Evil children/evil toys are terrifying, sure. But what about the happier stories about childhood? On this episode of The Haunting Ground, I discussed the various ways children’s entertainment has been (and can be) twisted to be creepy, funny, or downright terrifying for a Halloween display.
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I don’t know about you, but in NJ, it’s still a little too…covered in snow and ice to be outside actively building for the 2014 haunt season. That’s why The Haunting Ground continues with another inspiration video. Edgar Allan Poe didn’t just write great stories and poems. He wrote moments of horror so defined by simple, iconic imagery that they translate well to a darker haunted house concept.
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Today marks the beginning of Season 2 of The Haunting Ground. A Halloween show in February, you ask? Think of it this way: you have just over eight months to get everything ready for the best night of the year.
The first few episodes this season are all going to be about inspiration and theme. I already know what I’m doing (kind of) for 2014: a fully black and white haunt. Here’s why it’s a great theme for you Halloween decorations.
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Last night was the debut of my new panel High Tech Halloween on a Low Tech Budget. It went really well. People slowly filed in and turned it into a fantastic discussion about various haunting techniques and philosophies. I filmed a few minutes before the panel, so that starting conversation was longer but the quality wasn’t great.
This is what I love about the haunting community. We love learning new things. We love helping each other. And we’re not judgmental. I had to make that clear. I might haunt on a budget, but that doesn’t mean I have a problem with people who have the resources to funnel $1000′s into their haunt each year. There’s no wrong way to haunt.
The big disappointment is that the panel actually continued about 15 minutes past the video ending time. My DSLR apparently only records video for 30 minutes at a time, so it cut off 30 minutes into the recording. We discussed weather, tombstones, and using online resources to trade/gift theme-specific props.
This, ladies and gentlemen, is why my writing has been so sporadic this month. I had to get all my haunt stuff together to put on the annual traffic-stopping show on Halloween night. A daytime guided tour, followed by the premiere of the official 2013 haunt video, and the aftermath of a yard haunt.
I’m fully in haunt mode and making sure everyone is safely reaching my door. Here’s some prop samples, my hoard (curse these back to back con, sickness, con patterns), and OCD trick or treat bag conveyor belt system.
Why settle for last minute programming choices on Halloween night when you can have a horror aficionado set the groundwork for the best triple feature ever? In the new episode of Slipstream (all desaturated and grainy and fuzzy for extra creep factor), I break down my perfect path to a perfect horror triple or even quadruple feature, then demonstrate the technique with two Netflix and one Hulu playlist perfect for Halloween.
No need for a behind the scenes play by play on this one. It’s all in the video. I’ll put the complete playlists with links to their IMDB pages after the jump, but the video speaks for itself. Most of the cuts were me staring at my notes and cross-referencing details on my phone.
Watch, then click through if you want the playlists for reference.
This week on Sketchy Details @Home, we play along with the comedy poltergeist challenge of SyFy’s Face Off. The results on this challenge were really good overall. The judges hated the design I used for my inspiration, Laney’s punk rocker electrocuted during a concert, but it was my favorite design by far. She aimed for a living Monster High doll and nailed it.
My take is a cool Halloween project inspired by some random photo I saw when prepping for Halloween last year. It’s a translucent, very stable packing tape ghost. I upped my game by building up the wig head base with a custom carved hairdo that meant building it as one piece and dissecting it afterwards for the final presentation. Watch then click through for the behind the scenes.