[Goodwill]

Hey guys,
I've been following this forum since the beginning of October, and have been totally in love with Halloween for a while. I'm currently a 19 year old student working in the film industry as a Director and Cinematographer. I started up a small student production company back when I was in high school, and although we mainly work in the film and media industry, we also do a lot of charity work around the holiday seasons.

This past Halloween, I created the first ever MOONLiTE haunt with a couple friends of mine for the Variety Children's Charity and it was a great success. We started construction and building everything from scratch at the beginning of October. We had actors on the weekend before Halloween perform short skits and such in the graveyard area, and had actors pretending to be dummies who would jump out and scare onlookers. It was great fun! Next year, I plan on doing a whole walking tour of this forest next to my house and completely decorate the forest with both actors and props. Here are some pictures from this years haunt, enjoy!!!

Also, an interesting fact is that all the names on the tombstones are from characters who have died in our films.

 

[Sickie Ickie]

Howdy and welcome Goodwill.

Looks like a nice haunt ya have there. What state are you in?

 

[Goodwill]

Thanks Sickie Ickie! I am actually in British Columbia, Canada. I actually had a lot more planned for it, but as it was our first year doing this we ran out of time! We build a lot of props and such for filmmaking, so I'm already on the drawing board for next year. I've gotten quite a bit of inspiration from these forums though!

 

[slightlymad]

Howldy and welcome to the darkness that inspires

Looks great for a first year

 

[ScareFX]

Welcome Goodwill. Nice work on your haunt. Glad you shared your pics.

 

[slimy]

Pics look great.

Now get yourself over to the Welcome area for a proper introduction!

 

[Celtic]

..the Jack O' Lanterns are awesome. Nice work on the haunt!

 

[AuntBite]

Great looking haunt and pics. I do haunting in a cornfield maze and have a couple of ideas that would work for your haunted trail if you're interested.

 

[Haunted Bayou]

Looks great.
It is nice that you do charity work with your haunt.

 

[Richie]

Great haunt and fog effects. Looks like it was a real good time.

Richie

 

[Goodwill]

Thanks for all the great comments guys!

AuntBite, I would love to hear some of your ideas for the haunted trail. What I plan on doing is creating a whole story throughout the haunt. I am currently brainstorming some story ideas for the haunt, but I really want to make it an interactive experience.

The fog was something that really surprised me. We had originally gotten the fog machine for a film production in the summer, but didn't end up using it because we thought it was broken. When Halloween time came, the fog machine mysteriously fixed itself, and it pumped out enough fog to cover our entire street and cultisac. It was one powerful machine man.

 

[AuntBite]

Goodwill...a storyline is a great idea. Not sure what you mean by interactive though.
With a haunted trail, the first thing that comes to my mind is animals. One of the first (props) I made for our corn maze was what I called Skunk-on-a-stick. I had one of those lg. hairy latex rats,the kind that is sitting up on his haunches w/out-stretched forearms and his tail sticking out behind him. Didn't really like him b/c he's kinda cartooney looking. So I got a piece of pvc pipe bout 4" long and laid rat on pipe face down. Stuck a piece of coathanger wire through body (there is a rigid spine in rat) and secrued it to pvc pipe. Then I took an old cheap-o long black wig and zip-stripped it around neck of rat so that it flowed back over the body. Gathered it w/a ponytail at the base of tail and used another to gather the ends of wig at the end of the tail. Then pushed top down slightly to give a kinda rough shape of a skunk tail. Took white spray paint and sprayed a couple of lines from neck down back and up tail. A haunter sits in the corn at edge of trail and when patrons get to that all important Sweet Spot, rattle the corn slightly to get their attention, then shuffle the skunk out into the middle of trail.

 

[AuntBite]

I've used this prop in the maze for about 6 yrs. straight. While it's not a traditional Halloween thing, Everyone is scared of a skunk.(My husband and 2 of his bros. saw me make this thing and I can still to this day "get'um" w/it). All our haunters love to work this prop. It scares and or makes people laugh. Some of our funniest and most memorable haunt stroies surround this modest little prop.

 

[IshWitch]

Fantastic first time out!

Keep up the good work, and Velcome to our happy abode!

 

[Big Howlin]

Yeah very nice. I like your yard and area you have around the house. Nice.