A new online blog radio show called ALL HALLOWS RADIO begins next week. Click on the title to follow the link and read the description of the show. It will be on Tuesdays at 9:30 pm.
It is hosted by Matthew Flagler who is the person also responsible for starting the Canadian Haunted Attractions conference. Matthew is certainly putting forth great energy in hopes of expanding the Halloween industry in Canada. He is a great motivational type speaker as well so should make for a good host.
Here is the link to the new 2011 pics. Will add some more later on as I am waiting for a few more to trickle in.
click image for photo gallery
Here is the breathing-grave prop for 2011. The how-to link was on HALLOWEEN FORUM (Thanks Tony) and easy to follow. I used a BBQ rotisserie motor that someone had given me , so the parts including wood came out to about $11. With the help of friend Eric we built it in about 1 hour.
Will be adding more mechanical stuff like this now that I can enlist some help from folks. Eric also does electronics so we have some stuff in mind already.
I was quite surprised the startled reactions this prop caused. I placed the cams so that there was a slight pause before the movement which is what I think really caught people off guard. That also simulated breathing better to me anyway.
click picture to see video
Here is the link to our section of a show called “Neighborhood Haunts” produced for our local cable station. They aired this on Halloween 2011. Super nice people to work with.
click on picture to access video
I promise to catch up on all my posts now that the big night is done.
Here is the story from the Oakvile paper about the Manor. A couple of misquotes but not too bad. This has worked great as quite a few folks stopped in before Halloween to donate , and it definitely increased the donations last night.
It was a nice way to met some new folks as well. Sometimes you need small reminders of how neighbourly folks generally are.
whoooooo……what a long weekend indeed, either in garage or on front lawn. I was going to pack it in about 7 pm but it was a nice night with a full moon. How can you really stop working on Halloween stuff ! ? Feels like I spent most if the day either moving stuff around to try and get at things , or standing pondering options. Getting ready for the windy weather is also time consuming ,making sure everything is stable and staked.
Put up the side gate today. Decided on just the front panel this year as we have a projection running at the back of the alley, so I need a good line of sight. I actually like the diagonal as that will catch the floodlight nicely. Will also put a handle on that new wall sconce. If that does not seem like it will work well then Frankenstein will go there.
Welcoming.....
So the zombie finally broke last year so I trashed his legs and kept the top. It actually looks kinda cool coming out of the ground. I will shovel
some dirt on him on Halloween.
I'm not dead yet!
I had to remove two bushes today to fit the tomb facade. How is that for commitment ? haha , no , they were dead bushes anyway. Worked out well as the ghost is now 3 feet behind the scrim so I can underlight it from behind the door. Should look nice and eerie . Might use green. Will probably add some more cheesecloth to simulate arms reaching forward. That will give it some more motion in the wind.
Another thing for sure is that my cemetery fence looks really tired. That will definitely be getting a overhaul next year.
ok. I will be honest up front and say I did not feel like doing anything today. It was so warm and I was already tired from the week , so I just wanted to lie out in the sun and sleep. But the show must go on, so I started emptying the garage and putting stuff up.
I slightly altered the layout from last year and at first I really did not like it. I decided to continue anyway and at least lay it all out. Once I physically walked around it I could see how it was going to work. I warmed up to it slowly , and then I realized I has accidentally given myself some space advantages for things I was thinking about trying. So I will stick with it for now.
The gates are now centred which looks better as they were usually crammed under the big tree. The impaled skeleton will go right in the middle of the big area and i will arrange the walking path around it. I now have two open corners for figures/live people .
The cemetery goes in the back and that will be visually blocked in with the new half walls that were built this year. Will put those out this weekend as well.
The world of illusion
I had a couple stop by who had heard about the place. They were former haunters are going to get back into it again next year. They gave me the one compliment i always get , “I love those windows!” . haha I should seriously consider just covering the whole front of the house like that and just call it done. Decided to shift the mummy creature around again. He gets moved every year.
