What was your best new feature last year?

[charlie]

It seems every year there is at least 1 thing that really turns out to be great, that ends up becoming a 'must have' for each year after.

For me it was setting up lightning and thunder outside of my haunt. This was done by setting up a 1000watt fogger in the bushes along with a halogen construction light hooked into a lightning F/X box. I ran my ipod into a stereo and played a great thunder track that meltdown211 put together. The effect was fantastic.

What was yours?

charlie

[Eric Striffler]

I think I'd have to say one of our best scares that we added last year was where we had people walking through a tunnel and we had actors put their hands through holes in front of their faces quickly. Or they put their head through and screamed. It was absolutely HILARIOUS to watch and to scare people that way!
We'll definitely be doing that again this year along with our other best scares! :]

[Spartan005]

For us it was two things... we (me and my dad) built an endless pit to go in the final room (hell) with the devil standing in back reaching out at the people, and we made a full sized pepper's ghost illusion down one of our hallways which was actually relatively easy to build, plus it turned out beyond awesome.

[Hauntiholik]

I think there was a tie for best new feature last year. The lightning F/X box was one and the talking skulls chandelier was the other.

[Terrormaster]

For me its a toss up between the improved lighting techniques and the addition of the facade. My wife would say it was the facade and has been encouraging me to do something similar again this year.

-TM

[HalloweenZombie]

For my haunt it was my sister. Out of all the new stuff I had, she got the most reaction. She had never had the desire to act in my haunt before, but I talked her into it last year. I provided a store bought mummy costume (with slight modifications) for her and she did her own makeup. I had a costume that I put hours into (see my avatar), but she got more screams than I did. She was a natural. I like to think that because our visitors had walked by 3 static mummies it helped with the scare, but I'm not sure. She was just that good.

[skeletonowl]

My first fog machine defiantly. It improved the display by like 100%

[luvme7874]

Hi There everybody! This is my first post so I thought I would start out with a hello...
This is a great question and it made me think back to some of my favorite haunts over the years. I have run a very amateur haunted house at my parent’s house for the past seven years. We try to do different scenes each year, and so far we haven't had to recycle yet. So… since we try not to do the same thing each year, (excluding fog machines, lighting, etc.) I have to tell you we only did my personal favorite haunt once three years ago. And it was...We had a ringer! One of the girls that volunteered to act in my haunt that year looked about 15 even though she was in her 20's. She put on a standard, nurse costume that we bought at Kmart and walked in with each group of real trick-or-treaters. Half way through the house, the tour guide told a story about how there once was an intruder that kidnapped and murdered the girl that lived there and told the group to hurry along before the intruder comes back. Just before the group really gets moving, we had a big male actor come in and pick her up and carry her away. She screamed bloody murder and scared the living daylights out of the trick-or-treaters that didn’t expect one to be plucked out of their group.
I can think of some other really great ones, but that one was the absolute best!

[marcus132]

I think ours was our haunted ghost mirror.

YouTube- MacAbree Manor Haunted Mirror

It's actually just a TV set (turned on its side) behind a half-silvered mirror.

The reason the illusion works is because the mirror is hanging on a fake wall that was built to match the real walls seamlessly. So if you've never been to our house before, there's no way to know that it's not a real wall.

When people saw the ghosts in the glass they kept turning around, expecting to find a projector behind them. Nobody figured out how it really worked. :jol:

[tonguesandwich]

Hey Marcus... could you send me a copy of the video you played on the TV? Dig the clothes....

[Revenant]

I assume the ghosts are you and your lady? If so I like your vid, with her dressed as Velma checking out her own ghost in the mirror hehe

[Evil Eyes]

Marcus, what a great idea. I'm not getting it though. Do you have better instructions and/or photos to show how it was made?

[Monstermaker]

For us at the Dungeon of Doom, it was a new set called "Mercy General" it was a hospital set up with all kinds of equipment (Beds,X-rays,etc). The part that made it most visceral was all the small details, like I.V's, Blood bags, Patient Charts, Needle Syringes, Blood drips/spatters and that good ol' "disinfectant" smell........Ahhhhh memories!

