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For home decorating of a spooky sort, we turned to special effects experts for advice on how to...
Build your own haunted house
From the Tampa Tribune, Oct. 24, 1998 (AtHome cover story)
By DIRK LAMMERS
TAMPA - Autumn. Time to apply a fresh coat of white paint to the picket fence, fix the shutter that's hanging by a shingle - and to adorn your finely groomed St. Augustine lawn with foam gravestones. Home improvement projects this hallowed season take a different shape.
Besides the gravestones, there's the plastic skeleton to hang from the oak tree, the cobwebs to string across the doorway and the outdoor lights to train on your ghoulish work.
If at all possible, avoid the temptation to pick up a broom - unless it's part of a costume.
If you haven't started decorating for Halloween yet, don't fret. We recently gathered tips from experts who haunt houses for a living.
T.J. Mannarino, a designer of Universal Studios' haunted houses for the Orlando park's annual Halloween Horror Nights, has been at it since second grade. While his budget for props and actors now dwarfs that of most homeowners, the concepts are the same for professionals and amateurs.
"Most of the things we do are very simple," says Mannarino, Universal's scenic designer for art and design. "We just dress it up a lot."
Our informal panel of experts shares some insider secrets on how to do it yourself, so you can be the bloody best on the block.
Planning
Mannarino suggests designing your haunted house around a story line. Don't just set out a bunch of props - picture a setting such as Dracula's castle or haunted forest and create the illusion.
Jim Kelly, owner of Halloween Productions Inc., which runs the Darkness Haunted House in Ybor City, also emphasizes the planning stage.
"A haunted house is like a good movie," Kelly says. "It should make sense."
Although most professional houses typically guide guests through a maze, Kelly, who has been haunting since high school, says it's not necessary to build walls in your front yard. Use lights, fog and other props to limit visitors' sight distance, so what's up next remains a surprise.
Jerry Abercrombie, Universal's manager of art and design and the park's scare expert, suggests taking existing areas - front yard, porch, a flower bed under a large tree - and changing the setting.
Adorn the garage door with curtains to create a fortune teller's den, or create a cemetery with fresh dirt and gravestones, he says.
Abercrombie's top tip is probably the most basic: Draw visitors' eyes in one direction, then scare them from another.
"It's a simple formula," he says.
Props
Here's where the professionals have a clear advantage. Kelly uses an animatronic 10-foot-tall werewolf and a 6-foot-tall rat in his haunted house, props his company sells for thousands of dollars each.
Universal Studios planners can head into their warehouse for tons of old movie props. They pulled a large pipe organ from the "Casper" movie set to use in the Museum of Horror house.
"There's a wealth of old inventory items we're able to use," Mannarino says.
If you have a large disposable income or a desire to take out a second mortgage just to haunt your house, you can build and buy plenty of high-end, life-size props, especially on the Internet. (Halloween diehards reside on the Halloween-l e-mail list. Find out more at http://www.calweb.com/ ~bertino/halloween.html)
If your budget is a bit tighter, department or party stores are a good bet. Or you can tackle some craft projects to build custom props.
Abercrombie says before running out and spending a paycheck on Halloween props, look around your house. Pull a rocking chair out on the porch, then set a dressed-up skeleton in the seat to create a scene from "Psycho."
Or solicit some freebies.
"Typically, you can go to a landscape place and they'll give you old, dead plants," he says.
Other quick tips from the experts:
Lighting
Properly lighting a Halloween display is one of the most overlooked points, the haunting experts agree.
"The best-looking thing is not worth anything if it's not lighted properly," Kelly says.
He suggests placing low-power (25-watt) colored bulbs around Halloween settings for effect.
Reds convey thoughts of blood or the devil. Blue bulbs work well on gray props or concrete-style walls. Greens create "ghouly effects" in graveyard or earthy scenes.
Kelly's favorite is black lighting, which casts an eerie, moonlight glow.
Abercrombie says Universal often uses standard low-voltage landscape lights in its houses, because dimly lighted effects work better that heavy lightning.
Flicker flame bulbs, $2 to $3 each at such places as Party City or home centers, help set the scene of an old, dark dungeon without exposing kids or adults to dangerous open flames.
A well-placed strobe light, Abercrombie says, can disorient guests, setting them up for a surprise around the corner. Another trick of the trade: A pair of LED lights in a dark area creates the impression of lurking eyes.
Sound: Kelly suggests running a CD or loop cassette with ambient background music and adding more specific sounds to areas that require them, such as a thunder-and-lightning cassette near a back-lighted strobe.
Other sounds can come from existing things in your front yard, such as the hose.
"Running water is always a good sound effect," Mannarino says.
Those with a computer, sound card and Internet access can create a custom Halloween sound system by downloading scores of sinister sound clips.
Troy Heidel, 15, connects his computer's sound card to his parents' home theater system, then plugs in speakers in the carport.
