5 Ridiculous Halloween Props
When I was a boy one of my favorite things to do was make my own haunted houses in the attic. My friends and brothers would help build elaborate props and we would figure out ways to scare the pants off our parents. (Unfortunately they were the only ones who ever saw our masterpieces.)
The spook house continues to allure me and I’m always surprised that an entire industry exists to make animatronic vampires, ghouls, and zombies for use in Haunted Houses. These props are usually ultra-corny and so noisy no one would ever mistake them for the real thing, yet they hold an odd charm. So here are some of the best, worst, and strangest I’ve seen:
The Buzz Saw: Great in theory, but in practice it’s kind of silly. First of all, the body is already cut in half before the saw starts. Obviously in a haunted house it would need to be performed over and over again, but if that’s the case perhaps a scene where someone is cut in half is a bit ambitious.
Stone Master Gargoyle: There is a local party supply shop that has one of these so I’ve gotten the opportunity to see it several times in action. It’s mildly impressive, but not exactly frightening. Here’s why: this prop costs over $8000. So naturally it is used as a show-off piece when it would be better served as a background prop.
Cool Jerk: Mommy please don’t let the obviously rubber man touch me.
Death Chamber: This is actually pretty scary – if you watch the video for it there is a little jump at the end that would probably make me crap my pants.
Haunted Vanity: Personally, I prefer the haunted curio cabinet.
Comments(9)
Why would I pay almost 6 hundred dollars for that damn bloody vanity when I can buy one from a thrift store for ten bucks and make it dirty and bloody myself for under twenty dollars? I guess some people really are that lazy.
as a haunt person.. the best scares are the cheapest ones. it’s all about lighting and timing… timing timing timing!!! scarecrow scares (where the customers think the actor is just a prop, but when the time is right the actor moves for the scare), misdirection is fantastic… oh hey look, a big expensive gargoyle… and the rreal scare is the actor sneaking up behind them. expensive props and named movie monsters are amatuer shit, making teenage girls shit themselves by vomitting blood as you appear in the exact middle of the crowd… priceless. divide and conquer. seperate the group. allow scares to be multi directional. and tinklers are always appreciated. if you come through a haunt and you don’t wet yourself a little, the haunt sucks.
how about 5 over-used haunt props.
1. black lights. i get it… ooooo your fuckin teeth glow and semen shows up on your pants.
2. strobe lights. set at high speed are annoying. slow speed is better, but getting an electrician in to do lighting on alternating current (not sure, i am not an electrician, just know the effect)… makes a set light flicker at random times. do that instead.
3. bad backdrops. down put a sticker on a wall with a cartoon dracula scene in the background as if your ground level haunt is a tower in some castle.
4. freddy, jason, and mikey. make up your own characters.
5. styrofoam tombstones. nothing in your haunt should be styrofoam. we got shut down last year because our fireproof plastic was against firecode. styrofoam is a no go and it looks like shit.
I’ve always hated the “punk” Halloween stuff, like this shitty “Anarchy Back Talker” in this picture. When people dress up as a “punk” for Halloween, that’s annoying as shit too. “Real People” costumes are lame. Don’t be a hippie, a punk, a “guy in a business suit”, or other lame shit like that.
I remember a kid in middle school who came to school on Halloween in a suit with a briefcase. Everybody thought it was lame, and then he opened up his briefcase. It had towels in it. He was a “towel salesman”. What? But then he lifted the top towel up and there were two toy guns. He was really a secret arms dealer. A seventh grader thought that shit up. This story also points out that I’m slightly aged, since you could still bring toy guns to school when I was a kid!
you could bring them in when i was in school too… i am 27 though… is that old?
i do hate when people dress punk fpr halloween. good fucking call nate. makes me want to dress up like a bro-dude, grab some natty ice and a game cube and unleash bro-rapes.
what the fuck is the deal with the hannah monntah costumes too?
Here’s what I hate – Presidential candidate masks.
Hahaha That torso one looks like it was killed mid coitus. The “twitching” motion it does looks like its humping the air with a phantom “limb”. The expression on its face doesn’t help it either.
One thing I realized last night: a big stack against animatronics is that you can hear the hydraulic hissing before (and throughout) the creature performs its purpose.
Best lighting is some small, colored spot lighting. Blues and reds can really make costumes and makeup pop and add detail.
most definately blues and reds.
i am all about low watt indirect light too… 15-25w bulbs obscured directed to create light but set a mood… but i spend 2 years in college for lighting and film, so i have an appreciation for doing it right.
yeah, those presidential mask have always pissed me off… but i was thinking about getting a mccain mask and doing a zombie mccain effect.