[marcus132]

Hey Marcus... could you send me a copy of the video you played on the TV? Dig the clothes....

Unfortunately that video is on an old VHS tape, so I don't have any reasonable way to copy it. Sorry. :-(

But on the plus side, it's pretty easy to make your own. Just get some dark fabric and shoot a video of you ghosting around in front of it. If you totally desaturate the colors on the TV settings, you can make it look black and white. That's how ours works. It also helps to turn down the brightness so that the "black" screen doesn't glow through the mirror.

I assume the ghosts are you and your lady? If so I like your vid, with her dressed as Velma checking out her own ghost in the mirror hehe

Those are the ghosts of Maxwell and Miranda MacAbree (http://www.outpost132.com/macabree), but people always say they look like my girlfriend and me. I personally don't see the resemblance...

Marcus, what a great idea. I'm not getting it though. Do you have better instructions and/or photos to show how it was made?

I don't have any behind the scenes photos of this, but here's another one of my awesome drawings to show how it works:

http://www.outpost132.com/lj/080815mirrorwall.jpg

There's just a framework of 2x4s holding an old 21" TV on its side. There's a fake wall in front of the screen with a hole in it that's the same size as the half-silvered mirror (or "one way" mirror, or "two-way" mirror, depending on how you roll) that hangs on the fake wall.

The whole apparatus gets Hallway on Flickr - Photo Sharing!@@AMEPARAM@@http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2036/1877117805_629fa020fb_m.jpg@@AMEPARAM@@1877117805@ @AMEPARAM@@629fa020fb, where it blends in and appears to be a real wall, and the true end of the hallway.

There's an old VCR hooked to the TV showing a video of mostly black, but with a few ghostly visitations. When the video is black, the mirror is reflective, but when the ghosts are there, they shine through the mirror from the back.

That's it! It's pretty low-tech, but effective.

[Evil Eyes]

Marcus, thanks so much for your lovely drawing. Love the duck! You have me stumped though. Why is the television on it's side?

[Spartan005]

yeah why is that? the whole effect is pretty much just a two way mirror in front of a tv right?

[marcus132]

You have me stumped though. Why is the television on it's side?

The mirror is an oval that is taller than it is wide, and a TV screen is wider than it is tall. I just turned the TV so that it would fill the mirror better.

I suppose I could have just as easily turned the mirror sideways, now that I think about it. :googly:

[marcus132]

yeah why is that? the whole effect is pretty much just a two way mirror in front of a tv right?

Yep! That's exactly all it is. :jol:

[Lilly]

Marcuz...How did you make the half silvered mirror?


My best feature for last year was my food graveyard.

[NickG]

thunder and lightning via two fx boxes, two 150w floods and old surround sound system.

[marcus132]

Marcuz...How did you make the half silvered mirror?

I didn't. I bought it that way. :jol:

[Lilly]

Ok thanks anyway Marcus

[JD..]

The best add last year was, by far, something I don't typically do: someone in costume. My younger bro donned the truly awesome Alternate Vampyre mask from Death Studios, along with matching hands and a black robe.

The effect I was looking for was an agitated homeowner, but not within reach of anyone, so I had him looking down and gesturing at everyone from the balcony over our front door. For spookosity, I stuck a smoke machine and a couple of strobes up there with him. X marks the spot:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/hforum1.jpg

This is him up there:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/hforum2.jpg

I was really, really impressed with the way everyone reacted to him. He helped it all along by hamming it up, e.g., pointing to people and gesturing them away, as if all the commotion in front of our house and on the driveway was angering him.

My Brosferatu (heh) is now a permanent part of the whole fest.

Good times.

JD

[Devils Chariot]

There are few props that you can more and more of and it only gets cooler and cooler. Skulls are one of them. If you really over extend the mold life they come down in cost to like $2 each.

This pile is just some of what we had last year. This year I think we have added another 12 so far.


http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2310/2250391517_a09658b031.jpg?v=0

Oh yeah and they all had LED eyes. Man that took for ever.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2193/2251186796_1d1abfb0d6.jpg?v=0

[ubzest]

People really liked the new Photo Op Electric chair.