Heidel, who spends two hours a day each October preparing his north Tampa haunted house, plays MIDI files (electronic sheet music that the computer interprets) continuously in the background. His favorites are the theme from the "Halloween" movie and "Tales From the Crypt" TV show.
He also intersperses WAV files (short digital recordings), such as a spooky welcome message, as specific sound effects for many of the props he builds.
"It all depends on what's going on," says Heidel, a ninth-grader at Gaither High School.
A couple starting points for those looking to download sounds are http://www.wavplace2.com/hallow.htm and http://soundamerica.com/.
Smells
In preparation for Horror Nights each year, Universal Studios buys gallons of custom scents with titles such as "Eau de Dead" and "Burning Flesh" from a New York perfumer. But there are simpler ways to change the mood with smell.
Abercrombie suggests putting fresh cypress mulch in flower beds just before the trick-or-treaters arrive and wet it down to create a musty scent. Mannarino says fresh dirt adds an earthy smell, and you can create a forest feel with evergreen scents from a Christmas shop.
Feel and textures
The pros make good use of fog machines, and you can, too.
Although the top-of-the-line ones can cost thousands, smaller versions of fog machines that plug into standard wall sockets and burn fog juice can be bought at party stores for $150 to $300.
Kelly favors the machines instead of dry ice, which he says is too dangerous and easily can be mishandled.
Abercrombie says also to check out your shed for lawn equipment that might inspire frightening scenes. Connect an electric leaf blower to an extension cord with a switch, then blast guests with an air burst as they're walking by.
Hanging strands of thin fishing line or string in walkways - an old trick - creates the illusion that a person walked into a spider web.
Mannarino says Universal buys camouflage netting from an Army surplus store and uses it to create a forest setting. Theatrical gauze, available through stage supply stores, works well on inside ceilings.
"We do a lot with fabrics," Mannarino says. "Just by creating weird shapes in a dimly lit space presents the feeling, "What's under the sheets?' "
The ending
When visitors leave a haunted house, Abercrombie says, they let their guards down. That's when they're most vulnerable.
"Save yourself one more place where you can scare them," he says.
We found the best use of this trick on the Internet, at Allen's Halloween Page at http://vol.com/~infidel/halloween/halloween.html, which shows his Possessed Mailbox invention.
"As people are leaving my house," he writes on his site, "they walk past my mailbox. When they get close, it suddenly starts banging open and closed, and a bright green light streams out."
Check his site for the plans for the mailbox and more of Allen's Halloween inventions.
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Build your own haunted house
From the Tampa Tribune, Oct. 24, 1998 (AtHome cover story)
By DIRK LAMMERS
TAMPA - Autumn. Time to apply a fresh coat of white paint to the picket fence, fix the shutter that's hanging by a shingle - and to adorn your finely groomed St. Augustine lawn with foam gravestones. Home improvement projects this hallowed season take a different shape.
Besides the gravestones, there's the plastic skeleton to hang from the oak tree, the cobwebs to string across the doorway and the outdoor lights to train on your ghoulish work.
If at all possible, avoid the temptation to pick up a broom - unless it's part of a costume.
If you haven't started decorating for Halloween yet, don't fret. We recently gathered tips from experts who haunt houses for a living.
T.J. Mannarino, a designer of Universal Studios' haunted houses for the Orlando park's annual Halloween Horror Nights, has been at it since second grade. While his budget for props and actors now dwarfs that of most homeowners, the concepts are the same for professionals and amateurs.
"Most of the things we do are very simple," says Mannarino, Universal's scenic designer for art and design. "We just dress it up a lot."
Our informal panel of experts shares some insider secrets on how to do it yourself, so you can be the bloody best on the block.
Planning
Mannarino suggests designing your haunted house around a story line. Don't just set out a bunch of props - picture a setting such as Dracula's castle or haunted forest and create the illusion.
Jim Kelly, owner of Halloween Productions Inc., which runs the Darkness Haunted House in Ybor City, also emphasizes the planning stage.
"A haunted house is like a good movie," Kelly says. "It should make sense."
Although most professional houses typically guide guests through a maze, Kelly, who has been haunting since high school, says it's not necessary to build walls in your front yard. Use lights, fog and other props to limit visitors' sight distance, so what's up next remains a surprise.
Jerry Abercrombie, Universal's manager of art and design and the park's scare expert, suggests taking existing areas - front yard, porch, a flower bed under a large tree - and changing the setting.
Adorn the garage door with curtains to create a fortune teller's den, or create a cemetery with fresh dirt and gravestones, he says.
Abercrombie's top tip is probably the most basic: Draw visitors' eyes in one direction, then scare them from another.
"It's a simple formula," he says.
Props
Here's where the professionals have a clear advantage. Kelly uses an animatronic 10-foot-tall werewolf and a 6-foot-tall rat in his haunted house, props his company sells for thousands of dollars each.
Universal Studios planners can head into their warehouse for tons of old movie props. They pulled a large pipe organ from the "Casper" movie set to use in the Museum of Horror house.
"There's a wealth of old inventory items we're able to use," Mannarino says.