This past Sat Oct 1 we took a road trip to some pro haunts in Buffalo. The initial idea was to go just to THE HOUSE OF HORRORS , but we got through that so fast we decided to add FRIGHTWORLD . This was a great choice as FW was easily the superior of the two. HOH still had some pretty good stuff, but I did not find it much better then SCREAMERS already here in Toronto.
Each location has 5 attractions although two of HOH’s (almost 3) are just mazes only. I don’t mind the mazes but not as the majority of the haunts. HOH did spend some money on nice facade panels but they lacked art direction. Maybe they were a bit rushed putting it together?
outside HOH
We were amazed walking into FW as you could see the quality and art direction was really well planned. It was my first time so I am not sure if there were repeat facades from the previous years. Each facades theme was really well thought out. The atrium also sported a 2 story waterfall that had foamy red water. Laer pointed out that the red light made the foam look a bit like flesh, and so it appeared to look like a giant open wound.
The water-wound
Enough said....
Our favourite was definitely THE GRIND HOUSE as everything about it was just stellar. It is designed as a backwater murderous hill-billy family place. The front ‘yard” was filled with so much stuff , including laundry. Set a nice tone. Each room was just as filled with insane detail as the front. it was so hard to take it all in especially with characters coming out of various places to make sure they keep you moving along. I loved the trophy room with all the prize heads, and the crawl space done with a plexi-glass floor and wrecked wooden path. It is amazing how your mind and feet force you to stay on the broken wood even though you know you won’t fall though.
All the signs were carved foam. Nice.
In the 3D clown maze I came around a corner and there were 4 teenage girls in a pile in the corner while a 6′ 7″ inch Micheal Myers slammed a wooden knife into the wall above their heads. it was a pretty intense moment, but was followed by a near dance party as the music switched to circus tunes with a heavy beat. We ended up dancing out of the haunt much to the confused faces of people waiting to go in. It was just sheer coincidence in timing as we caught that part of the ambient music. A needed relief though. ha
We saved WICKED WOODS for last and ended up being joined by two women who needed a larger group. That went ok until the end when we had the last final scare ad one of the women yelled “run faster!!” as she pushed me so hard I almost faceplanted. I was really confused as the whole time I thought it was Rowynne behind me and the fear just made her really strong. I think I have bruises from where her fingertips were. The second women probably would have taken off layers of flesh from Laer except for his leather jacket being in the way. ha
'Wicked Woods' prop
All in all a fun night out. I hope some Canadian places can match FRIGHTWORLD at some point. Don’t see why not as SCREAMERS seemed just as busy as FW was so the customers are there. They just need to but some more coin in the budget for some art direction and props. Canadas Wonderland spends the coin but they waste the scares by having a never ending stream of people going through. You need that small group of family and friends to go through together as that is half the fun.
Da gang......in haunt poses
Sep 27 2011
Filed In: Props
I had a nice piece of rotted out 6×6 I wanted to use and decided, after some Haunters Group suggestions, to impale the new skeleton on it. Did not really take that long. I had to crave down the top to make it look sharper. I also wired one of his hips to get that nice leg pose for his line of action.
For the blood I mixed a dark watery red and just poured from the tip. Really no design t this other then letting the liquid take its course via gravity. It always find little interesting nooks and crannies. The blood is actually not as red as this photo makes it seem as I wanted it to look older.
the back side of the wood was still flat so i painted the BEWARE on it. Kept that bright white for the darkness factor.
What a pain in the back...
I got a new blank headstone this year and decided to carve one up for Marie Laveau , the voodoo queen of New Orleans. She is an interesting figure to me as there are arguments whether or not she even practised voodoo at all. The last living daughter proclaimed she despised it. Whatever the truth is her name is forever associated with the practice.
I put the triple X chalk mark on there which is the voodoo sign for protection. It is often found on stones in New Orleans. Will also dress this up nicely with candles , and maybe a little doll.
