Tonight was (still is, for another 45 minutes or so) Friday the 13th ... in October!
My very first date with Marla was Friday the 13th in October, so these are special days for us. That first night, we went to a haunt, and that is what we did again tonight.
Tonight we stood in line at the House of Torment for a while, and then went through the haunt with a nice group of kids, the girls of which were quite satisfactory screamers.
We, of course, are _terrible_ haunt patrons... boooorrring for the actors! Poor things. We like to look at the props, the costumes, the makeup, the set decorations, everything; the technical stuff.
This is what comes from working haunts for many years.
I won't say it sucks the fun out of it, but it does swap the traditional scare fun for a more cerebral enjoyment.
Anyway, House of Torment is very nicely decorated, and they put a lot of effort into their costumes and makeup.
It's a traditional haunt, where you walk through and there are a bunch of startles (boo!)... but they also have some creepy places too. It's not all startle.
No story, and not over-arching theme, but internally, the haunt has several themed sections.
More use of pneumatics this year. Saw at least two trash can traumas (or variants), and there was a nice little dancing doll thingy.
A _lot_ of Bucky's (skeletons), some not modified hardly at all... but there was a _lot_ of nicely modified and redecorated stuff, too.
The space it is in was an old paintball arena, so it's multi-level, with high places, low places, and an amazing twisting path through it all. It takes a good 20 minutes to walk through, and longer if you get trapped by the boo-scares, I'm sure.
All in all, a very well made haunt.
And a fun date.
Posted by Edwin at October 13, 2006 11:16 PM