[dynoflyer]

Two things were big hits last year. The two talking Boris/bluckies that told each other halloween jokes and the fog belching gargoyle over the entryway.

Tots (and parents) would stand in front of the joking skellies for 15 or 20 minutes listening to the corny halloween jokes. I downloaded the mp3 files somewhere (apologies to whomever did it for not giving credit: it's excellent). The tracks go on for about 40 minutes before repeating. The sound track is stereo so one tells a joke and the other laughs, or vice versa.

This year I've got to upgrade the chairs, those resin lawn chairs suck.

The gargoyle became the neighborhood pet. Neighbors would bring their friends over to look at him with his glowing, pulsing red LED eyes and wait for the fog to come out his mouth when the fog machine cycled.

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p7/dynoflyer/Halloween%202007/100_1972.jpg

http://i124.photobucket.com/albums/p7/dynoflyer/Halloween%202007/100_1964.jpg

[Sickie Ickie]

Last year was my first time, but I have to admit that the fog machine and giant skull were the best of my props.

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h231/Sickie_Ickie/07%20display/100_1914.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h231/Sickie_Ickie/07%20display/100_1922.jpg

http://i65.photobucket.com/albums/h231/Sickie_Ickie/07%20display/100_1930lightened.jpg

[Monk]

My pumpkinrot inspired scarecrow was my fav last year...pics to follow.

[jdubbya]

The best add last year was, by far, something I don't typically do: someone in costume. My younger bro donned the truly awesome Alternate Vampyre mask from Death Studios, along with matching hands and a black robe.

The effect I was looking for was an agitated homeowner, but not within reach of anyone, so I had him looking down and gesturing at everyone from the balcony over our front door. For spookosity, I stuck a smoke machine and a couple of strobes up there with him. X marks the spot:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/hforum1.jpg

This is him up there:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/hforum2.jpg

I was really, really impressed with the way everyone reacted to him. He helped it all along by hamming it up, e.g., pointing to people and gesturing them away, as if all the commotion in front of our house and on the driveway was angering him.

My Brosferatu (heh) is now a permanent part of the whole fest.

Good times.

JD

JD
The mask and hands are great! I have a couple masks from Death Studios and they are awesome. What a great effect having him up high like hgat. Looks like a fun time!:)

[jdubbya]

For us, it was the addition of our "scare fx" stirring witch. It worked perfectly and got so many comments. Several people (kids and adults) thought it was a real person. The "how'd they do that" remarks were fun and the folks we got to show it to up close were fascinated at how it worked and the effect. I was picking Woody's (scare fx) brain up until the week before and he came through with a lot of technical help. I figure if I only had one prop, this would be it.:)

[Dark Angel 27]

jinkies! very nice work!

[Dark Angel 27]

its hard to say what my favorite was because it was my first time ever decorating!

but i would have to say that it was a toss up between my new fogger and my giant spider web. i was able to take one bag of spider web and stretch it (just one bag covered the entire lawn! it was awesome!

[Hauntmore]

Wow, love the Brosferatu up there. It's always awesome to attack people's sense from all angles, where they don't see it coming.

[Revenant]

Another bravo for the Brosferatu gag. That sounds awesome; do you have any video of him doing his shtick?

All these pics are great. Yo SI you need to paint that crazy-ass fence this year. At least weather it.

And I agree with lotsa skulls. There is no such thing as too many; the more the merrier (and scarier!) And I dig the painted skulls. Very ritual!

[Fiend4Halloween]

I would have to say my animatronic Jason Vorhees (cuz I'm a HUGE Friday the 13th fan!), and my laser vortex that I made, minumum money spent, maximum WOW factor.

[SpookySam]

My best feature last year was probably my Zombie Grave Escape.

zombie_finished video by Spooky_Sam - Photobucket@@AMEPARAM@@http://vid193.photobucket.com/player.swf?file=http://vid193.photobucket.com/albums/z305/Spooky_Sam/MVI_1886.flv@@AMEPARAM@@vid193@@AMEPARAM@@193@@AME PARAM@@z305/Spooky_Sam/MVI_1886

The lightning and thunder also had a big impact.

