Creating a believable haunted house
October 11, 2013
One of the most important aspects in creating a great haunted house is its authenticity. People will come to your haunt to immerse themselves in a new, alien environment that feels real. The most terrified a customer will feel is when he believes he is actually in danger, not just walking through an entertaining set with actors. The first thing you can do to create a truly fantastic experience is to make sure your set doesn’t feel like a set. Things like having cables hanging down where they shouldn’t or ceilings being visible that don’t fit the theme can take away from the realism you’re trying to create. If you are lucky enough to base your haunted house around an old, creepy, pre-existing structure, most of this is already taken care for you due to the amazing detail already existing in the building and customers will be able to feel that. But if you are building your haunt from scratch, paying attention to detail is a huge factor. Simple additions like attaching dark netting over your ceilings so customers don’t see white tile or adding some extra blood and grime to your props so they don’t look like they were purchased at a costume store will make a huge difference.
The next step to creating a believable haunted house is making sure your actors are professional. The worst thing to see in a haunted house is a couple zombies chatting or laughing about the last group they scared. Along with your actors staying in role, spend some money on making sure their costumes look real. Seeing an actor with some cheap makeup on can completely take away from the experience of being scared to death by the creature hiding in the dark. If you follow these steps you’ll have people lining up out the door to see your haunt.
