in, some of the forums are better than others, but I thank that you will be able to find something of interest to you on them.
Halloween Forum
http://halloweenforum.com/index.php
Methodz of Madness
http://www.methodzofmadness.com/
Parallax Forum
http://forums.parallax.com/forums/default.aspx
Caverns of Blood
http://www.cavernsofblood.com/forum/
GhostDroppings
http://www.ghostdroppings.com/forum/index.php
Horrorfind
http://www.horrorfind.com/board-bin/YaBB.pl
Hopefully these will keep you busy until my grand entrance on Thursday.
Psychoterror

One of our readers sent this little gem of a site in. The cool part is that they don't sell new DVD's they sell reproductions. Here is what there about us page says "HORROR THEATER VIDEO operates as a conversion service for fans of hard-to-find movies. Please note we do not sell factory release VHS tapes or DVDs. All tapes and DVDRs are reproductions/conversions from public domain sources. No rights are given or implied. We do not knowingly infringe on any copy written materials." Cool huh? So what if you could find these movies on your own. Is it entirely legal? I'm not sure. But you can order VHS. Now that is scary!

- iamlegend

Looks like the Greater Haunt Owners Society of Texas (GHOST) is looking for you. For all you folks down in Texas Patrick Matthews is hosting the first annual Haunters Dinners for GHOST Members. It's going to be on April 8th which is this weekend. Please rsvp by emailing him at slavetothegrave@msn.com or call 817-451-8880 and ask for Heather. Sounds cool....

- iamlegend