Halloween Discussion Forums, Costumes, Horror!

I have been doing a haunted trail for my daughters Halloween Birthday Party for nine years, this will be our tenth. I am having problems coming up with new ideas for it this year. Some of the same kids come every year and I hate when they say, this guy has a chainsaw, or look that's a girl haning from a tree with a harness.. I hate that! I really want to scare them this year but I can't think of anything new. I do the trail in scenes, I have almost all the creepy old movie guys you can think of (Freddy, Pennywise, etc.) and I have an awesome graveyard setup they walk through at the end, complete with a coffin and a dead guy crawling after them, but I need more. My trail always gets screams from the newbies but I want to scare the veterans. I would love some help, any idea's are welcome!!

How about making something that pops out of nowhere? If you want ideas, try going into a funhouse.

I have a haunted hay ride every year and I know how hard it is to keep things "fresh" so to speak. Last year I had a scarecrow. Not just any scarecrow... I had someone build me a stand that we dug into the ground with a stand for my actor to stand on with outstreatched arms. We drove by him once, he didn't move , but on the return visit he was gone. It freaked everyone out!!! Just like in the movie Jeepers Creepers.
I even had a teenager pee her pants. Is it wrong to think that was GREAT???!!!

What about having a bunch of smoke machines throughout the trail. Limit how far ahead they can see. It always freaks everyone out when you don't know what is up ahead or around you. Just a thought. Hope everything goes well!

I posted an idea in your other thread:
http://halloween.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=3652

I went to a haunted house in san antonio that had an area with nothing in it. or so it seemed. it was very dark and they had placed speakers all over the place. at all different times the speakers would go off with whispers and just normal volume talk saying " You can't see us". it was really creepy because all these voices were coming from every where and no where.

putrid wrote:I went to a haunted house in san antonio that had an area with nothing in it. or so it seemed. it was very dark and they had placed speakers all over the place. at all different times the speakers would go off with whispers and just normal volume talk saying " You can't see us". it was really creepy because all these voices were coming from every where and no where.

I think you may have hit on something right there.

it was definitely one of the best haunted houses I've ever been in.. but that was the creepiest part.

For your Decoration:

1. Create a haunted house in the garage or party room. Cover the windows with black paper and set up scary stations. Have the guests weave through the haunted house one at a time.

2. Set up a Mad Scientist Laboratory. Have someone dress as a Frankenstein monster and lie on a table among bubbling concoctions (use dry ice and colored water in clear bowls). Add kitchen utensils, such as tongs, basters and a garlic press, to serve as bizarre scientific instruments.

3. Make a Deadbody Storehouse. Dress friends as accident victims, with torn clothes and fake blood and scars. Have them lie on the floor and come to life from to time, by sitting up, grabbing a passing foot or something.

4. Make a Witches Cauldron. Dress the witches in long, grey wigs and black dresses, color their fingernails black, black out a tooth or two and have them stir a cauldron with a broom. Inside the cauldron place wet noodles or jelly.

hope this helps

This site has lots of great ideas.
http://www.halloweenmonsterlist.info/

Every year we go to the same haunted house . . . and it sucks. Their biggest issues are that the set up is always the same, you can see the next scene from the previous one on the hayride, and the monsters are lackadaisical.

To get the best results (even if you have the same things) change it up a bit and make sure the element of surprise is there. Monsters that run out screaming, just aren't scary . . .