If you have a large disposable income or a desire to take out a second mortgage just to haunt your house, you can build and buy plenty of high-end, life-size props, especially on the Internet. (Halloween diehards reside on the Halloween-l e-mail list. Find out more at http://www.calweb.com/ ~bertino/halloween.html)
If your budget is a bit tighter, department or party stores are a good bet. Or you can tackle some craft projects to build custom props.
Abercrombie says before running out and spending a paycheck on Halloween props, look around your house. Pull a rocking chair out on the porch, then set a dressed-up skeleton in the seat to create a scene from "Psycho."
Or solicit some freebies.
"Typically, you can go to a landscape place and they'll give you old, dead plants," he says.
Other quick tips from the experts:
- Make a mummy by shaping 2-inch bedding foam and wrapping it with gauze.
- Paint chunks of foam gray to make rocks.
- Tie a sheet at the end of a fishing line and cast it about as a cheap remote-control ghost.
- Add cheap fencing to a graveyard setting, then splatter random black and brown paint to give it a weathered look.
Lighting
Properly lighting a Halloween display is one of the most overlooked points, the haunting experts agree.
"The best-looking thing is not worth anything if it's not lighted properly," Kelly says.
He suggests placing low-power (25-watt) colored bulbs around Halloween settings for effect.
Reds convey thoughts of blood or the devil. Blue bulbs work well on gray props or concrete-style walls. Greens create "ghouly effects" in graveyard or earthy scenes.
Kelly's favorite is black lighting, which casts an eerie, moonlight glow.
Abercrombie says Universal often uses standard low-voltage landscape lights in its houses, because dimly lighted effects work better that heavy lightning.
Flicker flame bulbs, $2 to $3 each at such places as Party City or home centers, help set the scene of an old, dark dungeon without exposing kids or adults to dangerous open flames.
A well-placed strobe light, Abercrombie says, can disorient guests, setting them up for a surprise around the corner. Another trick of the trade: A pair of LED lights in a dark area creates the impression of lurking eyes.
Sound: Kelly suggests running a CD or loop cassette with ambient background music and adding more specific sounds to areas that require them, such as a thunder-and-lightning cassette near a back-lighted strobe.
Other sounds can come from existing things in your front yard, such as the hose.
"Running water is always a good sound effect," Mannarino says.
Those with a computer, sound card and Internet access can create a custom Halloween sound system by downloading scores of sinister sound clips.
Troy Heidel, 15, connects his computer's sound card to his parents' home theater system, then plugs in speakers in the carport.
Heidel, who spends two hours a day each October preparing his north Tampa haunted house, plays MIDI files (electronic sheet music that the computer interprets) continuously in the background. His favorites are the theme from the "Halloween" movie and "Tales From the Crypt" TV show.
He also intersperses WAV files (short digital recordings), such as a spooky welcome message, as specific sound effects for many of the props he builds.
"It all depends on what's going on," says Heidel, a ninth-grader at Gaither High School.
A couple starting points for those looking to download sounds are http://www.wavplace2.com/hallow.htm and http://soundamerica.com/.
Smells
In preparation for Horror Nights each year, Universal Studios buys gallons of custom scents with titles such as "Eau de Dead" and "Burning Flesh" from a New York perfumer. But there are simpler ways to change the mood with smell.
Abercrombie suggests putting fresh cypress mulch in flower beds just before the trick-or-treaters arrive and wet it down to create a musty scent. Mannarino says fresh dirt adds an earthy smell, and you can create a forest feel with evergreen scents from a Christmas shop.
Feel and textures
The pros make good use of fog machines, and you can, too.
Although the top-of-the-line ones can cost thousands, smaller versions of fog machines that plug into standard wall sockets and burn fog juice can be bought at party stores for $150 to $300.
Kelly favors the machines instead of dry ice, which he says is too dangerous and easily can be mishandled.
Abercrombie says also to check out your shed for lawn equipment that might inspire frightening scenes. Connect an electric leaf blower to an extension cord with a switch, then blast guests with an air burst as they're walking by.
Hanging strands of thin fishing line or string in walkways - an old trick - creates the illusion that a person walked into a spider web.
Mannarino says Universal buys camouflage netting from an Army surplus store and uses it to create a forest setting. Theatrical gauze, available through stage supply stores, works well on inside ceilings.
"We do a lot with fabrics," Mannarino says. "Just by creating weird shapes in a dimly lit space presents the feeling, "What's under the sheets?' "
The ending
When visitors leave a haunted house, Abercrombie says, they let their guards down. That's when they're most vulnerable.
"Save yourself one more place where you can scare them," he says.
We found the best use of this trick on the Internet, at Allen's Halloween Page at http://vol.com/~infidel/halloween/halloween.html, which shows his Possessed Mailbox invention.
"As people are leaving my house," he writes on his site, "they walk past my mailbox. When they get close, it suddenly starts banging open and closed, and a bright green light streams out."
Check his site for the plans for the mailbox and more of Allen's Halloween inventions.
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