Thread: My Halloween (1978) Michael Myers Haunt '09

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Hey guys and gals,

It's been a few weeks since our favorite day and I got around to uploading the videos of my first "official" haunt! I figured I'd keep the spirit going...

PART 1
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4gm2sU95IM]YouTube - Halloween Haunt 2009 (Halloween 1978 Michael Myers Theme) Part 1[/ame]

PART 2
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBK76T5Qurc]YouTube - Halloween Haunt 2009 (Halloween 1978 Michael Myers Theme) Part 2[/ame]

My haunt was loaded with a lot of detailed special effects. It was constructed entirely by myself over 2 months time. It may not be much, but I gave each effect as much TLC and detail as I could. Overall, I felt the atmosphere was pretty spot-on. Any questions on how or what I used to achieve an effect, I will be glad to answer!

For those who are fans of the original Halloween (the best one!), you will notice a lot of intricate "film-accurate" details such as the pumpkin, gravestone, and my "Shape" outfit, mask, and knife, as well as all the sound effects.

A personal super THANK YOU goes out to OpenTrackRacer for his infinite knowledge and helpfulness. Also to GoreyCorey who hooked me up with a killer VEI machine! A lot of the ideas I made and my motivation altogether was inspired by the endless creativity found on this prop forum, so THANK YOU to everyone!

Please let me know what you honestly think!

I'm newer to this board, so I apologize if this is posted in the wrong section.

How many kids you had on Halloween? Look very cool! Love the Judith Myer's tombstone. Great stuff. Are you planning again next year the same?

Right on, man, that looked like a blast. I LOVE authenticity in a haunt, although it would escape the casual viewer. I know it would have totally creeped out my ten-year-old daughter, she can't handle Michael Myers. And it shows that you don't need to fire up a chainsaw or run around brandishing a Butcher Knife to be scarey.

Did you notice if you intimidated the smaller kids from coming up the Driveway?

I like how the pumpkin lit up and sound effect want off when people walked by, how did you do that?

I like the pumpkin too. I would also like know how that was done. Good job on all of it

Nice.
This shows very nicely that you don't have to make them jump out of their skin...
Very often the brooding menace type of scare can be equally effective.

BTW...
TOTspeak Translation: "You don't scare us"!! = "I think I just wet myself..."

did you get called"Jason" at the begining?oh boy,,you did a good job a stay'in charactor and thats what freaks em out!

Originally Posted by osenator

How many kids you had on Halloween? Are you planning again next year the same?

Hmm, I'd say maybe only 50 kids tops. It worked though, because it allowed for all the props to reset and gave me more time to freak out each ToT. I'd like to work with larger traffic though and get more reactions. Next year, I'm undecided. I'm looking into pneumatic props and whatnot, but my ultimate goal is to top each previous year.

Originally Posted by Wolfman

I LOVE authenticity in a haunt, although it would escape the casual viewer.

Yeah, that's usually the case, I'm just glad I shot a vid so I can show people like my friends and you guys who would pick up on the details. I must have been called "Jason" 4 or 5 times that night!

Originally Posted by Wolfman

Did you notice if you intimidated the smaller kids from coming up the Driveway?

No doubt! The Haddonfield sign with its flickering circuit and creepy ominous music turned away at least 20 or more ToTs, even before the saw me!

Originally Posted by Wolfman

It shows that you don't need to fire up a chainsaw or run around brandishing a Butcher Knife to be scarey.

Half of my display last year was my friend as Leatherface and a real chainsaw, but kids were running and falling really hard in the driveway, one kid pissed his pants (literally!), so yeah, I'm more into the "unknown" creepy-vibe, you can't read the Myers character, "what's he gonna do?", that's what freaks people out.

Originally Posted by Scott N.

I like how the pumpkin lit up and sound effect want off when people walked by, how did you do that?

Ah yes, I was really proud of that pumpkin. Essentially, it was real pumpkin, carved like the one in the opening credits, with a hole in the back where a small 25w amber bulb was connected to a socket adapter + extension cord. Underneath the table, there was a larger computer speaker system connected to a picoBoo105, which cued the pumpkin, music, and floodlights highlighting the fog + gravestone. When "ambient", a blue flood for fog would be on. When the picoBoo was triggered, via a tiny PIR sensor hidden in the fence, the blue flood would turn off, and the yellow flood and pumpkin would cue to the music!

Haha yeah, the kid who said "You don't scare us!" actually was punching me as you can see in the end of the second video, little snot. I was just ABOUT to grab him or something haha. If I raised the knife as if to strike, yeah, he would have cried, but idk, I felt I should not have brought the prop knife above waist-level to avoid any "issues" with parents or whatever, what do you guys think about that?

I appreciate all the comments guys! Inspiration for next year

Originally Posted by Loogs

Ah yes, I was really proud of that pumpkin. Essentially, it was real pumpkin, carved like the one in the opening credits

Very cool, I had one too but it had a regular candle in it. I would like to do more triggers in my haunt but when you get into controller boards and computers and software etc, thats too technical and involved for me, I need low low tech