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The most important part of making a terrifying haunted house is the soundtrack.

September 1, 2013

The most important part of making a terrifying haunted house is the soundtrack. Have you ever been watching a scary movie, maybe it’s too scary you’re not even looking at the screen, and you’ll jump at certain scenes solely due to the music choice? Slow, creepy violins and abrupt, hard strikes on the organ. These sounds are meant to build up the suspense, draw you into the movie while keeping you still in anticipation, and then overload your senses with fear by timing loud music with images on the screen. This same tactic needs to be used in your haunted house to create a horrifying experience for your customers. Are they walking through a little kid’s bedroom? Have a little girl whispering for them to come play with her. Have a heartbeat thumping or footsteps scuffing right behind the customer to really add another dimension of fear.
In addition to audio, lighting is another important aspect to creating an awesome haunt. On one hand, you want it dark enough to create a spooky atmosphere and so customers can’t see your actors until the opportune moment, but you also don’t want it too dark that customers are running into walls, or missing your great, detailed sets. One solution to this problem is to create an almost pitch-black room, but give your customer’s dimmed flashlights, one per group or one for every person, so they can explore your room. You will often want to highlight some of the cool or gory props and details you have in your room, which is where can lights come into use. Have a blue light glowing inside a fridge or a red spotlight shining dimly behind a bloody corpse and you can direct the customer’s attention wherever you want.