Thread: Rise of the Living Dead?

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hey, just throwing this out there in the, "has anyone ever thought of/done this?" catagory, but i recently had a thought for what i thought would be a really dramatic effect, but a relatively easy one for a grave yard scene

this would be more or less an idea for a haunt, not necessarily for a yard display, but it would basically look as if the actor (doning traditional zombie garb) actually was breaking free from the ground, and pulling themselves out of the solid patch of grass and leaves in front of their grave.

I was thinking something along the lines of a giant pit dug into the ground. i would be doing this for my anual halloween party haunted hayrides in the woods, so no worries about a huge pit in front yard (oh my, what i wouldnt do to be able to do that, ha). We have a backhoe attachment for the tractor, so this wont be a problem. the hole itself would have to be deep enough for the actor to be able to comfortably sit and wait, but not too deep for fear of it collapsing (Yikes!) a ladder or improvised stairs would serve as a method of rising up for our zombie friend.

The one tricky paret i would need some help on would be the actual "ground" itself. I was thinking some dark green or brown spandex type material that would easily stretch to accomedate the escape from the ground, bnut would reform back to "normal ground mode" after the scare was done and ready to reset for the next wagon. I would probably glue down fake grass/dirt/leaves over the spandex to complete the illusion of solid ground.

These are just thoughts, i havent really started yet. i was just wondering:
A: Has anyone done this before, or something similar?
B: Would you recomend this method or your own?
C: Any suggestions as to how to make the ground?
and finally 4: Does anyone else have any ideas as to possible alternatives (they dont necessaril;y have to have been built, just ideas)

thanxs for hearing me out, i know this was an incredibly long post, and i appretiate all the feedback i can get!

we did something similar at the haunt i help run...

we had a large hole about 6' x 6' and about 3' deep. instead of actual fake ground, we used a powerful fog machine to dump fog into it as often as possible. this, on top of the other 3 fog machines we had filling the rest of our graveyard kept things pretty foggy. our "zombie" would crouch down into the hole and be pretty well hidden. We achieved a genuine "rising from the ground" look without burying him every 3 minutes which is what we wanted. with all the other scares in the immediate area, no one really noticed that he was just jumping out of a hole as opposed to climbing out of the ground.

not quite the effect you had in mind but it could help to partially implement this into your design.

A member here named Kristen also did this. She talked about how in the cemetery thread found here: Your cemetery.

This is what she explained on how she did it:

By the way, that 'zombie' is a friend of mine! We dug a 5 foot hole for him to stand in, then put painted plywood with grass over it and around him. He scared the hell out kids and adults. Thats why you can see a group of people in the 'back' graveyard standing around him. (my house has an (almost) circular driveway that cuts the front and side lawn apart. You really cant see the back graveyard from the pictures.

really cool idea. makes me wish i could dig up my front yard.

sounds really cool UKnowMyName, a fog machine really would help to mask the short comings of the spandex too. maybe like a low lying fog.

Thanks for the like Terra, i wanst aware it existed, the whole entry looks interesting!

I would think all you would need is a hole about waist deep and some of the type of material that they use when kayaking to cover the cockpit.maybe that is spandex.and if you had a couple of the holes that would be even cooler and maybe couple more walking around.brains, brains, try the liver!

yeah, that was the exact type of material i was thinking of, daddywoof, i just didnt quite know what to call it.

do you think that they may sell it at sporting goods stores, or maybe even as a specialty item online? it needs to be sturdy too, and that stuff certainly would be!

What about camo netting?

you know, that would be perfect, cause it will be out in the woods, and i think they make it in autum colors too! (if not i can just spray it browny-orange)

Great idea Terra!

so what if you dug the hole deep enough for the lurker. then built a frame that set in the hole. hinge a couple of wood pieces to the frame like a door but with a hole cut so that fit around the lurker. attache leaves, grass, and moss to the door. that way he can climb out as he pushes the ground up [doors] and then open them back up to crawl back in.