[JD..]

Apologies. Don't lurk on this forum as much as the other one.

Thanks for the comments on Brosferatu, my Nosferatu brother. I get so caught up with everything on Halloween night, I never remember to videotape. I promised myself I would do it this year - or have someone volunteer to do it - in particular because I want to capture his act this time.

Spoke to my bro a couple of days ago. He is keen to get back up there again. I should add that when he's not dressed up as a bloodthirsty crazyman, he is a sound engineer and is responsible for the awesome soundtrack that plays through the night, a looping five minutes of horrifying awesomeness. I added proper sound in 2006, so can say that was, by far, the best add two years ago.

At this point, the best add this year is my version of this Pumpkinrot masterpiece that I fell in love with when I first saw it among his 2007 Halloween pics:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/2007_19.jpg

I finished him last week. He is virtually identical to the above except that I modified some latex monster hands to make his hands - unlike the ridiculously awesome hands you see in the picture - and still haven't decided whether or not I want the cheesecloth layer; he looks pretty good in plain jute and kinda themes well with my Pumpkinrot watchman prop, who also wears jute. He is propped up on only one 6' PVC pipe that is on the right side, making him about 7' tall and really bringing home the illusion that the ghostly spiral you see in the middle is what supports him, like a floating ghoul.

I am happy as heck with how he came out.

I know this is going to sound lame, and I apologize again, but I don't have a picture of the final product as I already dismantled his arms and stored him out of the way. I had a few of other projects - including a couple of non-Halloween ones (gasp!) - I had to get done before heading out west next week. I promise I will post day and night pics as soon as he's up next month.

This is my third prop inspired by Pumpkinrot's awesome work; i.e., my third ProtProp (tm).

This was the first. A Johnny Appleseed-inspired scarecrow added in 2006:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/DSC02312.jpg

Then the Pumpkinrot-themed watchman added in 2007:

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p141/JaD__/hforum/DSC02315.jpg

Man, this is fun.

JD

[JD..]

My best feature last year was probably my Zombie Grave Escape.

Just watched it.

That is absolutely outstanding. Put that somewhere on the way to your front door and you needn't bother buying any candy.

JD

[Dark Angel 27]

that zombie escape looked awesome! great sound too!

[Psyc0 Walrus]

fog machine and strobe light and chainsaw! haha sorry it was a 3 way tie

i think my best for this year is gonna end up being my drop panel

[nixie]

Our best new feature last year was our gypsy caravan, it had a gypsy in the window with the big scream tv crystal ball. We are changing it a bit this year and adding creepy marionettes I will be posting pics soon..

[HauntedHacienda]

Last Year was our Inflatable Animatronic Graveyard Entrance.
This year, will be something completely different, but larger.
Am not saying what, to protect the Surprise.

[dasjman]

Well, last year was the first for me to do a full yard and garage haunt, but I did make a fairly successful fog chiller that made me very happy. Also, my PVC monster worked well. This year, I bet I'll be very happy with a few new additions, the very least of which is the length of the walk-through portion in the garage.

[Dungeon Keeper]

For us it was moving the haunt from the front to back yard and using wooden walls instead of rope lighting as dividers. It allowed more time for set up, ended worries over stolen props and allowed for better scene separation. It improved things so much we are now up to 42 walls panels for this year.

[Spooky1]

I guess that would be our stirring witch.

http://www.hauntforum.com/picture.php?albumid=189&pictureid=2165

But I like our Ghoul hounds too.

[fick209]

My best new addition last year was FINALLY taking the time to build a fence. Really helped the over all look, and just tied the whole cemetery together.

[Creeper]

My best addition last year was my first pneumatic prop - guy laying in coffin jumps up with a evil laugh. Controlled by remote, I got quite a few screams. Now I've got some knowledge of pneumatics and a prop controller and this year's pneumatic prop will be even better.