Frightmare Studios

2009:

this was a year from hell. seemed like any time work began on anything exterior wise of the haunt it rained, so no changes were made on the exterior of the haunt everything inside was once again changed from the previous year. this was also the first year i documented the haunt after the show was up in operation. i was able to do a walkthrough in photos. most is a lights on tour of the haunt, the haunt is so dark inside its impossible to snap shots in some areas with only the haunt lamps on.

so here we go…
walking up to the que line…

you enter the haunt from the building on the left, up the ramp you are met with the gate keeper. he will let you in 2-3 guests per group. durring the night he would peek his head out and watch the guests in line, just his blank stare would drive people nuts, some chickened out before even entering the first building! inside the door and to your left, down the first hallway you will notice one of my tsp inspired skull lamps.


turning the corner at the skull lamp you are staring down the hallway at a coffin. a live actor would stand inside the coffin with there arms crossed looking at he was laying inside the coffin, the only light was some LED candle fixtures on top of the coffin and the moon light shining through the cracks of the front wall, it was so dim it looked like a dead end but there was no back to the coffin so it was actually a door into the next room of the building! as the group would get closer, the actor would jump out and scream ‘welcome to frightmare! remember, no running or pushing in my house, enjoy your stay.’


making your way through the coffin door into the next room you get to see my other tsp inspired skull lamp above a small end table.


on the opposite side of that same room was a coffin with a body inside. as you stepped past the small end table a motion sensor would trigger an air cannon firing a blast of air at the groups ankles and a boom! everyone waiting in line could hear the blast and was expecting something in the coffin to happen. this scared just about everyone!


the door after the coffin takes you to the courtyard area between the first building and the main haunt.


here is different angles of the courtyard. there was a lot to look at here. 2 actors were scattered here and would terrorize you before entering the main haunt. friend of mine’s 5 year old little daughter wanted to help this year, so we made her up and sat her on the bench on the end of the bridge. she would hold a candle fixture and as people were stepping foot into the door she would say ‘their going to get you!’ i really dont think there was anything creepier done with the haunt before and after this. people didnt know how to react. most of the guests jaws dropped and they freaked out! she sat so incredibly still people thought she was fake!



over the bridge in the courtyard from the first building, you are standing at the front door to the main haunt.



opening the door you are standing in the first room of the main haunt. in front of you sits an actor reading a book. looking around the room you notice there is no doorway out. you are stuck in a room with an actor and 2 life actors still hot on your tail from the courtyard!


before the guests finds the doorway the actor looks up and slams the book shut. he leans back and pulls a string opening the curtain into the next room. painted on the backside of the book is an arrow pointing into the next room. once the curtain was pulled open, that would trigger a motion sensor turning on tv tube hanging from chains from the ceiling.


into the next room you notice a static prop sitting on the floor right inside the doorway as well as a dresser and the television tube hanging on chains from the ceiling slats. once in awhile the tv would pick up weak signals (witch i dont understand because everything went digital) but it would put weird lines and sometimes fuzzy figures onto the screen, as well as some audio would come through. this really would creep the guests out. even the actors at times.


after leaving this room around a corner you are looking down a dark hallway with a single flickering candle on the wall. this year i wanted to try and make the haunt interactive with the guests so i had them pull and push doors open into each room. and the end of the first hallway in the main haunt was a doorway lit by a flickering candle light and a mini led spotlight. this also left some great actor scare areas right behind the doors. as they would push them open an actor would be right in your face!


through the first door in the haunt you enter ‘the study’ from the time you enter the main haunt building you would hear a squeaking noise that would be so consistent over and over getting louder and louder. as you enter the study the noise would soon find out was coming from this room. the actor as the desk would be scribbling in a book so fast it would make the legs on the desk squeak. he was scribbling so fast and consistent people thought he was an animation! as the group would past him reaching for the door knob to pull the next door open he would jump up and scream ‘help me i lost my eye! i cant see this!’ he would turn around and looking at him you only notice one eye and a deep black eye socket.


pulling the door open from the study leads you into the next short hallway. off to the right in a small cubby is the frightmare bathroom. there is a shit covered toilet being pumped with air to give a nasty bubbling effect. directly behind the bathroom is the first drop panel. while guests are looking at the toilet the panel slams and the actor from the front room sitting in the chair is right in your face!



after the bathroom you turn another dark hallway to another door. once again this door is lit by a flicking candle bulb and led spotlight.


through the door, you are standing in front of an old chest filled with bones and pictures and shelves on the wall. this is where you meet up with the 2nd drop panel. one of the actors from the courtyard would slam the panel down & about 1-2 seconds later an actor dressed in complete black from head to toe would slam the chest lid and whisper ‘are you afraid of what you cant see’. he could get right into your face and you still wouldn’t see him!


behind you in the same room you walk up to 2 busted bifold doors witch took you into the maze portion of the house, ‘the closet’. once you found your way in past the bifold doors you were finding your way through the claustrophobic pitch black labyrinth of hanging clothes. the clothes were hung so thick many people started to panic thinking they were not going to make it out. they said this was the best part of the house. it would also slow the groups down so our actors could get in position for the next group.



after making it through the closet you then continued on through the dark section of the house. it was switchback hallways with single flickering candle fixtures at the end of each hall. you also ran back into the actor from the study asking if you have found his eye yet.


after making a final turn you were stopped in front of another push door lit by an led spot light.


pushing open the door took you into the kitchen & meeting back up with the other actor from the courtyard. the actor would sit under the sink in a cage like box, guests had no idea he was there until he would start slamming the cage door back and forth. the sink also had an air line run to it so it would bubble like the toilet.



turning the corner from the kitchen you walk down the last long hallway in the haunt to the ‘living room’ of the house. this room was more or less eye candy and once in awhile one of the actors would be standing in this room shaking or just swaying back and forth.




around the last wall next to the organ is the exit door out of the house.


you wouldnt ever come o frightmare without a ‘banger’ or a fantastic final scare! after leaving the haunt guests would walk down along the building back to the courtyard. what they thought was the end of the road. once the back door shut and all the guets from that group were on the final walk out, the actor from the courtyard and running the last drop panel would fire up a chainsaw and run up behind the group. the groups would usually run up to the last gate before going back into the courtyard. an actor would stand behind the gate and make sure none of the guests plowed into the gate, through the courtyard and back out into the crowd. the chainsaw scare was so effective that groups of people admitted to pee’n there pants. through the gate at the end of the last walkway you are back into the courtyard where you find the exit back to real life.

around the last wall next to the organ is the exit door out of the house.



and thats it for frightmare 2009. hope all of the guests enjoyed there time and if you wasnt able to make it. hopefully next year.
like always i want to thank all the guests who came check out the haunt, all my friends who helped this year and in the past and as always a huge thanks to a super good friend of mine steve, for the help with pretty much… everything.